Courteous, handsome, and aloof—that was Kunwar Arjun Singh, as he was known in 1946, when both of us enrolled in Durbar College, Rewa (now APS University), to earn our undergraduate degrees.
However, come 1947, he was gone, gone to Allahabad, to pursue his studies there. That was, perhaps, a lucky choice. The most eminent citizen of Allahabad, Pt. Jawahar Lal, was all over those days, in newspapers, over the air, among village gossips. A young mind out to grasp the world couldn’t remain immune to Nehru’s charm and dynamism.
So, by the time Arjun Singh returned to Rewa in 1950, he was no more a Kunwar; he was now the leader of the Student Youth Congress, always dressed in Khadi kurta and pajama, a Nehru jacket, or—formally—in a Khadi Jodhpur jacket. To the old friends used to his aristocratic manners, the alteration in the garb as well as in his fellowship was so radical that they were at a loss to figure out if the conversion was genuine or fake. He was courteous and pleasant as ever, but we could have been talking across a wide river, so to say.
By the time I met him again in the first year of our Law Program, Arjun Singh was writing to Pt. Nehru, or speaking of Sarvapalli S. Radhakrishnan. I realized then that what had altered him was not his clothing but the quality of his dreams and thoughts. The steady light that he followed was different from the will-of the wisp leading the common man—often, astray.
We had good times together, too, especially in Law College debates where the toss of a coin would have me and Arjun Singh opposing each other: one, for; the other, against, the subject. Despite those public contests, we learned to respect each other. Though Life set us apart on different courses, him into politics and public service, me into university teaching and research, I never forgot him or ceased to be impressed by his achievements. So later on, when our paths would cross either in Kathmandu, at Heathrow Airport, or Washington DC, each would be eager to catch up on the news of other’s family and life.
I have always been proud of having known Arjun Singh, and am happy now to have witnessed the fulfillment of the promise that his young life once held for us.
Destiny led us on to different paths; his, indeed, has been a nobler one. I am glad that by holding a conference on the future of education in India, we but pay Arjun Singh’s memory not only a long-owed debt, but also an apt tribute.
Glenside, Pennsylvania, 19038
15 March 2025