Chandran Nair

Chandran Nair (1945 – 18 September 2023) was a poet and a director and mediator of UNESCO.

He was born in India, but lived and wrote in Singapore for most of his life.

He died in Montigny-le-Bretonneux, a suburb of Paris, where he had moved to work for UNESCO.

He wrote poems published in collections like Once The Horsemen and Other Poems and was the founder of the Society of Singapore Writers.

Chandran Nair was born in Kerala, India in 1945.

He left India for Singapore at the age of seven.

His father, Villayil Raman Gopala Pillai, wrote short stories and novels in Malayalam under the pen name of Njekkad, and migrated to Singapore in 1947.

His first poems were published in his school magazine The Rafflesian in 1963.

His first book of poems, Once The Horsemen and Other Poems, (University Education Press, Singapore), was published in 1972 and was well received, as was his second collection After the Hard Hours, This Rain (Woodrose Publications, Singapore, 1975).

His two collections of poetry, "Once the Horsemen and other Poems (1972)" and "After the Hard Hours this Rain (1975)", reveal fairly explicit references to Indian myths, legends, landscape and spirituality.

In an early poem (Grandfather) written for his grandfather, Nair clearly registers the Indian nostalgia felt deeply in contemplation.

The poem is suggestive also of the position Nair himself seems to have adopted in relation to living in an environment which does not always appreciate the commitment of becoming a sensitive soul.''(Reworlding: The Literature of the Indian Diaspora, edited by Emmanuel S Nelson.)

Hariharan Poonjar said in response to "Malayali Rebel in Singapore":

". . . Chandran is no juggler of words. He dives to the existential core of an experience and describes it without ornamentation and verbal fat. The basic struggle of a psyche responding to the pressures of an intense search for a personality that is rooted in the present—in one's own present—bristles in each line written by this promising poet.

Nirmala D Govindasamy review of "Chandran Nair: An Appraisal" mentioned that:

". . . Chandran Nair is obviously a master of words. His acuteness of observation and accuracy of detail when it comes to metaphorical allusions are admirable. Even if one is dissatisfied with his handling of themes, his handling of words distinguishes him as a skilled craftsman."

In 1973 Chandran Nair married Ivy Goh Pek Kien.

He also won The New Nation Singapore Short Story Writing contest in 1973 and published his stories in "Short Stories From Africa and Asia," which he co-edited with Theo Luzuka, "Singapore Writing" (1977), which he edited for the Society of Singapore Writers, and "Singapore Short Stories (Vol. 1)" edited by Robert Yeo and also in translation in Malay in "Cerpen Cerpen Asean"(Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka).

He co-translated with Malcolm Koh Ho Ping "The Poems and Lyrics of the last Lord Lee, the last Emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty" (Woodrose Publications, Singapore, 1975).

(Chandran Nair, Her World, February 1975, p. 27)

Nair was married to his wife Ivy Goh Nair and together they had three daughters.

Nair died of a heart attack in Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France, on 18 September 2023.

Nair's poetry was commented upon by local as well as foreign reviewers.

Ban Kah Choon remarked on "Once the Horsemen and Other Poems":

". . . But this is an important book of poems. Its themes are human ones, its scenes those we can recognize, its mythology ours. And Mr Nair handles it all adroitly. Many foreigners sneer at local poetry, talking of its lack of skill (as if that is the only thing that matters) and residing in the weather-beaten towers of Eliot, Yeats and Dylan Thomas. For them, I offer Mr Nair's volume of poems. It should be interesting to see his future development. We have a strong and unafraid voice among us."

Kirpal Singh reviewed "Staying Close but Breaking free: Indian writers in Singapore":

''. . . of all the Indians writing in English in Singapore, it is Chandran Nair, I believe, who may be said to be the most "Indian" in terms of literary expression.

Nair was founder President of the Society of Singapore Writers from 1976 to 1981.

Nair studied at Raffles Institution and University of Singapore from which he held a Masters in Science (Marine Biology) and a Diploma in Fisheries (with distinction) but went into publishing on his graduation He worked as an international civil servant with UNESCO, first in Karachi (1981–1985), where he started painting, and then in Paris (1985–2004), where he lived.

Nair started writing at an early age.

After moving to the Paris he continued painting and writing but didn't publish new works, though he was included in a number of anthologies including "Calling of the Kindred" (Cambridge Universities Press, 1993), and was featured in "Reworlding", an anthology reviewing the writing of expatriate Indians, edited by Emmanuel S Nelson (Greenwood Press, New York, 1992).

He is also included in "Idea to Ideal", FirstFruits, Singapore 2004 - 12 Singapore poets on the writing of their poems(edited by Felix Cheong) and in "Journeys : An Anthology of Singapore Poetry" edited by Edwin Thumboo, 1995.

His poem "Grandfather" has been used by the University of Cambridge International Examinations Board for their examination papers.

Nair was perhaps the only Singaporean poet cited in Parliament.

In a discussion about the multiracial nature of modern Singapore, Dr Chiang Hai Ding (MP for Ulu Pandan) had this to say:

''Where else but in Singapore can we find an ethnic Indian, born in India, educated in Singapore, possessing a Science degree from the University of Singapore (a master's degree in Marine Biology) and writing beautiful love poems to his ethnic Chinese wife in an English language magazine?

I do not propose to read out his poems today but, in view of the forthcoming visit of our foreign minister to Peking, perhaps Mr Speaker and hon. Members will bear with me if I read three lines'':

To the east where there is sunshine

The Mind must turn for the beginning

of the World, in which only love matters