One – In Search of

Truth
• Chapter one starts with the verses from Tagore’s Gitanjali.
• Justice says there isn’t anything so special in his life to be noted
down. He talks about the temporal span of life and the search of self
in this chapter.
• He is worried whether his autobiography would be misinterpreted. He
is ninety-three years and memory diminishes. He doubts whether he
will be able to recollect his life events properly.
• He mentions about the famous autobiographies he read – Gandhiji’s,
Nehru’s, Gibbon’s and other famous people from different strands of
life.
Cont.
• He says Russell was a true humanist, pacifist, and freethinker and he
is of same ethical wave length as his. He considers Charles Darwin's
autobiography as a jewel in the genre.
• My Experiments with Life's Temporal Plays and Ploys
• the unjustly authoritarian and arrogantly wealthy classes were his
personal bete noire. His beliefs challenged elders idea of natural
order- human bondage of the depressed classes.
• Malabar was his home and was a lawyer and later a judge by
profession. To him,the light of truth is his spiritual voyage.
Two – Sunset
Reminiscences
• At the age of ninety three Justice was tempted to travel back in time
because of his curiosity to know his roots and a feel of imminent
farewell from this world.
• He says ‘the search for one’s distant roots is a delectable journey.’
• In this chapter he talks about his native place, Tamil Nadu, and how
he migrated to Kerala and settled here. He says his roots thus
belonged to Palakkad, though he settled in Kochi.
• He gives a vivid picture of both Palakkad and Kochi and shows the
difference between the two places. To him ‘Kochi is a chemistry of
cosmos and chaos…’
cont
.
• He used sarcastic remarks on oil price hike, dilapidated condition of a
court in Alathur,where he started his career. He also remarked the
pitiable situation of courts in earlier days.
• Indian education, notwithstanding the Constitution(Articles
14,21,21A) is meant for the elite while the poor suffered. He says a
little act of kindness will keep the spirit of humble people, mentioning
about a scholarship that had been given in a college in the name of his
deceased wife.
• He talks about his marriage with Sarada and thirty three years of
blissful marital life.
Cont.
• He studied in Govt. Victoria College and he says his campus memories
rushing to him when he passes through that way. He also mentioned his
teachers and their classes. He considered it an educational blunder to bring
down the Intermediate classes to school level.
• He explained the geography of both his father’s and mother’s villages.
• ‘as we progress we suffer from technology’ commented because of
contaminated rivers and destroyed nature and its resources.
• His Death and After, published in 2005, is a book he wrote after the death
of his elder brother Venkateswara, ‘was brilliant in talent but brief in life’s
tenure’. Mentions a few random events – increased number of toddy shops
and alcohol consumption, how he escaped from death just because he
learnt swimming in childhood.
Three – Rites of
Passage
• In this chapter he talks about his birth and his encounter with Gandhiji. He
was born on 15 Nov.1915 in Palakkad. His father was a pleader and later
became an advocate. He recollects once his father came from a very far
away place to meet Gandhiji who came to Calicut. Iyer too accompanied
and that was his first experiment with swadeshi,swarajya and Bharat
awake. But he says the spirit had long gone.
• He remembers a small incident from his childhood that led him to be in the
path of truth-he lied to his father and his father slapped him- ‘this little slap
left a deep impact on my sense of truth and I realized that lies never pay.’
• When he was in Basle Mission School, they taught students the Bible too
and he was carried out by the divinity of Jesus.
cont,
.
• He pointed out the discrimination in acquiring education- ‘the rich
continue to access the finer academic centres more easily than any
poor student.’ Neither the Executive nor the Judiciary bothers about
the fundamental right (Article 21A). What prevails in the field of
education is market economy.
• ‘Hunger was the poor child’s crime.’ He says Bernard Shaw was cruelly
correct when he says that ‘the greatest of evils and the worst of
crimes is poverty.’ Further he says mere information is not education
but character with truth transforms the child.
• He declares he has no particular political inclination.
Cont.
• He talks about his mother as a kind lady who has sympathy for poor.
She is the one who helped him to shape his character and her care for
poor was a valuable lesson for him throughout his life.
• He was an Alma mater of Annamalai University and those two years
had moulded the best in him-self confidence, public speaking, and
intellectual creativity. There they have debate competitions and he
says his performance won applauses.
• Later he joined Madras Law College, which has produced celebrated
advocates, to achieve his layering profession. He says no book can
equal some professors methodology of advocacy.
Four- We are
Seven
• In this chapter he talks about his family- they were seven siblings. The
title of this chapter is from Wordsworth’s poem “We are Seven” and
this chapter begins with a few lines from this poem.
