In the mid-1950s, Manmohan Singh was studying at Cambridge University in England on a scholarship. Money was a big issue for him, and sometimes he had to skip meals or survive on just a small chocolate bar. His daughter, Daman Singh, shared these stories in her book, “Strictly Personal: Manmohan and Gursharan,” published by HarperCollins in 2014.
Manmohan, who got a top degree in Economics in 1957, spoke about his tough childhood in a village in Punjab, which is now part of Pakistan. When Daman’s sister, Kiki, asked if he would want to go back to Gah, where he was born, he gently said no, because it was where his grandfather was killed.
During his time at Cambridge, Singh’s tuition and living costs were about 600 pounds a year, but his scholarship covered only 160 pounds. He had to be very careful with his spending. Meals at the university dining hall were cheap, costing only two shillings and sixpence. He never ate out or drank beer or wine. Even so, if money from home didn’t come through, he sometimes had to skip meals or live on just a sixpence chocolate bar.
Despite these struggles, he never borrowed money throughout his life. The closest he came to asking for help was from a close friend named Madan Lal Sudan. After his first-year exams, when Singh scored the highest, he wrote to Madan, telling him not to send any more money because he expected to win a prize and possibly more help from his school.
Daman also shared that her father loved to sing at family get-togethers and picnics. He knew a couple of songs, including one about a past emperor and another poem about the Partition of India. She said that Manmohan had a good sense of humor, especially with his friends, although he didn’t joke much with his family.
He liked giving people funny nicknames. For example, one uncle was called “John Babu,” another “Jewel Babu,” and he called his own mother “Gurudev.” Their pet dog had silly names too, like “Nut Babu” and “Nutter,” even little songs about them.
Leave a Reply