A Revered War Correspondent
This young daredevil from Parli, near Ottapalam, charmed men
and women alike, hobnobbed with royalty, prime ministers, presidents, Nobel
prize winners, and generals, was articulate and not only spoke well, but was also
a popular writer, a journalist, and a news reporter before ending up with the
Indian army. A dapper and handsome, young man, he was liked by everybody he
came across. Courting death, he was present in every war zone, be it in Africa,
Europe, Kashmir, Burma, Indonesia, China, or Korea, reporting fearlessly. He
was none other than the Col Unni Nayar, Unni to many, Baby to his friends, Kesavan
to some, and Nayar to others. He was the lone Indian who lost his life during
the Korean War of 1950 when his luck ran out.
During those British Raj days, many of the educated lads
from Ottapalam and nearby towns such as Parli (where Unni hailed from) were well
positioned at all important offices, not only in Delhi and Bombay but also in
Madras. Some traveled farther, to Malaya, Singapore, and of course Rangoon. M
Sivaram the eminent journalist once said – People from Kerala were dominant
among Burma’s white-collar workers, governmental and commercial. It was a
common joke that every other man in this category came from Ottapalam!! So
many from that era, personalities such as VP Menon, KPS Menon, the Chetturs, Shivshankar
Menon, MGK Menon, Lt Gen Candeth, etc., just to mention a few, hailed from this
little town near Palghat.
Unni’s life was incredibly busy, and left him little time to
write a diary, though he did publish a few accounts and short stories early on,
revolving around his younger days in Malabar. It was in his mind to pen a
slightly more detailed account of his village, their customs, and times, but he
finished only four chapters published in a small book titled ‘My
Malabar’, which I perused. The book was completed posthumously, together with
some of his short stories, and is quite a charming read. His hurried life was
to take him for studies to Madras and propel him into a journalism career at Madras,
Calcutta, and Delhi. Joining the army, he became a war reporter during WW II,
present at Malaya, Singapore, Burma, Indonesia, Egypt, North Africa, Germany,
and Italy. Later he was a roving journalist and the Armed Forces information
officer in Delhi and troubled Kashmir, working hand in hand with VP Menon, Mountbatten,
and Nehru during the partition months, and later across the Atlantic as the
Public relations officer at the Indian Embassy in Washington DC with
Vijayalakshmi Pandit, before taking a final challenge as the UN delegate and
observer at the Korean war front. As it was destined, he met his end there.
That was his life in a nutshell, for those who have no time to read this sketch.
But for those who want to go on, let me try to paint the story of this man in
flesh and blood, who as I learned from my aunt just last week, came from a
family connected to ours, like most Nair families, through marriage.
KS Thampan, the headmaster of the Ottapalam school where
Unni studied remembers the day Kochunni Nayar, Unni’s uncle brought him to join
the school, in 1921. Not outstanding in any way, the boy was self-confident and
outgoing, and after six years of schooling, moved on to the Madras Christian
College, to major in English Honors. Dr. AJ Boyd, the MCC principal recalls him
as the skinny fella with a long tongue, a mischievous gleam in his eyes, and a
gruff voice, who eagerly participated in the University training corps and was called
‘Corporal’. He noticed at the outset that Unni had two likes – reading and
writing on the one hand, and soldiering, on the other. Five years later in
1934, after graduation, he launched himself into a journalistic career,
continuing to hobnob with his college mates at the Parrys’ corner college
house, cheroot dangling from his lips and sipping a drink, talking sense and
nonsense, as Boyd recalls. It was in the college magazine that Unni started
writing little articles covering his day-to-day life.
Though he worked with the Merry Magazine for a while, the
Madras Mail (highly rated in those days) was the newspaper he chose to start
his career (Rs 50/- per month). Before long, his counterparts, many of them native
Englishmen, noticed his fluency and skill with English, world history, as well
as English literature. His days at the Mail where he became an exemplary
reporter are brought to life in R (Mail) Parthasarathy’s memoirs. RP mentions
that it was Unni a family friend and the Mail’s sub-editor who asked him to
apply for an apprentice’s post, in 1936. RS mentions him as an outgoing,
westernized man with a soldierly attitude and bearing, who was frequently sent
out on special assignments, a favor typically reserved for white men! PJ
Joseph, of the Malaya tribune, his MMC classmate, was his colleague at the
Mail.
