Using this time of self-isolation at home I thought I would spend some time writing up some of the inspirational and interesting stories told to me by fascinating characters I have met over my decades in Asia. Some of these stories are covered in my three life story books on South East Asia and India and some have been told to me by elderly Myanmar citizens for my Myanmar Oral History Podcast.
I met Captain CP Krishnan Nair 20 or so years ago at his office in the Leela Hotel in Mumbai, the flagship of his hotel group. I expected to meet someone in his 60s but there before me was a man in his early 80s, whose whole body exuded the energy and interest in life of a man decades younger. He was born into a poor family of 10 children in a small village in Kerala. He recalled the casteism which he first became aware of walking to and from his elementary school. The casteism “etiquette” was that he should stand aside and let higher caste boys past first when walking across the borders between rice paddies. He got into many fights as he refused to comply.
When he was in first year of high school an event changed his life. One day, not long after he started, the local Maharaja who owned the school came to visit and speak to the students. Captain Nair remembers all 700 boys were crowded into the playground sitting on the ground. He told me he had never seen a man dressed in such beautiful clothes and who spoke such beautifully accented Hindi. While he was sitting listening to the Maharaja, he made a poem up about him comparing him to the brilliance of the sun and the cool radiance of the moon. When the Maharaja finished speaking, without any request from anyone to do so, he leapt to his feet and recited the poem out loud the Maharaja. He then told the Maharaja words to the effect that “you who give us the gift of education are more important than a king or rich businessman”. You can imagine the whole school was shocked into silence and Captain Nair remembers the headmaster looking “daggers” at him. The Maharaja too was shocked but, after gathering his composure called Captain Nair to the stage and pulled him to his breast and whispered in his ear “What is your name, boy?” He whispered back “Krishnan Nair, Sir.” With that the Maharaja said publicly to the Headmaster “Give this boy a scholarship” and whispered into his ear again “If you ever need help with your education you come and see me.”
Years later when Captain Nair finished high school, he had no money to study further but remembered the words of the Maharaja. So off he went to see him. After the normal pleasantries the Maharaja said, “I suppose you have come to see me because you need help with your ongoing education?” Captain Nair confirmed that was the case. The Maharaja responded “Look, I am having a rather difficult time financially at the moment” and then pointing to an enormous ring on one of his fingers continued “ if you take this ring to my jeweller in Madras, its value will be enough to pay for all your education.” And that is how Captain Nair started his way in the world and eventually became one of India’s leading hoteliers. Captain Nair died in 2014 at the age of 92.
Peter Church blog 