Friends and colleagues remember Babu Paul

Thiruvananthapuram: Friends and colleagues of former bureaucrat D Babu Paul organized a commemoration meet at St Peter’s Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Simhasana Cathedral, Statue, known as Babu Paul’s church, on Sunday.
Inaugurating the meet, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Babu Paul excelled both in administrative career as well as in literary field. “The sense of humour in his works made him different. Paul always had the interest of a student to learn and tried to understand things which were not known to him. Even before Malayalam was made the official language, he chose to write in Malayalam, when others preferred to write in English. The way he treated others and his friendly relationships were another speciality about him. Whenever he wrote a letter to me, he always asked to covey his regards to his sister Kamala,” said Vijayan.
The chief minister also spoke about Paul’s initiative in solving the issue between Christian denominations.
O Rajagopal, MLA, shared his memories with Paul, when the latter was Palakkad district collector in 1970s. “I met Babu Paul when I was practising as a lawyer in Palakkad. He studied religious books in depth before writing or commenting about the religion,” he said.
Mentioning about the Bar Eto briro award presented to Paul, Rev Joseph Mor Barnabas Episcopa of Mar Thoma Syrian Church remembered him as a true devotee and good administrator. “The speciality of Paul was that he was associated with all Christian denominations. We admired his work as Kottayam collector. He is a role model for people from every field,” said Rev Joseph Mor Barnabas Episcopa.
Former chief secretary C P Nair said the humbleness of Paul made him a great person among his followers. “He always identifies himself with the common man and always took decisions as a human being. We had different opinion on many matters, but were good friends. I believe his best performance in administration was the Idukki project. Once, after listening to his speech at an event, my father told me to learn from Babu Paul. He knows his audience and becomes one among the people,” recalled C P Nair.
V S Sivakumar, MLA, said that he considered Paul as his elder brother and had sought his advice on various occasions. “His dedication towards his work could be seen in his administration and his knowledge reflected in his literary works,” he said.