Parutholli Chalappurathu Kuttikrishnan Menon was born on June 8, 1915, to Parutholli Chalappurathu Karunakara Menon and Parukutty Amma(Parvathy) at Pallapram, a small village near Ponnani, in Malappuram district of the south Indian state of Kerala.[1] His early education was at A. V. High School, Ponnani and after matriculation, he travelled for six years, working at various places in India.[2] During this period, he worked at a tea estate in the Nilgiri hills, a textile factory and K. R. Brothers Printers in Kozhikode, Mangalodhayam monthly, and joined the Kozhikode station of the All India Radio (AIR) in 1954.[3] After retiring from service as a producer of AIR in 1975, he served as the editor of Kunkumam weekly for a while before joining Malayala Manorama in 1976 where he worked as the chief editor of Malayala Manorama weekly and Bhashaposhini. He also served as the president of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi.[2]
Kuttikrishnan joined a literary group in Ponnani in the 1930s which had Edasseri Govindan Nair, Kuttikrishna Marar, Akkitham, Kadavanad Kuttikrishnan, and Moothedath Narayanan Vaidyar as its members and it was during this time he wrote his first short story, Velakkariyude Checkkan.[4] He assumed the pen name, Uroob which means eternal youth in Persian language and dusk in Arabic,[5] for an article he wrote on K. Raghavan, a noted music director of Malayalam cinema, to conceal his identity as the music director was his colleague at AIR and he continued with the pseudonym thereafter.[6] His first short story anthology, Neerchalukal was published in 1945 and three years later, Amina, his first novel was published. His body of work included 8 novels, 27 short story anthologies, three plays, 3 poetry anthologies and three essay compilations.[7]Ummachu published in 1954, Mindappennu, published in 1956 and Sundarikalum Sundaranmarum (The Beautiful and the Handsome) published in 1958 among novels and Gopalan Nayarude Thadi, Rachiyamma and Thurannitta Jalakam among short stories are some of his most notable works. M. Krishnan Nair, a known Malayalam literary critic, counted Rachiyamma among the best stories of world literature.[8]Ummachu has been translated into English under the title, The Beloved.[9] Several of his works have strong female characters and he was known to be an advocate of gender equality.[8] Three of his anthologies, Ankaveeran, Mallanum Maranavum and Appuvinte Lokam are children's literature and he is considered by many as one of the greats of that genre in Malayalam literature.[4]
Uroob (1976). Manjin Marayile Sooryan. National Book Stall, Kottayam: National Book Stall. Archived from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
"One Death turned back", translated form the Malayalam by Narayana Menon, publ. in The Illustrated Weekly of India, Bombay, September 29, 1963, pp. 44-46
Uroob (1974). The Beloved. Translated by Raghava R. Menon. Hind Pocket Books. ISBN9780882536965. (English translation of Ummachu)
^"State Film Awards". Dept. of Information & Public Relations, Government of Kerala. 2 February 2019. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