Interestingly, Unni was to write one of the first film
reviews for the then-fledgling Tamil film industry, and the story itself is
quite amusing, for the film was bad and the costumes and makeup preposterous
compared to Western standards. Unni ridiculed the film and many film producers
teaming up took umbrage and refused to advertise in the newspaper. The
newspaper then decided to stop reviewing films and stopped giving just the
brief particulars of the films, from then on!! His sports reports were well-read,
and soon he headed the newsroom as the senior sub-editor. In 1938, he moved on
to the Statesman in Calcutta, and Parthasarathy took his place as the Sub in
the Madras Mail.
His days at Calcutta do not seem to be quite detailed
anywhere, but we know that he joined the Indian army reserve officers when
chance presented itself, in 1940. In 1941, Capt Unni Nayar was sent to Malaya,
to report on the defenses and the troops, with WWII around the corner. Another
matter was foremost in his mind, and that was his courtship with the lovely Dr.
Vimala Nayar from Thekkekurupath. I would assume here that it was all arranged
by the family, and his colleagues mention his numerous letters to the lady. As
destined, they would get married only after the war, in Jan 1947.
In Dec 1941, the Japanese took Burma, and Unni was off to
Burma, to cover the British Army’s abject trek back to India. He was seen to
take care of the sick and dying, and not afraid of providing armed cover to the
retreating columns. His acts of bravery, courage, and risk-taking, his
brilliant reports, and meticulous report filing were noted by so many officers
and reporters, and soon, he was known as a fearless war correspondent. Eve
Curie (daughter of Nobel Prize-winning scientists Marie and Pierre Curie and
the sister of another, Irene Joliot-Curie) and Maurice Ford, mention him in
their reports.
When the Duke of Gloucester toured India in 1942, Unni was
asked to cover the tour and drafted many speeches for the Duke. Pretty soon, he
was commissioned to the Mahratta light infantry, then moved to Delhi and was
quickly posted to Singapore as an observer. Here he had an interesting task, to
interview and clear his old friend PJ Joseph of collusion with the Japanese.
His travels with the army to the Middle East and Europe are
legendary, though not too well known to India. Replacing another gallant
officer Motilal Katju, Sarojini Naidu’s nephew, and well-respected for his
reporting skills, was Unni Nayar. Capt Nair did not want to warm the chair in
Cairo, but wanted to go to El- Alamein where the action was, a region where
Rommel and his panzers were wreaking havoc. For a while, he had nothing much to
report on, and he spent his time living with the Indian troops, namely the 4/16
Punjab Regiment, and the 4/6th Rajputana Rifles. He accompanied them
to Tunisia when the action started, bucketing happily across in his jeep. His
reports were precise, terse, colorful, and always truthful. Pretty soon, Nayar
was hit, a close brush with death, when a round passed through his mouth! Red
as a pumpkin, with a hole in his cheek, and a monstrously swollen head (as
reported by his boss Lt Col Stevens), Unni refused evacuation to Cairo and
pleaded with his boss to let him get back to the battlefront. As the Indians
arrived at Djebel Garci, Nayar was with them, with a bandaged head. Unni’s
African reports were considered brilliant, especially his report on the
breakthrough at Medjez el Bab.
His next stop was Italy, with the 8th Indian - If
I were to say that the saving of some of the finest paintings and artwork in
Italy included Unni’s efforts, you will be astounded. When it was decided to
move the Uffizi paintings so that they could be hidden at the Montegufoni
castle, Unni Nayar arranged extra personnel from the army for their guard,
recalling Vimala’s love for paintings. He proved to be incredibly popular with
the troops, who considered him their biggest morale booster and it was here
that he escaped from death once again, when his jeep received a direct hit and
had to be written off. The unhurt Unni had no difficulty in securing a
replacement when the supply corps heard it was for ‘The Unni Nayar.’
Stevens says that Unni was a special type, for he only wanted
to be at the front lines and anything else was undignified. As I mentioned
before, his actions had been noticed by many and recorded, for some months
later after the fact, Field Marshal Auchinleck chanced upon Stevens who had by
then completed a book on Wavell with Unni’s support (on the last chapter), and
asked ‘what has become of that fine little chap Nayar?’ Unni Nayar received an
MBE for his Middle East war efforts.
Promoted to Major and later to Lt Col, Unni Nayar was now
back in Burma, in the thick of the battle, sporting a red beret jauntily and wearing
his khakis (while others wore the jungle greens). Can you believe it, he
decided to undertake two parachute jumps with hardly any training and did them with
aplomb at Burma and Rangoon, to earn the para badge (he later said the jumps
were heavenly!)! As a correspondent, he made notes on the run, listened
carefully to the chatter in the mess, and was always on the move, dodging
mortars, bullets, and mines. It was, as another observer thought, he possessed
a charmed life. Cheerful, adventurous, and unassuming, he went about his
business.
