The Post Graduate Department of Economics at Kerala University's Kariavattom campus boasted a faculty of distinguished scholars from its inception in 1959. They included titans like VR Pillai, PGK Panikkar, MA Oommen, TN Krishnan, ET Mathew, PR Gopinathan Nair, K Ramachandran Nair, Umadevi and many more. They held degrees from top universities in India or abroad, published works in leading professional journals, were globally cited, and were regular invitees at national and international seminars. The department's collaborations extended to the nearby Centre for Development Studies (CDS), one of India's premier economics institutes, led by revered economists like KN Raj, and IS Gulati. Students who chose to study or research in this esteemed department were considered the cream of the crop in the state's economics community.

In 1979, a new teacher joined this elite academic environment, introducing an element of trepidation to the established order. M. Kunhaman, hailing from the Paana caste, one of Kerala's most backward communities, emerged as the first faculty member from such a downtrodden and deprived background. Originating from the obscure village of Vadanamkurissi in Palakkad, Kunhaman's entry raised eyebrows due to the stark contrast between his background and the illustrious faculty. However, they had to swallow their lament over “declining meritocracy” once they learned of Kunhaman's academic credentials. The diminutive-looking (as also his name said) scholar held the distinction of being Calicut University's first rank holder and gold medalist in MA. It later emerged that his appointment had faced opposition, requiring intervention from the assembly and government to overcome initial resistance from vested interests.

We belonged to Kunhaman sir's first batch of students in the department. He taught Labour Economics to our small subgroup of about ten students who opted for the agricultural/industrial/labour stream in our final year. I opted for it because it was lighter than Econometrics and less boring than Financial Economics, the other two streams. In no time, Kunhaman sir became our dearest teacher and a close friend. Besides economics, we learned a whole lot of new things about the world and life from listening to the heart-rending experiences he went through during his caste-oppressed childhood and how he took them on. Many couldn't even believe such things would ever........

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