• Among seven only three survives.
• An elder brother, Venkateswaram, died at the age of twenty seven
out of cancer.
• His younger sister, Renganayaki, is past ninety and healthy. He gives a
clear picture of how poor education and early marriage dwarf young
girls talents. Also pointed out spendthrift nature of people in
marriages.
Cont.
• He considers death as a mere transformation from corporeal to astral
existence.
• He then comments on the life of a mother – who has no real liberation in
life – pregnancy, delivery, breast feeding, household drudgery . Even new
millennium bears testimony to this gender injustice.
• He explains how his other two sisters were married at an young age and
deprive them from reaching their talents. Yet one sister, because of his
intervention, was allowed to pursue her career- Dr. Meenakshi. She gained
stature as a jurist. But she too died of cancer. He also talks about demise of
another sister, Vijayalekshmi. This chapter ends with ‘Omega’ from
Aurobindo’s Savitri.
Five – Stirrings of the
Soul
• This chapter is dedicated to his thoughts on life, beliefs and core
values. From the knowledge he gained from Upanishads and Bjagavat
Gita he regards religion and reason as a revelation of the divinity
already in Man.
• From his experiences and vast knowledge he comments ‘one must be
aware of one’s temporal limitations and never rise beyond one’s
moderate talents with self-deceptive pretensions.’
Six- My Professional
Procession
• Graduation from Annamalai University and familial inclination made
him chose law as his profession. Law as a career opens other
opportunities of public service and social commitment.
• He remembers, during 1910s, to be a member of Bar and to sit in
court hall one has to buy one's own chair.
• Success in law practice is not purchased by scholarship, but by
persuasive advocacy and industrious study of cases with relevant law.
• His family shifted to Tellicherry, as his father’s practice grew there. He
says Thalassery(Tellicherry) has a great tradition. Warren Hastings and
Churchill had stayed there. It’s a place with history of sports and
games, it’s reported that India’s first cricket game was played there.
Cont.
• Three specialties of this place- playing cricket, making cakes and circus. It
take its pride in its court which is 200 years old. It claims Kerala Varma as
its prizes literati.
• Its famous for its cashew and spice trade too.
• It’s the place where Justice began his career as a successful lawyer. He had
involved in several sensational cases involving agrarian struggles. He
usually appeared for causes of workers and peasants. He also mentions
about the political issues happened in Communist Party and in Congress.
Gives a glimpse of All India Postal Strike, where AKG gave a sarcastic
speech. He also talks about the political policy of Congress that followed
the suppression of anyone who criticized the British. His prison
humanization was a successful programme.
Seven- Sarada and I: A Divine Duo in Human
Space
• Because of modern cultural degradation, the spiritual perfection and
lasting integration of marital relationship declined a lot. In this
chapter he talks about his conjugal bond with his wife, Sarada. He
married in 1941 and he says that transformed his life. She
accompanied him in his travels and to him, life is not just about bank
balances but the glory of two soul – to- soul partners living and loving
in gladsome light. Both of them had same interests in many things
especially in reading Omar Khayyam.
• He calls back an incident in which he was detained by the Madras
state, on grounds totally fabricated. It shook his faith in the integrity.
He had to spend thirty days in Kannur Central Jail and experienced
torture.
Cont.
• He was active in non professional activities too- clubs, sports, welfare
associations. Where ever he was the president, his wife was an
executive member and she excelled him in some dimensions. He
informs about his interest in sports
• His wife and he had common interests in public life blended with
leftist political movements.
• She died on 12 Aug 1974 in a hospital in America. She underwent
multiple heart surgeries. He was shocked at the pachydermic medical
professionalism in America- business. He always cherished their
thirty three years of marital life.
Eight- I was a
Prisoner
• As a young lawyer he picked up lucrative practice both in civil and
criminal sides. He had appeared in many cases where leading
communists, landlords, industrialists were accused.
• The Calcutta Thesis of 1948 with BT Ranadive’s militant call for seizing
power came with irrational arrest of innocent cadres. He was against
this and because of that he heard he will be detained. One night he
was arrested under the Preventive Detention Law.
• Here he talks about three types of jails- central, sub- and police lock-
up. He was moved to Cannanore Central Jail. He gives a description
about the torture in jails and says the worst is police lock-up. He says
his Detention was a necessary measure for Congress.
Cont.
• His father approached authorities and explained his position at the
Bar. Mr. Madhava Menon supported and the Chief Minister directed
his release. He was in jail for thirty days and that was a deep scar in
his conscience.
• When he became judge of Supreme Court, he wrote the Sunil Batra
judgments dealing with prison conditions, it was humanism writ at
large.
