“I never imagined I would live this long. I believe that during my lifetime, I tried to do everything for the sake of society. Receiving the love and care of so many people has been my greatest fortune. If you were to ask which years on this earth were my most cherished, it would be the time I spent as a teacher. To have taught for nearly 40 years since the age of twenty is a blessing and joy unlike any other,” said Sanoo Master on his 93rd birthday.

Five years later, MK Sanoo— a luminary who created a vast universe in literature and culture — has bid farewell to this world.

When once asked about the address “The Voice of Cultural Kerala”, his first response was a smile. “There is a limit even to silence. I only respond when it is truly necessary. Speaking at the town hall during the Emergency was one such moment of breaking my silence. Sri Narayana Guru saw humanity beyond caste and religious divisions. Yet, I have spoken out even when some within the organisations bearing his name failed to see his vision. I do not wish to remain silent until death,” Sanoo master said.

It was the time of the COVID pandemic then. Asked about that birthday, he replied, “It’s just an ordinary day, as always. I was born on Vishakham in the month of Thulam. I have never celebrated birthdays in any special way. This time, too, with the pandemic and lockdown, I couldn’t go out, which led me into a period of sadness. But then things changed. During lockdown, I stayed home and completed a biography of Kesari Balakrishna Pillai. That is the greatest joy of this birthday. Now I have only one wish left — to leave this world without troubling anyone, just as one longs to take a peaceful nap after a day’s work.”

In 2020, Sanoo master met with four of his former students at Maharaja’s College. When he first came to teach there in 1956, his pupils included Prathapa Chandran; former MP Sebastian Paul, who was a BA Economics student in 1963; Kanakam, a BA Malayalam student of 1967 and Satheedevi, an MA Malayalam student of 1981. After many years, it was a joy for everyone to see Sanoo master again at their beloved alma mater.

His students recalled that being a pupil of Sanoo master was one of the greatest experiences of their lives. Students from other colleges would even come to Maharaja’s just to attend his classes. They revealed that Sanoo master was a teacher who truly knew his students, including the circumstances that brought many of them to study. He formed deep bonds with them, far beyond the ordinary.

On that day, Sanoo master said, “What greater joy is there than to have students who always remember their teachers?”