The news of the passing away of Dr. Manmohan Singh.has left me breathless and devastated. I came within his orbit in the last two decades.

In 2004, I stood before him as he administered my oath as a member of the Planning Commission of India. In 2024, I stood before him with my autobiography 'Drop in the Ocean' for which he had written beautiful lines on the cover.

Two decades of proximity and suddenly a vacuum for me, for India and the world! Many people will recount what he meant for the country. I will write my personal experience through which lens the reader can see the larger picture.

Surrounded by members of the Planning Commission who were economists and administrators, I was overwhelmed by my own inadequacy. The best I had was some writing skill and some activism. For ten years, I was the only woman member in Yojana Bhavan.

The person who extended a helping hand and listening ear to all this was the Chairperson of the country's apex planning body, Dr. Manmohan Singh. He saw some of my reports from the field which the Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia sent him. He spoke very little, a few measured words.

His very first words are etched in my heart. 'You go out and explore the country. Then write what you have seen. Kusum Nair wrote Blossoms in the Dust; that was in 1961. It's time for an update'.

His words became my mission; going to the unseen and unwritten parts of the country to record my chashm deed gawahi (eye witness account) to place before the apex planning body. The result was my book Beautiful Country: Stories from Another India co-authored with Gunjan Veda in 2012.

Two of my reports out of a total 45 were my pride because they brought policy change. My Gadchiroli report 'Ordinary Women who did the Extraordinary' was sent to Dr Singh by Montek, 'Though long it is recommended for reading in toto'.

Ten days later came his handwritten reply 'There should be a discussion with the Health Ministry if village health workers under Rural Health Mission could be entrusted with the responsibilities of village health workers in this report'.

My earlier report on Mewat brought it under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005. Gadchiroli was factored under the National Rural Health Mission.

All this happened because he listened and heeded.

For me Dr. Sahib epitomised the Ganga-Jamni or composite culture of my country.

In 2008, there was a new visitor to the PM house. A man from village Gah in district Chakwal, Pakistan, crossed the border to meet his old school friend 'Mohna'. He carried soil and water from the village in Punjab for the friend with whom he shared a bench in his school. Ali Raja Mohammad and Manmohan Singh had parted in 1947 and met in 2008. Not only this region but all of South Asia was Dr. Singh's very own.

That became clear to me when his friend Madanjeet Singh, a refugee from Lahore, who rose to become UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, started the South Asia Foundation in 2000. Dr. Sahib was the inspiration behind this rainbow coalition as I watched it grow as its founding member. Not only Southasia. Dr. Singh's vision encompassed the human race regardless of religion, caste, class ethnicity.

In his poem ‘Mosque of Cordova’, Iqbal describes the 'ideal man,' which to me epitomises Dr Manmohan Singh

Narm dum e guftgu garm dam e justju
Razm ho ya bazm ho pak dil o pak baaz

(Soft of speech but solid in struggle
Whether in fight or feast.. always pure hearted)

(The author is a social and women's rights activist, educationist, and writer. She has served as a member of the Planning Commission of India and Chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University. She is a founding member of several organizations including South Asians for Human Rights. Views expressed are personal. By special arrangement with Sapan)