I decided that this lockdown period is the best time for me to start reading "A Chequered Brilliance, the many lives of VK Krishna Menon."
I got this from my younger brother Venu who got this from the author Jai Rama Ramesh on my request.
I wanted to whet my appetite to know more about Mr. V K Krishna Menon as I knew some anecdotal information about him.
The author Jairam Ramesh doesn’t need any introduction, but I'm amazed that he is making time to author so many books. He wrote several highly acclaimed books including “Indira Gandhi: A Life in Nature and Intertwined Lives.”
I had this book for almost 4 months but its volume was a deterrent but now that we are not even stepping out to run our regular errands. Time in my hands gave me the courage to open this book.
From last December onwards, India’s controversial Defence Minister, VK Krishna Menon was in the news, courtesy a well-researched book. There are few other biographies on VK Krishna Menon. Through this book I understand, that though he was a versatile genius, he didn’t get the full recognition he deserved for the services he rendered to the nation in its formative years. He was branded as Communist and forgotten. His speeches in the UN for hours together, sipping black tea/coffee, and countering the arguments of Zafarulla Khan of Pakistan, on Kashmir, are not known to the current generation. The result is a biography that is unusual in range, in tone, in breadth. Its a survey of history is fresh and fascinating. The archival material the author had tracked down is very unique.
What comes through it all is that in the fight for Independence and shaping of the Republic in its early years Mr. Menon’s place was alongside Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, and Azad. Mr. JaiRam even feels obliged to declare that “this biography does not intend to eulogise Krishna Menon for his numerous contributions nor castigate him for his many sins. It is instead meant to be a clinically objective narrative of his chequered life based almost entirely on contemporary documentary evidence.”
The roles he played, not only in India before and after Independence, but also in all the issues ranging from Korea, and Vietnam, to Suez and Hungary, come alive in the pages of this book, thanks to the technique the author has followed -- reproducing letter after letter. The reader gets the feeling that he is listening to Krishna Menon, explaining every crisis of the world and the steps he took in the name of India to resolve it.
The author really gave a wonderful narration of Menon’s death. It seems he asked Indira Gandhi to see him that day to talk to her about the recently concluded visit of Shah of Iran. However it was only a matter of time, and around 10 pm on 5th October 1974, he told his long time helper to make him a cup of tea. And said that this might be his last. And words were indeed prophetic. He suffered a heart attack shortly after at 2.15 am, and early morning of Sunday, 6th October, the world’s greatest tea-drinker who had guzzled 20 to 30 cups of tea daily for almost half a century, passed away”
The book is a masterpiece by Jairam Ramesh, which I would recommend everyone to read without fail.
I got this from my younger brother Venu who got this from the author Jai Rama Ramesh on my request.
I wanted to whet my appetite to know more about Mr. V K Krishna Menon as I knew some anecdotal information about him.
The author Jairam Ramesh doesn’t need any introduction, but I'm amazed that he is making time to author so many books. He wrote several highly acclaimed books including “Indira Gandhi: A Life in Nature and Intertwined Lives.”
I had this book for almost 4 months but its volume was a deterrent but now that we are not even stepping out to run our regular errands. Time in my hands gave me the courage to open this book.
From last December onwards, India’s controversial Defence Minister, VK Krishna Menon was in the news, courtesy a well-researched book. There are few other biographies on VK Krishna Menon. Through this book I understand, that though he was a versatile genius, he didn’t get the full recognition he deserved for the services he rendered to the nation in its formative years. He was branded as Communist and forgotten. His speeches in the UN for hours together, sipping black tea/coffee, and countering the arguments of Zafarulla Khan of Pakistan, on Kashmir, are not known to the current generation. The result is a biography that is unusual in range, in tone, in breadth. Its a survey of history is fresh and fascinating. The archival material the author had tracked down is very unique.
What comes through it all is that in the fight for Independence and shaping of the Republic in its early years Mr. Menon’s place was alongside Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, and Azad. Mr. JaiRam even feels obliged to declare that “this biography does not intend to eulogise Krishna Menon for his numerous contributions nor castigate him for his many sins. It is instead meant to be a clinically objective narrative of his chequered life based almost entirely on contemporary documentary evidence.”
The roles he played, not only in India before and after Independence, but also in all the issues ranging from Korea, and Vietnam, to Suez and Hungary, come alive in the pages of this book, thanks to the technique the author has followed -- reproducing letter after letter. The reader gets the feeling that he is listening to Krishna Menon, explaining every crisis of the world and the steps he took in the name of India to resolve it.
The author really gave a wonderful narration of Menon’s death. It seems he asked Indira Gandhi to see him that day to talk to her about the recently concluded visit of Shah of Iran. However it was only a matter of time, and around 10 pm on 5th October 1974, he told his long time helper to make him a cup of tea. And said that this might be his last. And words were indeed prophetic. He suffered a heart attack shortly after at 2.15 am, and early morning of Sunday, 6th October, the world’s greatest tea-drinker who had guzzled 20 to 30 cups of tea daily for almost half a century, passed away”
The book is a masterpiece by Jairam Ramesh, which I would recommend everyone to read without fail.
