"To describe Mr. Menon was like trying to contain the Niagra in a flask," former civil servant P.N. Haksar famously said of him.

The life and multi-faceted contributions of the Indian statesman V.K. Krishna Menon (1896-1974), especially the less-known phase of his life in Britain, were remembered at a meeting organised by the V.K. Krishna Menon Research Institute at the Nehru Centre in London.

Speakers at the meeting included Cyriac Maprayil, Director of the Krishna Menon Institute; Virendar Paul, Deputy High Commissioner of India; Sir Peter Lloyd, former Minister of State for the Home office; and Chaya Ray, a lawyer who offered interesting reflections on Mr. Menon who she knew as a child in London.

“To describe Mr. Menon was like trying to contain the Niagra in a flask,” said Mr. Maprayil, quoting the former civil servant P.N. Haksar.

Prodigious intellect

Despite his prodigious intellect, Mr. Menon was no armchair intellectual and threw himself into local British politics and life. He an elected Councillor for Camden Town for four terms and was conferred the Freedom of the Borough for his public services.

As a member of the library committee, he wanted to see “as many libraries as pubs” in the area, Mr. Maprayil noted. His interest in promoting reading led him to set up Penguin paperbacks in 1935 with Sir Allen Lane. For a time during the war, he even acted as an air raid warden for his area.

Indian League role

Better known and documented are his activities in the India League, which he founded in 1929 and which canvassed support in Britain for Indian independence.

His contacts were wide and influential and included Bertrand Russell, J.B.S. Haldane, Michael Foot, Aneurin Bevan, E.M.Forster and Marie Seton.

1962 war defeat 'hard on him'

Sir Peter Lloyd noted how Mr. Menon was invariably “right, but at the wrong time.” India’s defeat in the Indo-China’s war was “hard on him”, Mr. Lloyd said, “not the kind of payback he was looking for from the Chinese.” But on non-alignment, “his timing was right,” as it made the two power blocks take note of newly independent nations, even as it gave the latter a “sense of autonomy as equals rather than as players with client status.”