Sadly, it was in Burma that the illustrious correspondent
Katju met his death. 29th April 1943 - Captain Motilal Katju
volunteered to venture into a native village to look for boats. For several
days he had a premonition that he would not get out alive and had asked Major
Jefferies to carry his diary, which contained a day-by-day account of the
campaign. He did not return, killed by the Japanese. Unfortunately, only a
small part of his diary survived the war, a huge loss!
When the war was over, Unni was much sought after by various
newspapers, but he rejoined the Statesman who sent him to New Delhi as a
special representative. Stevens advised him that he should position himself
well, as India would soon be independent. Reporting on political affairs was however,
a different cup of tea, but it is said that he took to it seriously and was
very popular in the political circuit, especially among foreign correspondents.
The disturbing days of 1946-1947 were tough. When the army
created a public relations office, Unni rejoined the army as an armed forces
information officer. Handling refugee news, troops used to quell disturbances,
Hindu-Muslim riots, etc. daily must have disturbed him a lot. A poignant story
is that of Tayyeb Hussain and his family, Muslim friends of Morris-Jones, who
were forced to flee their home on Lodi Road, how they took refuge at their
friend Unni’s house. In 1946, we see a mention of his visiting his old alma
mater at Ottapalam and presiding over the school day functions.
In Jan 1947, he got married to Dr. Vimala Nayar but was back
in action soon, when fighting flared up in Kashmir. Though disallowed from joining
the front line with the first wave of soldiers, Unni went in later and reported
reality to the world (many had believed India to be the aggressor, until then).
It was at this juncture that we see his participation in trying to quell the
mobs, wielding a megaphone riding his jeep, exhorting peace, and doing the very
work others should have done (Some writers even mention that Unni did what
Sheikh Abdullah should have done).
All this was being noticed by the bigwigs. Nehru who came
across him many a time, makes it clear – The very first time I met him, he
produced a vivid impression in my mind., That impression deepened as I saw more
of him. He was a type, rather uncommon in the present-day world, bubbling over
with enthusiasm and vitality, always showing an eagerness for the work at
hand., able and generally bringing in a breath of fresh air wherever he went.
To all those qualities he added real courage to the point of daring, which is
also not very common. It is not surprising that he was liked by all who knew
him….
As the situation became unbearable in the post-partition
period, Unni, Campbell Johnson, and BL Sharma, as agreed with Mountbatten, manned
the ‘Public Relations Committee ‘to provide daily reports, bulletin boards, and
press conferences, though it was all in no way sufficient. VP Menon, his
compatriot from Ottapalam, felt that Unni had the potential to go to any height
he desired, knowing him well from the cabinet deliberation days, and confesses
that he had far more affection for Kesavan than many of his near relatives.
Interestingly, Unni and VP were in regular touch through letters, for Unni wanted
to write an article about VP, but could not as VP had not provided him with the
requested background information.
Even in the middle of all this, Unni had yet another brush
with death, narrowly escaping a shootout at Sunset Boulevard in Los Angles, he
had taken an Indian dignitary to show him a bit of the Hollywood nightlife.
A big event to work on was Nehru’s visit to the US, which
Nehru himself has written about, in the form of a book. Unni arranged the trip,
took him around, and was present with Nehru during most events. He also
arranged for Nehru to meet Albert Einstein, and the picture of the event though
mentioning him, has him fully covered by Nehru & the great scientist! A
mention in Nehru’s memoirs tells us that Unni used to write directly to him,
and when someone in the external affairs ministry tried to suppress those
letters from the PM, much to Nehru’s annoyance, Nehru forbade it.
It was a heady period in the US, all of five years, Unni and
Vimala became proud parents to their daughter Parvathy – Ammu, but as one can
imagine from all the words read so far, Unni was itching for action. It came in
the form of the Korean War, a matter we had covered in past articles.
Vijayalakshmi Pandit the Ambassador, who was quite close to Nayar family,
eventually permitted him to go as an alternate UN delegate to Korea. While many
sources mention that Unni volunteered for the post, it becomes clear from the
reminiscences of Y D Gundevia that it was due to the latter’s inability to
travel that Unni was chosen as the ‘alternate’ delegate.
July 1950 - Unni took leave, after eating a lunch of his
favorite Rice and Sambar at Gopala Menon’s house and left for Seoul. Something
was not right this time though, for Unni called Menon’s wife from the airport
and asked her to keep an eye on and look after his wife Vimala since she would
be lonely in Washington and call her often.