Nine – Thou Shalt not
Kill
• Macaulay’s perception of colonial justice has rated Indian life as of such scarce value that death
sentence was the rule for murder and life imprisonment, an exception – hanging as a routine
nostrum for homicide.
• Justice had come across cases where the evidence clearly warranted a verdict of ‘not guilty’ but
the sentence was death penalty. Later England has abolished the death sentence but India did
not.
• He recollects a case from Sessions Court of Calicut in 1937-one accused was sentenced to death,
but found cross examiner did not do any justice. Later it was sent for retrial and the accused was
acquitted. He also talks about a case that happened the other way round. He did not entertain
capital punishment and he had appealed for life. A five – judge bench finally decided, death
sentence should be given only in the rarest of rare cases.
• He shares another anecdote from his judicial days – he was invited to inaugurate a world
conference in Sweden. A B Vajpayee promises to get aid for his travel, but Morarji Desai, the PM,
declined it. But Amnesty carried out the expenses.
Cont.
• He worked with SPCA and felt ‘to save a life, a little life, is sacred duty
and spiritual solace’. He agrees with Maneka Gandhi that ‘wild
animals should never be a part of circus attractions.’
• He tried to set up the SPCA in Kochi, but did not work well.
Ten – Cities I Have
Loved
• In this chapter he mainly explains three cities he loved – Mysore,
Bangalore and Coorg.
• Mysore - he talks about its history and beautiful geography- Brinda an
Gardens
• Chapter ends with an ‘Au Revoir’ to Coorg.
Eleven- My Days as a
Minister
• Towards the end of 1956,Malabar MLA’s were packed off to Kerala for
the reorganization of the states. He won the first election to the
Kerala Assembly from Tellicherry with the support of Communist
Party.
• EMS requested him to serve as a minister in his cabinet, though he
was reluctant. He tried innovative experiments in all the departments
entrusted to him. During that time he got an opportunity to meet
Nehru, the PM. He says Nehru’s vision always inspired him and he
gets replies for his letters from Nehru.
• He talks about the political turbulence that arose in Kerala and how
he strained to preserve law and order.
Cont.
• He says the purpose of Vimochana Samaram was to overthrow the
govt. through violence.
• Humanization of prisons was a new reform he introduced everywhere
in the state.
• He remembers, Vinoba Bhave held a National Sarvodaya Conference
and he was asked to address the audience as a voice of govt. and he
emphasised the importance of land reforms.
• Political issues started arousing in the state and he approached Nehru
to help. Nehru called Indira Gandhi and asked to hear Iyer’s grievance.
Finally he got a chance to meet her and presented the outrageous
Kerala scenario.
Cont.
• The PM decided that the govt. must quit and a fresh election should
be held.
• He was asked to accept judgeship by the Chief Justice M S Menon.
EMS too supported it and told ‘it could be used for the liberation of
the people’.
12- First EMS Council of Ministers :
1957-59
• EMS was an outstanding ideologist who came to power and chose his
council of ministers including Iyer.
• He criticised that ‘salary and other perks have become an addiction
and attraction’ for ministers.
• Keeping in mind his days in jail, he took it as a responsibilityto
humanise jails and lend dignity and decency to its inmates. He
brought several changes in the running of jails. He introduced
Operation Valmiki because he believed every Saint had a past and
every sinner has a future. He ordered all central jails to observe
festive seasons.
Cont.
• In Operation Juvenile Reformation he provided facilities for young
prisoners to study and take examinations. He also started rescue
homes for women. He also renovated the accommodation facilities
for police, which was a need. He also changed ‘shoot to kill’ to ‘shoot
to disable but not Kill.’
• He along with Home Secretary made Kerala’s custodial centres as
paradigm of redemption.
13- Mass Shramdan during the EMS
Ministry
• It has been his conviction that participative democracy has meaning
only if people are involved in constructive programmes. This is a
Gandhi an thought and Mao-Tse-Tung vision.
• He wanted to reduce the want and misery of people. He started a
mission, Operation Shramadan- mobilisation of people in various
walks of life, both skilled and unskilled, who could add to the stock of
value-added assets.
• He explained his plans briefly and people were patriotic ally willing to
execute his plans.
• Politicization has ruined the country, but he believed if people are
summoned for a task with a national inspiration
Cont.
• Untained by party, they will respond with service and sacrifice. He
was convinced that by consensus we can rouse the masses into
involvement in national reconstruction .
14- Back to the
Bar
• In 1938 he went to Tellicherry and practiced with his father and he
considered that as a training ground for him. He was of immense legal help
and had a human approach to his clients’ just agitations and militant
battles in court.
