V. K. Krishna Menon

Menon lived a very simple life and even as the high commissioner refused to take a salary. He lived in a single room residence and preferred to use public transport whenever possible. However when he went to social gatherings, he was impeccably dressed. He was a vegetarian and teetotaler who never married.

He died in 1974 at the age of 78 years.

In 2006, The V. K. Krishna Menon Institute was established to commemorate the life and achievements of Menon.

He was born into a wealthy and influential family in Kerala. His father, Komath Krishna Kurup was a very famous and rich lawyer; his mother too hailed from a reputed and wealthy family.

He was sent to Zamorin’s College in Kozhikode to receive his early education. After that he went to Presidency College, Chennai from where he graduated with a B.A. in History and Economics in 1918.

He then went to Madras Law College where he became involved in theosophy. His acquaintance with Annie Besant led to his association with the “Brothers of Service” founded by Annie Besant.

In 1924, Annie Besant helped him to go to London for his higher studies at the University College, London after which he went to the London School of Economics.

He earned an M.A. in Psychology with First Class Honours in 1930 and completed his MSc in Political Science in 1934.

He began his career in the 1930s as an editor for ‘Bodley Head’ and ‘Twentieth Century Library’. He took his career in publishing further by also working with the Penguin and Pelican Books in 1935.

He was a socialist and joined the Labour Party in England where he served as the Labour councilor for the Borough of St. Pancras from 1934 to 1939. He was being prepared to be nominated as a candidate from the Dundee Parliamentary constituency in 1939 but the plan was derailed.

He served again as the Labour councilor from 1944 to 1947. He established the St. Pancras Arts and Civil Council in 1944 and was made the chairman of the Education and Public Library Committee the next year.

Over this time, he had become friends with another nationalist, Jawaharlal Nehru. This friendship would last for many years ending only with the death of Nehru.

Menon worked to ensure that Nehru would emerge as a leader of the Indian independence movement and would be selected as Independent India’s first Prime Minister.

This Indian diplomat was often referred to as "India's Rasputin" or "Nehru's Evil Genius".