Click to play videoCambridge: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday assumed the form of an obedient pupil as he returned to his alma mater five decades after his graduation to receive an honorary degree with a stirring speech outlining his vision for a more egalitarian world.
And there was no doubt that the scholar-politician conquered every single heart in the historic Senate Hall of the university where the clapping that followed after Manmohan Singh was formally introduced to the audience went on and on, bringing smiles on the faces of his wife Gursharan and daughter Amrit Kaur who, like everyone else, watched him in sheer admiration.
"It was one of the most generous receptions anyone has received in Cambridge," Neil Hudson, the university vice marshal, said after the hour-long ceremony where Manmohan Singh got from Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and also the chancellor, a honorary doctorate in law.
Manmohan Singh's stirring speech, calling for a world economy that does not sacrifice the interests of the poor, brought another round of prolonged and thunderous applause that continued even after he occupied his chair, embarrassing him to a point where he stood up and bowed twice to the gathering in a bid to stop the well deserved ovation.
Throughout the sombre function, conducted entirely in Latin except for Manmohan Singh's speech which was in English, the man who passed out of St. John's College in Cambridge in 1957, the prime minister was as obedient and quiet as a good student could be, sitting quietly on the chair, not even once looking at his wife or daughter seated barely 15 feet away diagonally to his right.
He had a deadpan expression throughout, smiling only once when he badly wanted the applause to stop.
The Duke of Edinburgh paid fulsome tributes to Manmohan Singh, who in his own speech described himself as a "simple young Indian".
Prince Philip said, "it is very rare indeed for position of prime minister to be entrusted to one who is not a professional politician. Manmohan Singh is a scholar and public servant of great distinction."
"Millions look to this man," Prince Philip said in his concluding remarks before conferring the degree. "They see in him someone of conspicuous integrity; he is, in the world of the Greek poet Simonides, cool and calm, well aware of the justice that serves the state, and a man of healing virtue."
As the Duke spoke, also in Latin, Manmohan Singh stood before him very silently, almost like a statue. And earlier and later, when he sat on a cushioned wooden chair, he was looking towards the floor, his palms clasped.
The ceremony was very business like, and a large number of students gathered outside the Senate Hall eager to catch a glimpse of the man who is determined to make India an economic giant in the world.
He entered the hall almost at the tail of the chancellor's procession, followed by the university constables and pro-protectors. After the start of the proceedings and instrumental music, the orator presented Manmohan Singh to the chancellor as honorary fellow of St John's College.
The famous lines from Rabindranath Tagore's "Gitanjali" ("Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high...") followed in choral music, rendered by a group of young students in Latin and set to music by Jonathan Willcocks.
In the end came the British national anthem, "God save the Queen!"
As Manmohan Singh was ceremonially led out, again following Prince Philip, Chris Hesketh, another university official who was in the Senate Hall, said: "The prime minister's speech was tremendous. It was a memorable function."
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