Manmohan Singh had joined a pre-medical course as his father wanted him to become a doctor but pulled out after a couple of months, losing interest in the subject, according to a book on the former prime minister by his daughter.
Mr Singh died here on Thursday night at the age of 92 after he had a sudden loss of consciousness at home.
In her book “Strictly Personal: Manmohan and Gursharan”, published in 2014, Daman Singh also said economics was a subject that appealed to him.
She also wrote that her father was a funny man saying he had a good sense of humour.
In April 1948, Mr Singh was admitted to Khalsa College in Amritsar.
“Since his father wanted him to become a doctor, he joined the two-year FSC course that would lead to further studies in medicine. After just a couple of months, he dropped out. He had lost interest in becoming a doctor. In fact, he had also lost interest in studying science,” Daman wrote.
“I didn’t have the time to think,” the author, who based her book on conversations with her parents and hours spent in libraries and archives, quoted her father as saying.
“I went and joined my father in his shop. I didn’t like that either, because I was not treated as an equal. I was treated as an inferior person who ran errands – bringing water, bringing tea. Then I thought I must go back to college. And I entered Hindu College in September 1948,” Mr Singh was quoted as saying.
Economics was a subject that appealed to him immediately.
“I was always interested in issues of poverty, why some countries are poor, why others are rich. And I was told that economics is the subject which asks these questions,” Mr Singh told his daughter.
While studying at Cambridge University, money was the only real problem that bothered Mr Singh. “His tuition and living expenses came to about 600 pounds a year. The Panjab University scholarship gave him about 160 pounds. For the rest he had to depend on his father. Manmohan was careful to live very stingily. Subsidised meals in the dining hall were relatively cheap at two shillings sixpence,” Daman wrote
Leave a Reply