The Trailblazer of Indian Legal Education - Dr. N. R. Madhava Menon, RIP
Just woke up and read the news about the passing away of Dr. N. R. Madhava Menon, the Founding Director and VC of my alma mater, National Law School of India University. While he had been ailing and recently hospitalized, this news nonetheless comes as a great shock to me, as am sure it does to the entire NLS alumni body, staff and administration (past and present).
I fondly remember my Orientation Day in 1992 when Dr. Menon gave us a warm, yet, typically no-nonsense welcome and set the tone for what we were to expect, and what was expected of us, over the next five years at Nagarbhavi. His speech that day would give us all a peek into his steely personality, his fierce and passionate commitment to NLS, his absolute ownership of power and responsibility over NLS. It would also sub-consciously instill in all of us an unstated sense of pride and purpose about our capabilities and about our responsibilities.
In the five years that followed, "Diro" (as we referred to him, in half-fond and half reverential tones), showed us and showed the world what a great leader he was. After all, he was charged with the very complex task of building from scratch - often on shoestring budgets and with ramshackle, hand-me-down infrastructure - India's Premier Law School, a kind that had never before been seen in India, and to grow it into the huge sphere of influence and "social engineering " that it emerged to be. And he zestfully went about that task, coining powerful phrases like "Harvard of the East", which not only gave NLS an aura that it carries to this day, but arguably, also lifted the stigma in Indan society about the legal profession as a whole! It would be no exaggeration at all to say that through HIS NLS, Dr. Menon single-handedly sent the message loud and clear to all sections of society that the legal profession is a prestigious one for young kids to aspire to a career in!
As an administrator, he was very focused, very firm and highly principled. While I can think of quite a few instances where we the student body had disagreements with him, the immense respect that we had for his fairness and integrity made sure that there never were any seriously disruptive or adverse incidents in NLS during his entire tenure.
Dr. Menon "graduated" with me in 1997 - I got my law degree that year, and he retired as Director and VC. He went on to weave his magic in the legal education space by becoming the Founding Director of NUJS in Kolkata, and after that, the National Judicial Academy in Bhopal. For all these efforts and achievements, Dr. Menon deservedly received several awards and recognitions, including most prominently, the "Living Legend of the Law Award" in 1995 and the Padma Shri in 2003.
Dr. Menon was a tough, focused man with a very noticeable warm side to him. To me, and to many of my contemporaries in "Law School", he will always be "The Diro" - fondly remembered for dreaming his Grand Dream through us, and for leaving his indelible, classy stamp on not just NLS, but on all of us.
RIP, sir.....I hope your family finds the strength in this hour to emerge stronger from this loss.