MUMBAI: It is natural for any bureaucrat or a regulator to seek a lucrative assignment in the private sector in their field of his expertise after retirement, or a role in some committees of the government. All his life when he guards the public interest against the vested interests of businesses, they see self interest paying handsomely when it comes to monetary reward rather than the national interest.After having done their duty all their adult life, it may be the last few years to fill up the coffers which do not have much beyond the knowledge of the system, experience, and some goodwill if the officer has been honest.Be it the former Reserve Bank of India Governor S. Venkitaramanan who got into the board of Reliance Industries Ltd. or former US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner who joined buyout firm Warburg Pincus, the assignments were good enough to more than compensate for the sacrifice made in the name of public service.Former Securities & Exchange Board of India chairman G.N. Bajpai took up the chairmanship of Dhanlaxmi Bank and RBI deputy governor Anand Sinha has landed a job at a law firm to advise its clients on regulatory issues.But Duvvuri Subbarao, the immediate past governor of the RBI is steadfast in declining offers from financial services firms, and would not take up anything with the government either.``I know, if I take up anything in financial services I would be paid disproportionately to what I actually contribute,'' says Subbarao. ``I would be paid for my past designations rather than what I do.''Indeed, Subbarao is leading a different life than many of his peers do, though he misses being important these days. He is a Visiting Fellow at the National University of Singapore, a city he once believed was just a concrete jungle.``It is completely different from your perception,'' says a surprised Subbarao who is leading a bachelor life in the island city with his wife away in the US. ``There is so much greenery, parks and it is very nice.''Does he miss home? Pat comes the reply, ``this is the best Indian city.''So how does the Reserve Bank of India, or the Finance Ministry look like from far away, the two institutions where he was the top bureaucrat.He looks at them, but he won't talk about them. He knows too well how every word of his would be twisted and turned to show how bad his relationship turned sour with former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. He would speak on those when chooses to. But public policy remains his focus at NUS.``In academics, you are going behind the policy,'' says Subbarao. ``Here you have time to reflect. When you are intervening, you see what is happening, how is the market reacting? But that gets submerged in overall policy making. Here there is something to reflect.''There may be many things that he may be finding fault with what policy makers are doing, because he has time at his disposal unlike when he was governor where he had to respond to events in public domain even before he sat at the breakfast table.He doesn't want to criticise anyone. Because he knows that he has the luxury of time that policy makers do not.``One thing about policy making is that you got to make decisions in real time,'' says a Subbarao sympathetic to policy makers. ``Whereas people who criticise you, or analyse you, are doing with the benefit of hindsight.''However much he holds back from talking about Indian administration, he could not resist giving a word of advice to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In fact, it is a lesson in politics.``Received wisdom is that economic virtue is not political virtue. But if you take a longer time perspective, he (Modi) will find that economic virtue is political virtue. He should function as if he has only one term. Then, he will actually get a second term.''