Kumara Padma Sivasankara Menon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kumara Padma Sivasankara Menon, also known as K. P. S. Menon, was a pioneering career diplomat in the Indian Civil Service, (later Indian Foreign/Administrative Service).
He was born in Kottayam, India in 1896. His father was a lawyer hailing from Ottapalam. He did his schooling at Kottayam and attended CMS College, Kottayam. Pursued higher education at Presidency College, Madras and Oxford University where he was president of the Oxford Majlis. He secured the first rank in the Civil Services examination. Served as District Magistrate in Trichy, Foreign officer in NWFP and Sri Lanka, Ambassador to Russia 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.
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.
