Manakampat Kesavan Unni Nayar (22 April 1911 – 12 August 1950) was an Indian military colonel, journalist, and diplomat who was killed in the Korean War while working on behalf of the United Nations.

Early life and education

He was born 22 April 1911 at Manakampat house near Parli, from Palakkad in the state of Kerala in southern India. After an uneventful early education, he took his honours in Literature, from the

Madras Christian College Madras Christian College (MCC) is a liberal arts and sciences college in Chennai, India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. The college is affiliated to the University of Madras but functions as an autonomous institu ...

. His literary talents were first discovered, in the College Magazine. He began his professional career at a humorous weekly publication, ''The Merry Magazine'' of Madras. He soon moved to ''The Mail'', a

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

daily, but continued to contribute to the ''Merry Magazine''.

Career

Later, he worked in Washington, Singapore, Burma, Libya and various locations in the Middle East and North Africa. While serving as a

U.N The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizin ...

. delegate in Korea in 1950, he was killed (with journalists Christopher Buckley and Ian Morrison) by a land mine exploding under their jeep. A memorial dedicated to him is sited at Waegwan, South Korea. An obituary published by the government of India said:

References

External links

Unni Nayar materials in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)
1911 births 1950 deaths Indian Army officers Indian diplomats Military personnel from Kerala People from Palakkad district Landmine victims Military personnel killed in the Korean War Journalists from Kerala Indian humorists War correspondents of World War II {{India-journalist-stub