The Post Graduate Department of Economics at Kerala University's Kariavattom campus boasted a faculty of distinguished scholars from its inception in 1959. They included titans like VR Pillai, PGK Panikkar, MA Oommen, TN Krishnan, ET Mathew, PR Gopinathan Nair, K Ramachandran Nair, Umadevi and many more. They held degrees from top universities in India or abroad, published works in leading professional journals, were globally cited, and were regular invitees at national and international seminars. The department's collaborations extended to the nearby Centre for Development Studies (CDS), one of India's premier economics institutes, led by revered economists like KN Raj, and IS Gulati. Students who chose to study or research in this esteemed department were considered the cream of the crop in the state's economics community.
In 1979, a new teacher joined this elite academic environment, introducing an element of trepidation to the established order. M. Kunhaman, hailing from the Paana caste, one of Kerala's most backward communities, emerged as the first faculty member from such a downtrodden and deprived background. Originating from the obscure village of Vadanamkurissi in Palakkad, Kunhaman's entry raised eyebrows due to the stark contrast between his background and the illustrious faculty. However, they had to swallow their lament over “declining meritocracy” once they learned of Kunhaman's academic credentials. The diminutive-looking (as also his name said) scholar held the distinction of being Calicut University's first rank holder and gold medalist in MA. It later emerged that his appointment had faced opposition, requiring intervention from the assembly and government to overcome initial resistance from vested interests.
We belonged to Kunhaman sir's first batch of students in the department. He taught Labour Economics to our small subgroup of about ten students who opted for the agricultural/industrial/labour stream in our final year. I opted for it because it was lighter than Econometrics and less boring than Financial Economics, the other two streams. In no time, Kunhaman sir became our dearest teacher and a close friend. Besides economics, we learned a whole lot of new things about the world and life from listening to the heart-rending experiences he went through during his caste-oppressed childhood and how he took them on. Many couldn't even believe such things would ever occur in our progressive Kerala. It took many more years until he wrote his memoirs that the rest of Kerala also learned of Kunhaman sir and his scarred life. His classes were also fascinating journeys into the myriad colours of life and resistance. In short, we learned more from him than from anyone before. We didn't know then that by telling us about his life, Kunhaman sir was holding our hands, navigating us into adulthood, and showing us the "big bad world " we were about to enter. Later, when reading Roots, Alex Haley's cult novel of those times about Kunta Kinte, the African kid captured and sold as a slave, Kunhaman sir's childhood stories kept coming into my mind.
I met him again many times after finishing our course, often at the department, his home, various seminars, etc. He was cheerful as always but also contrarian, as usual. Though I was not as studious as many classmates, Kunhaman sir used to be fond of me because he said he respected my father, which he later mentioned in his much-acclaimed and excruciating autobiography, rightly titled "Ethiru".
In 1996, I returned to the Department again to meet him in a different role as a journalist. I was the State Correspondent for India Today magazine, and our Malayalam edition assigned me to work on a cover story commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Kerala state formation. Collaborating with my colleagues Jacob George and Amrit Lal and the India Today editorial desk led by PS Joseph, we decided to feature a set of individuals who would symbolize Kerala's journey over the past four decades. I had no one in mind other than my teacher to represent Kerala's social progress.
During that interview, he, for the first time, put on record the unbelievable agonies he and his fellow beings endured. He also said he was equally proud to be the first in the community to fight the heavy odds and emerge victorious. "I am the uncrowned king of my community, which even now hasn't even many matriculates. So I am surely a face of Kerala's forty years' journey."
He candidly narrated his caste duties during his boyhood, including delivering fresh plantain leaves for upper castes' feasts, removing them after use, and eating whatever was left on them. "But to eat that leftover was like a feast for me because otherwise we used to go without any food". As the first from his community to go to school, he had eaten the leftovers from the homes of his many upper-caste classmates. "I was too deprived even to feel embarrassed when meeting them at school the next day." He reminded me that he was not talking about practices of a distant Kerala but of the 1960s and 70s, which hadn’t fully disappeared even when we conversed. He had haunting memories of witnessing his close relatives being tied to trees and flogged by higher castes. He said at least that was a thing of the past. He recalled how EMS, their legislator from Pattambi, had broken the barriers by coming and sitting on the cow dung floor of his hut. "He was the first high caste leader to have done that. Therefore, even today, when I utter his name, my hair stands up. He was like a god to us".
Despite later disagreements with the Left and Marxism, Kunhaman sir was a committed Marxist in his earlier days. During my 1996 interview, he credited land reforms for significantly benefiting the lower castes, placing them on a higher level than the contributions of Narayana Guru or Ayyankali. However, his later criticism rightly targeted the failure of land reforms to provide cultivable land to Dalits, emphasizing that unlike what Marx said, caste and class determined production relations in India. Despite facing discrimination from his Leftist peers, he saw himself as part of a corrective force within the Left, drawing parallels with Rosa Luxemburg. While maintaining respect for his childhood hero, EMS, he later critiqued him on various fronts. Kunhaman sir was democratic enough to accept the contradictions in his own thoughts and evolution as well.
In the public eye, Kunhaman sir had a successful academic career. Yet, far from being an easy ride, it was riddled with crises, challenges, and attempts to discriminate and exclude. While serving in the department, he took his MPhil from the CDS and registered for a PhD. But during the course, he fell out with his guide, Dr K N Raj, whom he had admired so much on academic and personal matters. Later, he took his doctorate from Cochin University of Science and Technology under the guidance of Dr KK George. He worked as a professor for nearly three decades at Kerala University and subsequently joined the Tata Institute for Social Sciences in Maharashtra. He was also selected for the much-coveted membership in the University Grants Commission, from which he resigned later. According to him, he was offered vice chancellorship by the former Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan and Rajya Sabha membership by the Bahujan Samaj party, both of which he refused. He authored six major books on topics ranging from development and globalization to subaltern issues, including his autobiography that won the Kerala state Sahitya Akademi Award, which he declined.
Kunhaman sir suffered a profound personal tragedy when his younger daughter Cuckoo, who had congenital ailments, passed away in 2004. I visited him along with Mammen Chundamannil, my old batchmate, in the Medical College hospital, where he was recovering from bouts of depression. He was suspected of having tried something similar to what he finally did successfully. I then recalled how his voice cracked in 1996 when he told me his last point about the past 40 years' progress. "Despite my achievements, I carry my family inheritance -an enduring inferiority complex. I hope my two young daughters will not be made to carry that burden of the past".
Tragedies kept chasing Kunhaman sir even as he overcame them one after the other with sheer grit. Finally, he couldn't bear it any longer and chose his 74th birthday to call it a day. With the end of Kunhaman sir's extraordinary life, Kerala mourns the loss of a remarkable individual and scholar, and his absence leaves a void that cannot easily be filled.
By ignoring him, we did gross injustice to him and also ourselves. His unique personal and socioeconomic background, excruciating experiences, awesome scholastic achievements and invaluable insights formed an extraordinary combination. We miserably failed to make use of one who could have guided our way forward to build the real Nava Keralam. Sleep in peace, dear sir.
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