The offer was for the post of India’s finance minister and came from no less than the prime minister himself.
Convalescing from a heart bypass surgery and advised not to take up any strenuous job, he was given just 12 hours to make up his mind.
The candidate was Manmohan Singh and the offer came from then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao.
It was evident that after he took over as prime minister in 1991, Narasimha Rao had made up his mind to bring about sweeping economic reforms and appoint Singh, who was then chairman of the University Grants Commission, as the finance minister, says a new book.
Brought out by Har-Anand Publications, “Power Profiles” by Harihar Swarup, former Chief of Bureau of Press Trust of India in New Delhi and now a freelancer, contains profiles of eminent personalities from various walks of life including A P J Abdul Kalam and Sonia Gandhi, Laxmi Niwas Mittal, Nandan Nilekani, Baba Amte, Bhimsen Joshi and Mehdi Hassan.
The author tells little known facets of lives of celebrities like the hard way Kalam completed his studies and how at one stage his sister had to sell her ornaments to pay his fees and that although he belongs to a religious family A K Antony is an agnostic and shuns religious rituals.
Bharat Ratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi would have become a doctor had he gone by wishes of his father. But young Bhimsen, ran away from his home to pursue music at Gwalior, the book says.
Readers are also told that National Security Advisor in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, Brajesh Mishra, is a believer in astrology and that one of his sons is an astrologer.
Besides the likes of Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Harkishan Singh Surjeet, “Power Profiles” also tells the readers about the lives of sports persons, artists and even terrorists like V Prabhakaran and Mullah Omar. It gives brief profiles of Bismillah Khan, Lata Mangeshkar, Kapil Dev, Farida Khanum and many other personalities.
The offer was for the post of India’s finance minister and came from no less than the prime minister himself. Convalescing from a heart bypass surgery and advised not to take up any strenuous job, he was given just 12 hours to make up his mind.
The candidate was Manmohan Singh and the offer came from then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao.
It was evident that after he took over as prime minister in 1991, Narasimha Rao had made up his mind to bring about sweeping economic reforms and appoint Singh, who was then chairman of the University Grants Commission, as the finance minister, says a new book.
Brought out by Har-Anand Publications, “Power Profiles” by Harihar Swarup, former Chief of Bureau of Press Trust of India in New Delhi and now a freelancer, contains profiles of eminent personalities from various walks of life including A P J Abdul Kalam and Sonia Gandhi, Laxmi Niwas Mittal, Nandan Nilekani, Baba Amte, Bhimsen Joshi and Mehdi Hassan.
The author tells little known facets of lives of celebrities like the hard way Kalam completed his studies and how at one stage his sister had to sell her ornaments to pay his fees and that although he belongs to a religious family A K Antony is an agnostic and shuns religious rituals.
Bharat Ratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi would have become a doctor had he gone by wishes of his father. But young Bhimsen, ran away from his home to pursue music at Gwalior, the book says.
Readers are also told that National Security Advisor in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, Brajesh Mishra, is a believer in astrology and that one of his sons is an astrologer.
Besides the likes of Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Harkishan Singh Surjeet, “Power Profiles” also tells the readers about the lives of sports persons, artists and even terrorists like V Prabhakaran and Mullah Omar. It gives brief profiles of Bismillah Khan, Lata Mangeshkar, Kapil Dev, Farida Khanum and many other personalities.
The offer was for the post of India’s finance minister and came from no less than the prime minister himself. Convalescing from a heart bypass surgery and advised not to take up any strenuous job, he was given just 12 hours to make up his mind.
The candidate was Manmohan Singh and the offer came from then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao.
It was evident that after he took over as prime minister in 1991, Narasimha Rao had made up his mind to bring about sweeping economic reforms and appoint Singh, who was then chairman of the University Grants Commission, as the finance minister, says a new book.
Brought out by Har-Anand Publications, “Power Profiles” by Harihar Swarup, former Chief of Bureau of Press Trust of India in New Delhi and now a freelancer, contains profiles of eminent personalities from various walks of life including A P J Abdul Kalam and Sonia Gandhi, Laxmi Niwas Mittal, Nandan Nilekani, Baba Amte, Bhimsen Joshi and Mehdi Hassan.
The author tells little known facets of lives of celebrities like the hard way Kalam completed his studies and how at one stage his sister had to sell her ornaments to pay his fees and that although he belongs to a religious family A K Antony is an agnostic and shuns religious rituals.
Bharat Ratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi would have become a doctor had he gone by wishes of his father. But young Bhimsen, ran away from his home to pursue music at Gwalior, the book says.
Readers are also told that National Security Advisor in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, Brajesh Mishra, is a believer in astrology and that one of his sons is an astrologer.
Besides the likes of Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Harkishan Singh Surjeet, “Power Profiles” also tells the readers about the lives of sports persons, artists and even terrorists like V Prabhakaran and Mullah Omar. It gives brief profiles of Bismillah Khan, Lata Mangeshkar, Kapil Dev, Farida Khanum and many other personalities.
The book also says that Oscar winning sound technician Resul Pookutty had almost walked out of “Slumdog Millionaire” venture following a tiff with director Danny Boyle. Pookutty felt that the Slumdog team was not giving sound its due importance. He was, however, persuaded to join back, the book says.
–PTI