• He recollects the last day of EMS govt. and he too lost his powers as a
minister.
• He talks about his difficulty in getting a house for rent in Cochin, since he
was a former Communist minister. Gradually he emerged as one of the top
lawyers of the High Court Bar.
• He introduced a bill to amend the Kerala High Court Act providing for 210
working days. While the bill was pending Chief Justice Koshy sent a letter
agreeing the same, though many judges reacted sharply.
15- My Judicial Career:
Beginnings
• In July 1968 he was elevated to the bench of the Kerala High Court.
• Chief Justice M S Menon insisted him to be a judge of his court,thus
he sworn as the judge of the High Court of Kerala. He reproduced his
reply to the Bar in his autobiography. He says he can recollect each
word of it because it reflects his thoughts as of then and now.
• His tenure in the Kerala High Court Bench was brief but bright.
• He had been convinced that Islamic law has suffered judicial
misconception. Women had been downgraded unjustly and
insensitively.
Cont.
Cont.
16- Central Law Commission : A Beginning
towards Poverty Jurisprudence
• Once he was asked to go to Delhi as a member of the Central Law
Commission. Its because the PM and the Supreme Court would be
able to perceive his progressive capability and consider the possibility
of sending him to the Supreme Court. It is needed as a departure
from archaic principles, juristic orthodoxy and colonial-cum-capitalist
jurisprudence. He agreed.
• During that time he understood poor were being denied justice
because of the absence of due machinery for providing legal aid to
them. He worked over the matter and it became a beginning for legal
aid services to poor litigants.
Cont.
17- Seven Years in the Supreme
Court
• The SC is a unique institution with neither purse nor sword. It can
bring anyone to heel.
• His elevation to the SC was notable because he tried to revolutionise
the litigative system monopolized by the rich class. He stood by the
common Indians right to justice at the highest level and sought to
institutionalize the highest court as a forum where poverty was
no bar to access the judicial process. He gave a new complexion o
the judicial process.
• He learnt the lesson public nuisance and the law and he was
convinced that the life of law is not logic but experience.
Cont.
• He criticized the pending litigation in courts, like, Babri Masjid land
litigation, Coimbatore blast case.
• He said ‘a code of conduct for judges insisting on early
pronouncement of judgement is a felt necessity.’
18- Indira Gandhi and the
Emergency
• When the Allahabad High Court set aside PM Indira Gandhi’s election
there was tension in the nation. H R Gokhale, the Law Minister,
wanted to present the appeal to Iyer. But he refused to meet minister
and asked to go to registry and present the appeal along with an
application.
• He was the single judge on the Vacation Bench. He delivered the
judgement depriving Mrs. Gandhi of her status and privileges as
Member of Parliament but retained as her position as PM.
• He says court management is an art, which needs special training. To
him, even the members on the High Bench has no training in this art.
Cont.
• Eventually, Emergency was declared by Ms. Indira Gandhi.
• When the tension arose, he met Ms. Gandhi and questioned the act
of police shoot people randomly and court became a powerless
power. She apologetically replied for the trouble.
• Many criticized his judgement on Ms. Gandhi case.
Cont.
19- My Contributions to the Supreme
Court
• He served for seven years and four months in the SC.
• He comments ‘this may be a flattering exaggeration but Public Interest
Litigation, which became a phenomenal feature, owed much to me.’
• An American researcher on the Indian SC judges informed that Iyer had
delivered over four hundred judgements in 7 years which was perhaps
twice the number than others.
• Prison jurisprudence, a la Sunil Batra was a unique piece of legal literature.
• He stood for human rights justice, especially gender justice. He
explained his role in giving justice to Muthamma’s case.
Cont.
Muthamma’s
case
Cont.
• His judgements were quite unconventional, rarely traditional and
elegantly literary.
• A notable precedent is Shamsher Singh’s case(1974S.C P-2192). His
Shamsher Singh opinion remains an authority till date.
• When he was a minister in Kerala he had abolished both handcuffs
and footcuffs, so that prisoners did not feel humiliation.
• The Gandhi Peace Foundation invited him to deliver a lecture on the
theme ‘break the law for making a better law’ as taught by Gandhiji.
But he talked on the topic ‘Break the law to unmake a bad law and to
make a good law’. This lecture was later published and sold
worldwide.
20- A Tearful
Farewell
• The farewell to the SC, where he served for 7 years, was a tearful
moment for him.
• He said when he left the Apex Court he was alone but he was able to
feel the presence of his wife in an ethereal form.
21- Why I
Accuse
• He had been twice charged with contempt of court, but both cases
were resolved.
