Sometimes a biography or an autobiography can reveal astonishing truths. And with her translation of her uncle’s autobiography, Bangalore-based author, Meena Das Narayan has just done that, to the inconvenience of the present and the history. The English version of the autobiography of the renowned late IAS officer and FACT Chairman and Managing Director MKK Nair, Autobiography of a Bureaucrat, has finally broken the rock-hard walls of the past’s silence.
The translated autobiography by Meena, an eminent journalist and Kerala State Award winner for Making of a Maestro, her documentary film on the life of the living legend, Kalamandalam Gopi, artist and philanthropist, has exploded at a moment when there is a raging war of words between the Congress and the BJP about the prominence of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the history of India and his relationship with Jawaharlal Nehru. The hullabaloo had its cyclonic effect when Narendra Modi announced the laying of the foundation stone of the tallest statue in the world ‘The Statue of Union’ of Sardar Patel.
Meena, whose trilingual feature film on Yakshagana is also warming up for release, says, “It gives me immense satisfaction after completing this informative, historic autobiography. Having been very close to my uncle, I wanted more people to read it and understand this era in which this great man lived, hence I decided to get it translated into English.”
The book which has forewords by eminent people like the (late) P C Alexander, critic and author S Guptan and journalist S Jayakumar is being discussed in various political circles in the present day political context.
“Congress Party tried to steal the limelight from Narendra Modi by claiming the lineage of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. This made historians and the common man curious about the actual relationship between Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel. There were very few documented historical books on this, except for M K K Nair’s autobiography which was written in Malayalam. It is against this background that MKK Nair’s autobiography has turned into an important, historical, unbiased document. Having closely worked with three eminent Prime Ministers during his tenure; Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi, he also interacted very closely with eminent personalities like Sardar Patel, TT Krishnamachari, V P Menon, V K Krishna Menon, C Rajagopalachary and K Kamaraj,” says Meena.
m vyas.sivanand@newindianexpress.com
Excerpt from the book
“The difference of opinion between Nehru and Patel explains Nehru’s personal animosity towards Patel. An incident that I heard of is illustrative of the personal grudge that Nehru, the great leader, displayed. The very day Patel died in Bombay, Nehru sent two notes, which, incidentally, were routed through V P Menon to the State Affairs Ministry: the first one was to surrender the Cadillac car used by Patel to the Foreign Affairs Ministry; and the second note was that, in case anyone wished to attend the funeral ceremony of Patel they should do so at their own expense. When he received the second note, V P Menon summoned all the concerned officers to his Ministry and, without disclosing the contents of note, collected the names of the officers, who wished to attend the function, and bought them two-way tickets to Bombay at his own personal expense. When Nehru heard of this, he was furious.”