New Delhi, Dec 8 (UNI) Veteran journalist K.P.K. Kutty died here on Wednesday due to age-related illnesses.
He was 89.
Kutty was one of the triumvirate who rebuilt UNI after Samachar was broken up post Emergency rule.
Along with General Manager G.G. Mirchandani and his Deputy U.R. Kalkur, Kutty provided the steely leadership that made the United News of India fighting fit and a solid rival to the older and bigger Press Trust of India (PTI).
As the Chief News Editor, a post he held for long year until destiny kicked him into Kalkur’s cabin, Kutty presided over UNI’s news operations from his corner seat in the busy news room.
Armed with a portable Remington typewriter that was the envy of all his junior colleagues, Kutty would pound away copy after copy from morning till late evening – work which kept the UNI wire clattering non-stop.
Backed by a versatile Kalkur, who was also into English literature, Kutty would correct mistakes, quickly put out Flashes (Breaking News), improve stories that needed polishing and worked on the major stories of the day.
Even as he was burdened with work, he found time to encourage juniors and tell them the best way to write news stories.
He would also attend to all kinds of complaints his employees had – ranging from non-availability of tea at night to a missing leg in a cot.
Mirchandani, Kalkur and Kutty together made UNI one of India’s dominant news agencies – and one of the most vibrant in the Third World.
No newspaper, however big, could do without UNI and PTI during an era when news operations were virtually controlled by these two along with the Hindustan Samachar and Samachar Bharti in Hindi.
Hailing from Kavasseri village in Kerala’s Palghat district, Kutty, who was at home both in Tamil and Malayalam besides English and Hindi, joined UNI in 1961 as sub-editor before retiring as its Chief Editor – the top slot – in 1993.
In 1994, he joined the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) as Director and Chief Mentor. After several years, he quit journalism for good and shifted to Kavasseri where he began teaching Carnatic music to children and adults.
Kutty began his working life with the Indian Air Force in 1950. He once told his colleagues that it was D.R. Mankekar who spotted the journalist in him.
He then joined the Indian Express in Delhi as a trainee in 1960 before moving to UNI.
Kutty's first love was music, born as he was into a family of musicians and Vedic scholars. He was adept in playing the veena.
His two-room house on the main street in Kavasseri was packed with music cassettes. It also had a sofa-cum-bed which was made available to anyone who came visiting and decided to spend the night in the quite village.
Kutty would often be seen in the temples in the area, singing away devotional songs in front of deities. Everyone in Kavasseri – from autorickshaw drivers to temple priests – respected him.
He also sang at concerts. When he overcame cancer, and his hair began to grow long rapidly again, doctors credited the feat to his love for music.
Kutty acted in the popular 1987 Malayalam film “New Delhi”, playing a Chief Editor of a newspaper. It was a hit and was remade in Hindi, Kannada and Telugu. Kutty starred in all three versions.
Kutty, who survived by his sons Vijay and Ajay and daughters-in-law Chitra and Anita as well as two grand-daughters, lost his wife decades ago. Until he began to fall ill some years back, Kutty led an active social life.
But unlike many journalists, he never boasted about stories he had done and VIPs he had covered. For him, all that was part of his once daily grind.
UNI AKK SHK2148