• He confessed that he was a severe critic of the Judiciary and of the
justice delivery system we have. Its because of his deep commitment
to justice and his belief that the Judiciary in our democracy is possibly
the greatest guarantee of personal liberties and social justice.
• To him, justice is not an abstract omnipotence in the sky but an
operational causa causans in human affairs. So the judge, the court
and the Judiciary must never fall below the standards of high
credibility, corrective efficiency and inflexible integrity.
Judgeology
22- Post-retirement
Vicissitudes
• In this chapter he talks about his personal secretary, Govindan Nair,
why he named his house ‘Satgamaya’. He also talked about how his
deceased wife conversed with him through a medium, a Pakistani
lady.
• He says through social services his wife had a status of her own.
• He gives a picture of his family- two sons Ramesh and Paramesh and
their families too.
• He also mentioned his brother Lakshminarayanan, an IPS Officer and
his autobiography, Appointments and Disappointments.
 23- More about Post-Retirement
Vicissitudes
. 1980 he retired from the SC at the age of sixty five. Yet, he
ued his commitment to society- there was an increase in his public
h, cultural pursuits, writing articles and delivering lectures. He
ned immersed in human issues.
when he was in the Bench, he had other social commitments and
. But ‘to do justice in court is soulful joy, to be activist on the Bench is
arkable self fulfilment.’
ollects his affection and intimacy towards Nehru, Indira Gandhi and
other Marxist leaders.
ks about an incident where CPI leader N E Balaram Came to meet him
suade him for election, but he rejected it. Later EMS, came from
Cont.
• He also mentioned about an incident where he became a candidate
again and illustrated its reason. But he lost that election.
24- An American Trip that did not
Click
• In this chapter he talks about a cancelled American trip that was
meant for a talk in the University of Oregon. Two professors from
there came to India and invited him for the same. But the America-
Iraq political condition had worsened and his eyesight was declining.
So he cancelled the trip. He says within a short period of time those
two professors became close to him.
• He also comments on the war and president Bush’s aggressive
actions.
25- Answers in Spirituality: Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi and his Transcendental
• This chapter introduces Transcendental Meditation (™ ) and its founder
Meditation
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
• After his wife’s death in 1973,Iyer’s mind was filed with sombre thoughts
about the other world and the mystery of life and death.
• His son suggested to meet Maharishi, a supra – mental humanist, who was
coming to Delhi. He was able to overcome his grief through TM.
• TM is a universal phenomenon. He says its for humanity, so anyone can
practice it regardless of religion or faith.
• He suggests judges to practice TM because their ‘mental pose will
be balanced and their higher values will have a better judgement.’
Cont.
• In one of his judgements in the SC, he recommended this therapeutic
pattern of training for prisoners and there are Juvenile institutions in
our country where young persons learn TM.
• He finds it as a tool of correctional therapy.
26- Curiosities: My Occult
Travels
• His life on the Bench offered the most creative span in his variegated
career. He says lawyering and politics have their chills and charms but
marvels of judgements have no parallel in other occupations. He had
rejoiced on the rare occasions when fine pronouncements were issued
from his pen.
• The death of his wife had darkened his days. ‘Death leaves a gnashing
wound and there is no bar of limitation for the poignant pain of
parting’. He says even his judicial behaviour was affected by that loss.
He became more sympathetic to people who have misery and injustice.
• He even started questioning death and it’s meaning. He seeked what’s
there after death.
Cont.
• Though TM had cleared his mind and tranquility supervened, his
soul remained restless.
• An association with the Brahmakumari Movement helped him to look
at life from the angle of love and renunciation. He had also involved
in the teachings of yoga, thyaga and rejection of bhoga for years.
• He had also met Satya Sai Baba;he was once a critic of Baba.
• He never got a satisfactory response for his doubts about death and
afterlife.
• Finally he came to an inference that death is an event in a chain, an
incident of extraordinary change but part of a continuum.
Cont.
• He leaves the interpretive assumption on death, afterlife and rebirth
to readers.
• He ends his autobiography with a stanza from Gitanjali. He says he
and his wife used to read that stanza together, but now he alone
does.
Epilogue
• His life has been filled with quest which leads to discoveries. He had
passion for expression, sharing his thoughts and ideas which led to
innumerable talks and writings .
• An American friend told him that the US Congress Library has over 70
of his books. So he had given a detailed list of 71 books of his for
further reading and reference.
• He says at first he thought to give Me, Humble Me as the title of his
autobiography but later changed. He also gives a list of awards he
received. He was also honoured with Padmavibhushan.
• This too ends with lines from Gitanjali.