Col Unni Nayar’s three weeks in Taegu Korea again show him
as a charmer, be it giving away his accommodation to another military
dignitary, with an offer to sleep on the floor, or his diplomatic skills and
the handling of Korean prisoners. At Taegu, he had a routine, visiting the
press billets, 8th Army HQ, Korean ministry, and the battlefront during
the afternoon. By August the battles were raging. MacArthur was around and some
Americans wanted to know when India would send its vaunted Gurkhas. On 5th
August, Unni mentioned to his friend Kondapi that he was itching to end the
tour and get back to Delhi to join his wife in N Delhi on the 25th.
Watch a video of Unni
Nayar in action in Korea
12th August 1950 - Unni woke up late, quite uncharacteristic
for him. At breakfast, he heard about the execution of some Korean political
prisoners and was furious. Later that day, Unni’s friends Ian Morrison and
Christopher Buckley were to accompany him later to the Waegwan front. His
friend Sivaram had flown to Japan for R&R. Coming back, he slipped into his
white dhoti, had a curry rice lunch, and took a quick siesta. As it was time to
get to the Nakdong river front, he rushed out but came tearing back as he had
forgotten his camera, picked it up, and ran out again to his jeep.
Three young and brilliant journalists and revered war
correspondents had met their death doing what they liked. Unni was just 39
years old, the only Indian causality in the Korean War. His body never came
back home, and his remains were cremated at the Juil Valley. The governor of
Kyung Buk collected funds and erected a monument in his honor in Dec 1950. The
Unni Nayar memorial pillar and monument is today, a S Korean National monument.
Vijayalakshmi Pandit took a personal interest in caring for
the young widow during the next few days. Nehru spared no efforts in ensuring
that all support and a pension was provided to Vimala. Vimala Nayar returned to
India to continue her neglected profession and became a well-known gynecologist
& obstetrician. Their daughter Dr. Parvathy Mohan and her children continue
the lineage as doctors in America. Vimala on her death aged 94 in 2011, had desired
to be reunited with her late husband and so her ashes were taken to the
memorial in Taegu and scattered around the memorial, the two of them thus
finally resting together, for eternity.
A portrait of Unni by Maree Beck hangs in the library of the
Indian embassy in Australia. The US national press club established a memorial
fund in his name to bring Indian journalists to the US for training and study.
Many of his Indian contemporaries mention the short shrift
they received from the white Anglo-Saxon, be it European, British, or American.
But studying the life of Unni Nayar, I could not come across a single adverse
comment about him from any officer or soldier, bureaucrat, or journalist who
came across or worked with him. Likewise, there is not a single mention of
prejudice from Unni. The sheer number of accolades tells me how popular he was,
and how quickly he made a name for himself. It makes it clear that Unni transcended
any discrimination, with his simple demeanor, his professional go-get open
attitude, his devotion, his smiling face, and his desire to learn and keep
himself well informed. He needed only 12 years, to make an everlasting name for
himself.
Unni has this to say to all of us, in his little book, ‘My
Malabar’. Though a little dated, his words are something every Indian must note
and is a dictum I have always followed, in my own life, thus far – The India
to which I belong, I know, has her problems, but they matter less to me than
the people. To Europeans and Americans, we are Orientals or inhabitants of a
country mysterious, romantic, or filthy and diseased (according to
temperament). Our way of living is different in externals; but having had some
acquaintance with both Europe and America, I cannot see how an Indian is vastly
different in essentials from a European or an American.
From being constantly derided, many Indians have gone on
the defensive, and become almost apologetic about Indian institutions or
thought. The type of British poseur who has curtly dismissed the Hindu way of
living as semi-barbarous or has lampooned it for the diversion of
shallow-minded bright youths is legend in India; the species wandered through
Government houses to Residency and Yacht Clubs as late as the forties. We
Indians would be foolish if we cared for their stings.
Talking to another writer, Eric Linklater, Unni added – Make
fun of us, but write of the people, not the problems. Several articles in
international newspapers these days are written by Indians working at back
offices in India. I hope this little advice from a man long gone, will be read,
and heeded to by these young journalists and writers.
Unni Nayar, leading by example, proved in just 12 years that
he could be a good Indian, a great newsman, and a fearless soldier, second to
none.
References
Colonel Unni Nayar Commemoration
volume Aug 12, 1951
My Malabar – Col Unni Nayar
Memories of a news editor – R
Parthasarathy
Visit to America – Jawaharlal
Nehru
Various other accounts &
Newspaper clips
Pics – Courtesy UN, Nehru book, Youtube video, Korean War Memorials
in Pictures – acknowledged with thanks.
