Personal Life
The son of a school headmaster in Kerala, Menon worked as a railway stoker, coal miner and Bangalore tobacco company clerk before gaining a junior post in the Indian Civil Service. By working assiduously, Menon rose through the ranks to become the highest serving Indian officer in British India. In 1946, he was appointed Political Reforms Commissioner to the British Viceroy.
In Patrick French's book, India - a portrait, it is mentioned that VP Menon moved in with his Keralite friends after his wife left him and returned to south India. The couple had actually arranged his marriage and helped raise his two sons. When the husband died, Menon married his widow.
Menon was given the title of Rao Bahadur, appointed a CIE in the 1941 Birthday Honours and a CSI in the 1946 Birthday Honours.
Read more about this topic: V. P. Menon
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