The quiet academic, who had excelled both at Oxford and Cambridge universities, was once described by his alma mater, that honoured him after he became the prime minister, as someone who left the "scholar's life in the shade... to the dust and clamour of the political battle (in India)", driven by his "sense of duty to his country".
Even as his career graph in the next few years took this economics professor to dizzying levels of responsibility - from finance minister to member of the Congress Working Committee to Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha to prime minister - it did little to change the taciturn man who spoke only when spoken to and who made little effort to strike up a conversation or engage an audience with his views.
But all those who have worked with him acknowledge him as a man of scholarship, dedication, intellect - the late national security adviser J.N. Dixit had rated his intellectual calibre "perhaps higher than Jawaharlal Nehru" - and tremendous hard work, who spent long hours into the night poring over government papers and pondering over policy moves.
On the last day of the 15th Lok Sabha, which also happened to be the last day in the House for Manmohan Singh as prime minister, BJP leader Arun Jaitley paid him tribute as a "man of scholarship" who was not a "natural leader" and who lacked the capacity to be the "driving force" for the government in parliament.
So, when senior Congress leader P.C. Chacko remarked recently that the "PM's silence had given room to many wrong interpretations against the government" and hinted that many in the party and government had "lost patience over his silence" and his failure to counter negative media publicity and opposition attacks, it seemed the Congress was now laying the blame for the party's erosion of popularity at his door.
