Former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s daughter, Daman Singh, shared in her 2014 book "Strictly Personal: Manmohan and Gursharan" the financial struggles her father faced while studying on a scholarship at Cambridge University in the mid-1950s. She revealed that “money was the only real problem for him” during that time, and he occasionally had to skip meals and rely on a “sixpence bar of Cadbury's chocolate” for sustenance.
Singh graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1957 with a First Class Honours (Tripos) degree in Economics.
The former prime minister passed away on Thursday at 9:51 PM, shortly after being admitted to the Medical Emergency at AIIMS, New Delhi.
Follow live updates on Manmohan Singh's demise
What more did Manmohan Singh's daughter mention in her book?
Daman Singh recounted her father's reflections on his early life, describing the hard times in his village and the simplicity of that existence. Manmohan Singh was born in Gah, a village in Punjab's western region, now part of Pakistan. When asked by his daughter Kiki if he ever wished to return to Gah, he gently replied, "No, not really. That is where my grandfather was killed."
Discussing his Cambridge days, Daman wrote about the financial difficulties Singh faced. His tuition and living expenses totalled around 600 pounds annually, but the Punjab University scholarship provided only 160 pounds. "For the rest, he had to depend on his father. Manmohan was careful to live very stingily. Subsidized meals in the dining hall were relatively cheap at two shillings sixpence. He never ate out, and seldom indulged in beer or wine," she wrote.
{{/usCountry}}Discussing his Cambridge days, Daman wrote about the financial difficulties Singh faced. His tuition and living expenses totalled around 600 pounds annually, but the Punjab University scholarship provided only 160 pounds. "For the rest, he had to depend on his father. Manmohan was careful to live very stingily. Subsidized meals in the dining hall were relatively cheap at two shillings sixpence. He never ate out, and seldom indulged in beer or wine," she wrote.
{{/usCountry}}Occasionally, delays in receiving money from home put him in a tough spot. "When this happened, he skipped meals or got by on a sixpence bar of Cadbury's chocolate. He would never borrow money his entire life, but this was when he came closest to doing so. The only person he could think of turning to was Madan (close friend Madan Lal Sudan)," Daman revealed in her book.
After excelling in his first-year Tripos examination, Singh wrote to Madan, stating, "I think I will get some prize worth about 20 pounds and if I press I might get an Exhibition (an allowance or scholarship), but I am not so greedy. I prefer to wait till next year," requesting no further financial assistance.
Daman also shared lighter memories, like Singh singing during family picnics. "Whenever we went on a picnic, people used to sing. He knew a couple of songs. He sang 'Lagta nahin hai ji mera' and Amrita Pritam's poem 'Aakhan Waris Shah noon, kitey kabran vichon bol'," she wrote. The first song is a poignant poem by Bahadur Shah Zafar, while the latter is an evocative call by Amrita Pritam addressing the pain of Partition.
Manmohan Singh's sense of humour was ‘highlight’ of family interactions
Singh's sense of humour was a “highlight” in his interactions with friends, even economists, though he was less jovial with his family. “This was evident when he was with friends, even if they were economists. It was comforting to know that he could laugh and crack jokes as well. With us, he rarely did either,” Daman said.
He enjoyed creating nicknames for people. "Unknown to them, one of our uncles was 'John Babu', another was 'Jewel Babu', and a third - to commemorate his pointed turban - was 'Chunj Waley'. My mother was 'Gurudev', and the three of us were 'Kick', 'Little Noan' and 'Little Ram'. Some of the other names he coined were less charitable," she recalled.
Even their dog Penu was affectionately given names like 'Nut Babu', 'Nutter', and 'Douse Fellow', complete with jingles Singh composed for them..
(With PTI inputs)