While Raja Ali, a classmate of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who brought a pair of “Chakwali Khussa tilley walli juttis” from Pakistan for his dear classmate, besides “mitti” of his school, hogged the headlines of newspapers in May, Zail Singh, an ex-serviceman from Tarn Taran, quietly visits 7 Race Course Road almost every month to supply prasad from Darbar Sahib or “makki di roti and sarson da saag” in winters.

Like Raja Ali, Zail Singh was a classmate of the Prime Minister at Gah village in Chakwal district of Pakistan. The nondescript village came into prominence when Dr Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister of India. Now, the village is better known as “Dr Manmohan Singh village”.

It was a chance meeting with Zail Singh at Dera Baba Jagtar Singh Kar Sewawale here. Baba Mohinder Singh told The Tribune that Zail Singh had an easy access to the PMO and 7 Race Course Road. The NSG commandos and senior security officials did not stop him whenever he visited the Prime Minister.

Since Zail Singh does not possess mobile or landline phone, he gets calls from Dr Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur at a PCO in the labyrinthine Dalit Colony, Jassewala, Sachkhand Road, here.

He said he recognised Dr Manmohan Singh when he saw his picture in a newspaper after the latter became the RBI Governor. “It was magnanimity on the part of Dr Manmohan Singh that he immediately recognised my voice over the phone and invited me to New Delhi. Since then we have been maintaining relations,” Zail Singh said.

Speaking to The Tribune, Zail Singh recalled the days when they were in primary school together. He said Dr Manmohan Singh’s father was a businessman who ran dry fruits business in Galla Mandi (in Pakistan).

tribuneindia.com