My association with the late MT Vasudevan Nair (MT to me) started during my student days in Calicut in the early 60s, when he was the editor of the prestigious Mathrubhoomi weekly. I used to deliver the manuscript and photographs of a serial article on the poisonous snakes of Kerala by KG Adiyodi, who was a lecturer in Devagiri College. As he was like an elder brother, I used to stay at his house. The first time I went to MT’s first-floor cabin, I lost my way! He came out and guided me to the wooden ladder to go down. Since then, he continued to guide me and my family from close quarters in my career, with my writing and in family matters.
His love and concern for us were beyond words, and he was more considerate to my wife Ragini, to whom he had given the liberty of making any demands on him!
The making of an actor who went on to become a BJP leader
During our stay in Delhi, she made a demand -- a handsome young man in the neighbourhood, Krishnakumar, should be cast in one of MT’s films. As he was very rigid with every aspect of his films, be it direction, script, dialogue or casting, I thought he may not relent but he did. He asked Harikumar, director of Sukrutham, which was written by MT, to cast Krishnakumar.
By the time the film was completed, I was working in Delhi as Deputy Director General in Doordarshan. The preview of Sukrutham was in Delhi and while we were waiting on the steps of the preview theatre for our car, MT hugged Ragini, saying, "Now aren’t you contended and happy?" Turning aside, he told me that the role played by Krishnakumar was added to the script only because of Ragini's insistence.
The film bagged two national awards. Krishnakumar made it big in films and later entered politics and was a BJP candidate both for the Parliament and Assembly elections. MT’s help was a turning point in his life.
A long association that saw him saving my son's life
MT's support in my life dates back to the days I earned my first job as a junior lecturer in the small town of Payyanur.
I had an opportunity to present a paper on contemporary Malayalam novels, where MT was the chief guest. He was impressed with my presentation and asked me to meet him at Calicut whenever I visited the city. I made it a point to visit him every month and he spared time and attention suggesting books to be read and gifting a few, every time.
I started writing for the prestigious Mathrubhoomi weekly, of which he was editor. It was a dream come true to have my name printed in the weekly.
Then he asked me to review books almost every month, which continued as long as he was editor. After that he asked to narrate the stories of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book and Other Stories, which were serialised in the weekly. My major break came when he assigned the translation of Desmond Morris' The Naked Ape in Mathrubhoomi weekly. With his deft editing, the translation was a big success, resulting in a big circulation boost for the weekly.
I still wonder how I was assigned the job me when I was in my early 20s! Soon thereafter, introducing me to the mystic world of Japanese literature, he asked me to translate Junichiro Tanizaki's The Key, which was again improved by his magic blue pencil. With a name as Mathrubhoomi weekly writer, I was fortunate to be publishing in English in the newly-started Indian Express, Cochin edition, The Hindu and other Malayalam periodicals.
While patronising me as an editor, MT was also helping me like his own family member. His was one of the first two houses I visited in Calicut soon after my marriage. When our elder son was a toddler, MT saved his life. We were in his house ‘Sitara’ and our son Jayadeep was playing with his elder daughter Sitara. Jayadeep unwittingly put a marble into his mouth and choked, gasping for breath. We were shocked. MT suddenly hit him behind neck and the marble fell out.
Finding a job and more help from MT
During the final year of my postgraduation, I had to look out for a job, as I would not get the job I had left in the Payyanur college. I started applying for jobs and one of them was the post of Assistant Editor in the Indian Council Of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in Delhi.
I was called for an interview on a cold winter morning and there were seven members on the selection panel. Dr KPA Menon was ICAR Secretary and, as he later told me, he was under pressure from influential quarters. He wanted the selection to be on merit. After the written test, during the interview, I was really grilled but MT who was on the panel did not ask me any question. In the late afternoon, I visited KP Unnikrishnan and VK Madhavan Kutty, Mathrubhoomi correspondents in Delhi. They revealed to me that I was the selected candidate. Later MT told me that the committee was unanimous in selecting me and he had vouched for my merit.
After two years of working in Delhi, I was transferred to a research institute in Kerala on a similar editorial assignment. I used to continue to write and MT asked me to contribute an article on scientific research in the Onam special issue of the weekly in 1974. The theme for the issue was problems of the problem state. I wrote on the farce of research which irritated my boss no end and he started harassing me and threatened to dismiss me from my job! With a young family, I was at my wits' end; but MT took up my case strongly with Dr MS Swaminathan, Director General of ICAR. His intervention saved my job.
Randamoozham
I was trying my level best to get out of the small-town job and fortunately got selected by the Union Public Service Commission for the post of Assistant Station Director, because of my high rank in the selection list, at Calcutta Doordarshan Kendra. MT entrusted the Mathrubhoomi correspondent of Calcutta to help us settle there. After seven months in Calcutta, I was transferred to Madras Doordarshan.
Madras was second home to MT then, as he was busy with films, after his spectacular success and national film awards in direction and scriptwriting. Every time he was in Madras, soon after his arrival, MT would call on us, visit our home with gifts and take us and the children for lunch or dinner with him. He used to take us to all the five-star hotels in Madras.
