During his college days, Sri V P Nair was an all-round athlete. He was a keen footballer and champion in the hop step and jump. He excelled in tennis and together with his elder brother Sri V Madhavan Nair (Mali) and younger brother Sri V Narayanan Nair (Thankappan), won numerous trophies in singles and doubles competitions and this earned them the name ‘Tennis brothers of Travancore’.

After graduating in Law, Sri V P Nair started practicing as an advocate in Trivandrum. He soon gained a good reputation after successfully arguing and winning numerous cases for the poor and needy, free of cost.

Sri V P Nair was first elected to the Indian parliament as an independent candidate supported by the communist party from Chirayankeezhu & Nedumangadu constituency defeating a big name, the veteran politician and former chief minister, Sri Paravur TK Narayana Pillai. This victory earned him the reputation of a ‘giant killer’. He fought the next election from the Quilon(Kollam) constituency and was once again elected with a thumping majority, defeating the formidable Trade union stalwart Sri N Sreekantan Nair and the renowned Sri Kalathil Velayudhan Nair.

Sri VP Nair’s tenure in the parliament was colourful. He studied the problems facing India and Kerala in particular in great depth and regularly bombarded ministers with questions. Sri V P Nair’s excellent command of the English language and wicked sense of humour reflected in his speeches captivated his fellow parliamentarians. The first Prime minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru held him in high esteem and valued his contributions immensely. Sri V P Nair held the record for the most number of questions asked in the parliament by any MP from Kerala for many decades.

After his parliament days, Sri V P Nair returned to Kerala and settled down by the waters of the serene Sasthamcotta Lake to pursue his passion of writing. Being equally proficient in Malayalam as in English, he started the ‘Keralasabdam’ Malayalam weekly from Quilon. It served as a useful platform to air the views of independent thinkers and budding writers. He wrote extensively and translated the classic- State Manual of Travancore written by his father from English to Malayalam.  It is hard to believe that ten thousand pages of this monumental work which he submitted to the authorities in the Government ‘Samskarika Vakuppu’(Dept of Cultural affairs)  got lost within its four walls.

Sri V P Nair was way ahead of his times. He raised awareness of the urgent need to protect our heritage, the freshwater lake at Sasthamcotta and warned about the dire consequences if we ignored it. He continuously voiced his concerns to the authorities. Unfortunately, it regularly fell on deaf ears. Half a century later when the lake started drying up, people realized the scale of the impending disaster he had warned about.

With the expansion of construction all over the world, paint is being used more and more. In-depth knowledge of chemistry made him aware of the large number of toxic materials that are used in the manufacture of paint. To reduce the number of toxins emitted by synthetic paints, he set up an ‘eco-friendly’ paint manufacturing unit-Tilak paints, which uses a natural substance (cashew shell liquid) in Sasthamkotta. It is being run by his youngest son Mr P Viswanathan Nair today and is going from strength to strength.

Sri V P Nair played a key role in obtaining sanction for Dewaswom Board College to be built at Sasthamkotta as well as getting it upgraded to run degree and postgraduate courses. Even after retirement, he continued to remain active, writing and publishing articles of social importance. He never hesitated in helping people who sought his advice, especially those from vulnerable sections of society.

Sri V P Nair was married to Smt Lalitha P Nair from the famous ‘Koyikkonam’ family in Thumpamon, Pandalam. She was the niece of the celebrated ‘Pandalam KP Raman Pillai’ whose poem ‘Ahilanda Mandalam Aniyichorukki’ became the prayer song in Schools across Kerala. Smt Lalitha P Nair was herself a social worker and writer. Her book ‘Smrithimayooham’ is a collection of mesasmories of people from all walks of life about her husband.

Sri V P Nair and Smt Lalitha P Nair were blessed with three children.

The eldest Dr P Sashidharan and the second son Dr P Hari Kumar are medical doctors in the United Kingdom. The Youngest son P Viswanathan Nair lives in Sasthamcotta and runs the paint business started by his father. Recently his son Vishnu who worked in Dubai as an engineer, got fascinated by the idea of eco-friendly paints and has joined his father in the family business.