JOIN USVeteran diplomat and writer A K Damodaran today died in a city hospital here after prolonged illness. He was 91.
A teacher, writer and freedom fighter before becoming a diplomat, Damodaran breathed his last at Escorts Hospital, his family said. Ramu Damodaran, who was Private Secretary to then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao, is his son.
A Nehruviate born in 1921 in Kerala's Tripunithura, A K Damodaran was Indian ambassador in Sri Lanka, China, Russia, Germany and Italy. A 1953 batch IFS officer, Damodaran belonged to the same batch as that of former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh.
He was also an excellent writer and penned a book 'Jawaharlal Nehru as a Communicator' besides co-editing 'Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru' and 'Indian Foreign Policy: The Indira Gandhi Years'.
Fondly remembering his former colleague and friend, Natwar Singh said that Damodaran was an "exceptional individual".
"Nobility and refinement of his character was something extraordinary. He was brilliant, erudite, wise and understanding," he said.
"He was a matured and balanced individual. It is both a personal loss to me and to the Ministry of External Affairs," Singh told PTI.
Damodaran was imprisoned during the Quit India Movement and spent more than 12 months in jail. He also taught English at Delhi University. He worked in the Policy Planning Division of the Ministry of External Affairs for a number of years.