The moment the boys heard that their favourite 'MT maaman' is in town, they used to literally jump with joy. We were specially called for all his film previews as he valued Ragini’s opinion more than mine. He introduced me to eminent personalities in the fields of films, literature, culture and arts in Malayalam -- MB Sreenivasan and V Abdulla were among them.
MT wrote his magnum opus Randamoozham, while I was in Madras. I was dumbfounded by the research he did before writing the book. The list of books was large and he asked me to secure as many of them as possible. I could get quite a number for him from libraries of Madras. When I presented a copy of VS Naipaul’s Among The Believers, MT, who used to write a column in a weekly, wrote at length, interpreting the book.
Trivandrum days and 'a circle gets completed'
In December 1984, I was transferred to Trivandrum to start the Malayalam TV station. MT used to visit the city as he was making frequent trips to the UAE via Trivandrum. He stayed with us and every time he would present us with valuable gifts.
During my stint at Trivandrum, I had to appoint a few production assistants. For less than a dozen vacancies, the applicants were more than 3000 with recommendations galore from ministers, Assembly members and other prominent persons.
The Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting was breathing down my neck dictating the names of candidates to be issued with appointment letters. I was determined to make the selection purely on merit and did not budge. I wanted the Selection Committee to be constituted with utmost secrecy. I called MT on phone and insisted that he should spare a day for me at Trivandrum.
Similarly, I contacted others including ONV Kurup, Bharat Bhushan and others to select the best candidates after shortlisting 60 of them through a written test. While we in the car to DD Kendra, MT made a comment, "I selected Kunhikrishnan for a job. Now after a quarter of a century, I am selecting persons for Kunhikrishnan and a circle gets completed."
Doordarshan had a scheme to produce quality films for telecast and it was left to me to select five renowned directors to do the production. I requested Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Aravindan, MT, KG George and Padmarajan. While the first three agreed and assignments were given, Padmarajan’s proposal was rejected because his budget was above the limit. MT flatly refused to work while faced with bureaucratic tangles. I later managed to convince him to produce Kadavu, which bagged awards at Singapore, Tokyo and Jakarta Film Fesitvals.
The Maruti car story and other helps he extended
I got the allotment of a Maruti 800 car in the first lot in 1987 and the cost was Rs 1,87,000. There was a deadline for payment and the government loan that I applied for was not forthcoming. MT used to check every day and finally asked us to go to Calicut. We reached late but MT was waiting at the bank with the manager to hand over his cheque and collect the money. By then, a phone message from my office was received at his house that the loan was credited in my bank.
We enjoyed his generosity on several occasions. When I was transferred to Delhi from Trivandrum, our younger son was in 10th standard and for want of accommodation and to avoid disruption in his studies, I went alone. Managing two establishments was no easy matter for my wife. One night she informed me, her voice choking, that she had received a letter from MT in which he had written that he knew about our difficulties and as a small relief he was enclosing a cheque for Rs 25,000. It was a help beyond words.
On another occasion, our younger son Viswanath studying in Madras wanted to go to US for higher studies, when we were in Delhi. He had already taken the TOEFL test and scored high marks. He had secured the application forms but to send it there was a catch. He needed a capability certificate with a minimum bank balance of Rs 10 lakh. He would receive scholarship after the first semester and we needed to spend for his first fees and meet his travel expenses. MT was specially fond of him and he asked us to make a trip to Calicut with the forms. Again he was waiting at Nadakkavu branch of the bank and got us the necessary capability certificates.
It was Vichu (Viswanath), a fourth standard student, that MT had authorised as his nephew to receive a state film award as he could not travel to Trivandrum on the designated day. Vichu received the award in style, following which there was a barrage of phone calls asking about the new 'nephew' of MT.
My wife Ragini has a big house, Panchavadi, in Taliparamaba. It was in a dilapidated condition and badly needed repairs. MT visited us when we were there. Later, on another trip he brought the famous architect and designer from Calicut RK Ramesh and asked him to suggest improvements to the house. They spent a couple of hours at the house and later we all drove to my maternal uncle’s house in Peralam, near Payyanur. After lunch, MT called Ragini to a side room and handed over a packet to her, asking her to start the house renovation immediately. The packet contained Rs 1 lakh, a whopping sum those days.
Trip to Varanasi and a China memory
It is well known that MT used to do extensive research for his writings, His last novel was Varanasi and during one of his stays in Delhi, he asked me for help. Fortunately, the head of the DD production centre in Varanasi was a man of letters and I sought his help for facilitating MT's trip. I had cautioned him that MT is a man of few words. MT returned happy after the trip.
Acharya called me up to say that I had misjudged MT and that he was a good talker and he was lucky to have befriended him and congratulated me for being a favourite of a 'cult figure'.
MT had once visited China and stayed with us prior to the trip. He unearthed two voluminous books on China (One was a National Geographic publication) and carefully read them. On his return, he was very eloquent on how Kerala could take lessons from China on providing tender coconut water in sachets and develop an industry all over the state. He made his best efforts, but nothing happened.
(The author is a writer and retired Additional Director General, Doordarshan)
