I have had the good fortune to know well and be inspired by four remarkable people: Salim Ali, Edward O Wilson, M K Prasad and Chandiprasad Bhatt, all of them lovers of Nature and thinkers and doers. Of them I spent the most time with Salim Ali and MKP, but Salim Ali was 46 years my senior and I lost him when I was 44 years of age.
MKP was older by 11 years, and we kept in constant touch ever since we first met in 1979. A leading light of Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP), he gradually steered it towards broader goals. As early as 1971 he organised through KSSP a seminar on pollution problems of Ernakulam district. The KSSP thus turned from a movement merely of informing people of scientific understanding of the natural world to raising issues of social relevance and applying science to their elucidation, triggering a growth in KSSP's membership.
MKP and his friends brought in independent experts to look at issues such as Chaliyar pollution, publishing in 1979 a study of the "Dying River". The spirit of such enquiries was captured by the slogan adopted by KSSP in 1974, "Science for Social Revolution".
Critical role in Silent Valley campaign
The most celebrated of KSSP studies related to the Silent Valley hydroelectric project. In 1977 MKP wrote an article in 'Sastragathi', pleading that it be spared submersion. Initially, KSSP members were not convinced; for after all they were greatly concerned with the need to generate power and with that employment in the state. But MKP persisted, appreciating the need to take a broader view of the problems. He joined hands with physicists, engineers, agricultural scientists and economist colleagues in the movement to undertake a broader social, technical, economic assessment of the project. This classic study brought to light the fact that Kerala could make available much more energy at a lower cost by investing in energy conservation than by constructing a hydel project. It was from this publication that I first learnt of MKP, and it was a good omen that the first time I met him on 2nd October 1979 we spent a whole day together on a trip to Silent Valley. That started a friendship that has lasted well over four decades and I worked closely with him both while in Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru and on retirement in Pune.
We next met during an annual convention of KSSP, with all of us sleeping on mats on a lodge in Thrissur and participating the next day, 28 February 1980 in a lively people’s Science Parliament debating the Silent valley issue on the open temple ground. Our interactions continued with the work of Centre-state joint committee on SV project in 1983 and the literacy campaign launched in 1986 that led to Ernakulam becoming the first totally literate district in the country under MKP’s leadership.
Joint work ahead of People’s Planning Campaign
He then launched the Panchayat-Level Resource Mapping Programme for the neo-literates that, in turn, led to the People’s Planning Campaign (PPC) of 1995-96. I spent as much of my time as possible with him during these activities, and the approach developed during the PPC was a strong influence in my work on the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel. He was a pillar of support during the work of WGEEP and arranged for promptly translating it in Malayalam thereby making it accessible to people of Kerala.
We were soul brothers and never wore neckties or socks and formal leather shoes throughout our lives. He helped me know the real Kerala in many ways. All the hotels or guest houses I stayed in refused to serve tapioca and fish as dishes beneath their dignity. So MKP took me to his brother's house on Vypin Island to enjoy a rustic meal centered on tapioca and fish.
At Plachimada
As a part of WGEEP field investigations M K Prasad conducted me to the village of Plachimada famous for their resistance to the Coca-Cola plant and cheated of due compensation to this day. So, the people were continuing their agitation in a pandal by the roadside. We reached around noon when the tarmac was burning hot, but a number of people were nonchalantly walking around barefoot. They were obviously people truly at home with the Mother Earth!
Last meet
We last met in February 2020 and went on a cruise on the backwaters. Thereafter, it was impossible to meet but we kept speaking on the phone. I have just completed my scientific autobiography, Western Ghats: A Love Story. Its Malayalam version is also ready and will be published soon. Two weeks ago, he phoned me and told me with great enthusiasm that he will preside over its release in Ernakulam. Sadly, that is not to be. With his demise Kerala, India and indeed the world has lost a great champion of Nature and democracy.
