I didnt know this fact about Anklesaria being his wife's maiden name .... I think it is amusing. I was a regular reader of his ToI column in India. Also the fact that he is Mani Shankar Aiyar's brother.
Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar is a noted Indian economist and journalist. An alumnus of The Doon School and St Stephen's College, he is currently consulting editor of The Economic Times, India's leading financial daily that is part of Bennett, Coleman & Co, the same company that owns The Times Of India. Swaminathan Aiyar also writes a popular column titled, "Swaminomics" in the Times of India where he discusses economic issues pertaining to India and the world. Mr Aiyar is also a consultant with the World Bank and has published several papers with Bank officials. He was also, for many years, the India correspondent of The Economist.
Anklesaria is Mr Aiyar's second wife's maiden name and he claims to have taken on this name to exhibit some sort of equality where men will take on their wives names if wives take on their husbands. His wife, Shahnaz, is a Parsi.
Mr Aiyar hails from Tamil Nadu and is a Brahmin Iyer. However he is an Atheist by faith. Mr Aiyar's elder brother, Mani Shankar Aiyar is a politician and serves as Minister for Panchayati Raj in the Indian government. Mr Aiyar has 3 children, Pallavi, Shekhar and Rustom.
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swaminathan_Aiyar ]
