Hoshiar! Great careers start here

HOSHIARPUR: Besides Singh(ing) what do former President Giani Zail Singh, Prime Minister designate Manmohan Singh and "Sardar of Swings" CPM supremo Harkishen Singh Surjeet have in common: The Hoshiarpur connection.
It was Hoshiarpur that sent the late Giani Zail Singh to Lok Sabha in 1980 after which he wet on to become the Union home minister and the President of India in 1982.
The great marathon runner of Indian politics Harkishen Singh Surjeet too began his political career from Hoshairpur as a young boy of 15. Surjeet was shot twice when he removed the Union Jack from the Hoshiarpur deputy commissioner''s office and replaced it with the Congress flag on the first death anniversary of Shaeed Bhagat Singh on March 23 1932.
Surjeet got away with this as the then deputy commissioner was an Indian and had instructed the army not to shoot the young boy. On being asked his name, Sujeet had replied: "London Tod Singh", after which he was sent to jail. That was his baptism into politics.
But news of Manmohan Singh being elevated to the Prime Minister''s post has Hoshiarpur pleasantly surprised.
Before going to the Oxford to do his PHD, Manmohan completed his postgraduation from the University College (now Government College) Hoshiarpur in 1952-54. A beaming SP Bhandri, his college mate, told TNN that Manmohan was an "unassuming brilliant" boy.
When entrepreneur Amit Goyal says that Hoshiarpur has made its mark on the international map, he is not wrong. For, which city can boast of producing such a highly secular brand? Hoshiarpur to some, Clever-Pur to others, has just proved this.