I had the opportunity of meeting Dr Manmohan Singh at a party hosted by Mrs Sonia Gandhi and the other members of the Nehru Commonwealth Trust to bid farewell to the newly selected Cambridge Nehru Scholarship winners.

I was one of them.

His gentle, calm and warm nature touched all of us as he shared his experiences as a student at Cambridge.

I wish him all the best in his endeavours and hope he is able to bring about a radical reform and deliver the country from its present state of corruption.

Rajat Roy
PhD (Cantab)
Cancer Research UK
London

Shaking hands with MS

I met our honourable prime minster in 1993-94, during his visit to a remote place in Tamil Nadu called Poompuhar, 250 kilometres south of Chennai.

Dr Singh, who was then finance minister, had been invited by Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar to address a meeting of industrialists. The CMDs of all south India based banks and many top officials attended that meeting.

Dr Singh and Mr Aiyar were moving towards the venue in an open jeep. Much to my surprise, Mr Aiyar stopped the jeep in front of our office and called me to meet Dr Singh.

Who would have thought the man I shook hands with that day would one day be the prime minister of India!

I hope Dr Singh will rewrite India's political history.

S P Kamath
Head, legal
Amalgam Group of Companies
Kochi

Singh, interrupted

I met Dr Manmohan Singh a long time ago at the opening session of a conference on sustainable agriculture held in Chandigarh.

During the tea break, my friends and I saw Dr Singh talking to some delegates and went to meet him.

Though we had interrupted him, he asked us our names and where we came from. He discussed our work and other activities for more than 10 minutes. It was a very special moment for us.

Even after he left, we could not stop talking about his simplicity and his interest in work.

I saw him taking oath as prime minister on television. He hasn't changed much.

I hope he will take our country to much greater heights.

Dr Ashok Kumar
Professor
Japan International Center for Agricultural Sciences
Okinawa
Japan