Manmohan Singh may or may not write memoir: Daughter

Manmohan Singh may or may not write an autobiography depending on whether he felt exited to do it, the former prime minister's daughter Daman Singh said here Sunday.

Asked if she would suggest Manmohan Singh to pen his memoir, Daman Singh said her father had a mind of his own and she need not persuade him.

"Whether he writes (an autobiography) would depend on whether he feels it would be an exciting thing to do," Daman Singh said during the launch of her book "Strictly Personal" at the India Habitat Centre here.

She said the book traces the journey of the former prime minister and his wife Gursharan Kaur's life from the 1930s to 2004.

"It portrays my parents' ideas, opinions, beliefs and values, how these were formed and how these changed," she said.

Daman Singh said she was both affectionate and honest while writing the book.

"There was no intention to put my parents on a pedestal and shower praises on them," she said.

She said the book talks not just about the two individuals but about the journey of India through independence.

"The book is not just about two individuals but it also talks about the times of the 1930s... story of an India that was divided but got freedom... struggle of a nation to move ahead," she said.

"Something that was done with courage, conviction, and sometimes confusion, the book portrays my parents, their ideas, values, belief... how these form and how they change," she said.

Confessing that she did not want the book to be published so long as her father was in office, Daman Singh said it began with events unfolding in the 1930s and ends in 2004, when Manmohan Singh became prime minister.

"I told my publishers there would be no masala, no secrets, no sensation," Daman Singh said.

She said the biggest challenge in compiling the book was to understand and write about economics, a subject which is integral to her father's life.

"Being a non-economist, it was hard to talk about economics with my father and it was harder to write what he said," Daman Singh said.

She said Vikram Seth and M.J. Akbar inspired her as a writer during the course of the book.