Return of the native and 'City Beautiful'

PUNJAB was Manmohan Singh's first love. He had a special place in his heart for Amritsar, where he spent his initial years. He had a special attachment to Chandigarh, where he read economics at Panjab University. He had a house in the city which he rented out.

- HARPREET BAJWA @Chandigarh

Singh was born on September 26, 1932, in Gah, Punjab (now in Chakwal district of Pakistan) to Gurmukh Singh and Amrit Kaur. His early education was at Khalsa School in Peshawar.

After the Partition, his family came to Amritsar. He graduated from Hindu College in Amritsar and, after his master's, worked as an academic at Panjab University till 1965.

FORMER Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao chose Manmohan Singh over Pranab Mukherjee to be a Rajya Sabha member from Assam in 1991.

That was Singh's maiden stint in the Upper House. He became the finance minister that very year and then the prime minister in 2004.