Sheela Bhatt reports from Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei: When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott, first time, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Brunei on Thursday he was in for a surprise.  

Abott told him that he is well-versed with India and its people. He has, in his young days lived in Jharkhand and Bihar for three months. He fondly mentioned about his stay in Hazaribag and Daltonganj, in Palamu district, which is now in Jharkhand.  

In the designational-level meeting PM Abott and Dr Singh gave political push to the ongoing talks to supply uranium to India. There is a strong lobby in Australia and elsewhere to not allow India to get uranium from Australia but Thursday's meeting gave the much-needed political nod to expedite the talks over nuclear fuel.  

Meanwhile, because PM Abbott is well-versed with the Bihar-Jharkhand area he understands the importance of historical and cultural significance of project the Nalanda University. Abbott has announced funding of 1 million Australian dollars for the university in Bihar which is going to start its first semester from next year from the temporary building near the ruins of the ancient academic institution.