K.R. Narayanan was born in the village of Uzhavoor in Kottayam district of Kerala. He obtained his M.A. degree in English from the University of Travancore, standing first in the university. He then obtained his B.Sc.(Economics) degree with a specialization in Political Science, from London School of Economics with First Class Honours.
Career
As a Diplomat
He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1949 and served in embassies in Rangoon, Tokyo, Hanoi, Canberra and in London. He was a close confidant of Jawaharlal Nehru, who would later become the first Prime Minister of India. K.R. Narayanan has served as the Indian ambassador to Thailand (1967-69), Turkey (1973-75), People's Republic of China (1976-78). He was the Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs in 1976. He was the first diplomat to serve as ambassador of India in China (1976-78) since the 1962 Sino-Indian conflict.
While serving in Rangoon, he met his future wife who adopted the Hindu name "Usha".
In public Office
Narayanan later entered politics and won three successive Lok Sabha General Elections as a represenative from the constituency of Ottapalam in Kerala. He was a Member of Parliament and a minister in the Union cabinet. He was elected as the Vice-President of India on August 21, 1992, and then President in 1997.
Books, articles and Papers authored
India and America : Essays in Understanding
Images and Insights
Non Alignment in Contemporary International Relations -(Joint Authorship)
Narayanan was born in his ancestral home (tharavaadu), a small thatched hut at Perumthanam, Uzhavoor, as the fourth of seven children of KocherilRaman Vaidyar, a physician practising the traditional Indian medical systems of Siddha and Ayurveda.
Narayanan entered politics at the request of Indira Gandhi and won three successive general elections to the Lok Sabha (in 1984, 1989, and 1991) as a representative from the constituency of Ottapalam in Palakkad, Kerala, on the Congress ticket.
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