Gopinath pillai biography of christopher

Gopinath Pillai (born 1937) BBM is a Singaporean diplomat and businessman who served as an ambassador-at-large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.^[1][2]

In 2012, Pillai was conferred the Padma Shri by the Indian government, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.^[3]

Early life

Pillai was born in Singapore to K.

S. Pillai, a journalist who ran a daily, Kerala Bandhu, known to be the only Malayalam language daily published outside India.^[2] He spent eight years of his childhood in Kerala, India, where his family is from, as he could not return to Singapore due to the outbreak of World War II.^[2] After the closure of the daily, his family finances dwindled and Pillai opted for a government-funded education.^[2] He graduated from the University of Malaya with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1961 and was a member of the Socialist Club.^[4][5]

Pillai started his career as a jour