K. P. S. Menon

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Kumara Padma Sivasankara Menon (aka K. P. S. Menon) (1898 – 1982) was a pioneering career diplomat in the Indian Civil Service, (later Indian Foreign/Administrative Service).

[edit] Early Life

He was born in Kottayam, India in 1898. His father was a lawyer from Ottapalam.

He did his schooling at Kottayam and attended CMS School, Kottayam. Menon persued his higher education from the prestigious Madras Christian College and Oxford University where he was president of the Oxford Majlis.

[edit] Civil Service

He secured the first rank in the Civil Services examination. He served as District Magistrate in Trichy, Foreign officer in NWFP and Sri Lanka, Ambassador to the USSR (in 1952-61) and China and as independent India's first Foreign Secretary.

He married Anujee, the daughter of Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair. His son KPS Menon Junior served as Foreign Secretary and grandson Shivsankar Menon is presently Foreign Secretary of India, representing the third generation of Indian Foreign secretaries from the same family.

He was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize (for 1977-78).

[edit] Books

Sri KPS Menon has authored a number of books as well, namely the autobiographical Many Worlds, its update, Many Worlds Revisited and the travelogue Delhi - Chungking. His style of writing is marked by its simplicity and honesty, and abounds in humour. 'Many Worlds' provides a remarkable insight into his early childhood and what it was like to be growing up in a typical Nair household (tharavaad) in those days.