I am writing this as a tribute to my grandfather, Kuruppath Kuttikrishna Menon, whose 130th birth anniversary was in February 2020. He was a legal luminary and practised law for more than 70 years. He rose to become Advocate General of the erstwhile Madras Presidency and even appeared in the Privy Council, London (equivalent to the Supreme Court during British Rule). He moved to the Kerala High Court after the state reorganisation in 1956.
I had the privilege of living with my grandparents till I got married, since my parents were away in Myanmar. They were very close to me and hence I never missed my parents. My grandfather was a meticulous person and a strict disciplinarian, both in his personal and professional life. To a great extent, these qualities influenced me. His was a large family of three boys and five girls, all well settled. We always had guests at home and relatives would jokingly comment on our home being ‘free boarding and lodging’.
My grandfather provided legal aid and monetary assistance during the freedom movement. He had helped Shri K P Kesava Menon, his close friend, in establishing Mathrubhumi, a Malayalam daily. Many prominent personalities like G Sankara Kurup (first Jnanpith Award winner) and Mannath Padmanabhan (Nair Leader and social reformer) used to call on him for legal counselling and social causes.
Many of his juniors became judges in High Courts and the Supreme Court. However, he always preferred to remain a practising lawyer. The Bar Association of Kerala honoured him for completing 60 years of uninterrupted practice. He continued his practice till he was 86 years old. He spent his retired life in his house at Palakkad.
I still remember my younger days, playing and enjoying with my cousins in the sprawling garden of his house. All his grandchildren used to fondly call him valiachan. The secret of his sound health was regular yoga and physical exercise along with good food habits. His pillar of strength was his wife, Madhavikutty Amma, a pious and noble woman. He passed away at the ripe old age of 97 and in the philosophical sense, it was anayasena maranam. His only surviving daughter, 91-year-old Padmini Balachandran, is residing in Chennai.
Email: usha_s2001@yahoo.com