Shri P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, Governor of Mizoram, is many things rolled into one. He is a successful lawyer, a former politician, an organizer par excellence, an orator, a prolific writer, a philanthropist, and a thinker. A suave and sophisticated communicator, he used to be a regular participant in panel discussions in TV channels before he took up the gubernatorial position. His pleasant demeanor, presence of mind, never-lose-cool attitude and sound arguments have not only endeared him to listeners and helped strike friendships with people across the political aisle but also came in handy for putting up a credible and logical defense of the party in hostile political discussions in Kerala’s TV studios and media circles.

Shri Pillai graduated in Arts from Pandalam N.S.S College. He was an elected office-bearer of the College Union at NSS College. Later, he pursued his Degree in Law from Calicut Law College, and completed the course in the year 1978. During his stint at the Law College, he was the College Magazine Editor and the College Magazine of his tenure, which marked protest against the Emergency and the Indira Gandhi Government, was much talked about at that time. In his second year at the Law College, he was elected Vice-Chairman of the College Union. He was also elected as a Senate Member of the Calicut 4 S t r a i g h t L i n e University three times consecutively between 1984-1992 from the registered graduates constituency

He took a plunge into social activism at a very young age. He had actively participated in the antiEmergency campaign as a student activist of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and its State General Secretary from 1977-79. He was a State-level leader of the student wing of Lok Sangharsha Samiti; and during the 1977 elections, he held the charge of Lok Tantrik Yuva Morcha’s Kerala State Convenor. Later, he became active in Bharatiya Janata Party and held several positions and responsibilities in the organization from its inception in 1980. He was tasked with the job of setting up BJP units in hitherto unchartered territories and demographies, including Lakshadweep. Almost the entire population of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep follow Islam and to convince the local people of the party’s ideology was no mean task, which Shri Pillai managed to accomplish creditably. Acknowledging his ideological and organizational acumen and pragmatic political approach, the party nominated him as the President of Kerala State BJP for two stints; first from 2003-2006 and again from 2018-2019.

As a Senior Central Government Standing Counsel (Assistant Solicitor General) to the Kerala High Court and a leading criminal and civil lawyer, Shri Pillai’s sterling performance has bagged accolades from all quarters. He was also the CBI Standing Counsel in the High Court. In his legal profession spanning four decades, he handled umpteen sensational cases and took them to their logical conclusion. Both the LDF - led by the CPM, and the UDF – led by the Congress, appointed him as Special Public Prosecutor in several important cases, even though he was an office-bearer of the BJP in Kerala. For more than two decades, he was the legal consultant for the prestigious Calicut Press Club. The body of work produced by him – Shri Pillai has written 125 books so far and many in the pipeline – demonstrates his unalloyed passion for writing and giving expression to his thoughts and experiences. Often people wonder how a man having so hectic a schedule can find time for pursuing his literary interests.

A bilingual author, Shri Pillai writes both in English and his mother-tongue Malayalam with ease and dexterity on topics close to his heart such as politics, social and legal issues and poetry. So far, he has written 15 poetry collections – the first one titled Kaaladaanam (Gift of Time) came out in 2004. His book, Dark Days of Democracy was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His other books have been released by President Smt. Pratibha Patil, Vice-President Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, ExChief Minister Oommen Chandy, Union Minister Vayalar Ravi, and other eminent personalities. Foreword to his anthology of poems and other books have been written by Njanapeedam-Laureate MT Vasudevan Nair, Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award winner (late) M P Veerendra Kumar, M P Abdu Samad Samadani, P Parmeswarji, former Supreme Court Judges - Justice V R Krishna Iyer, Justice Cyriac Joseph and Justice K S Radhakrishnan, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Chairman Perumbadavam Sreedharan, former Union Minister O Rajagopal, etc.

A columnist of repute who used to occasionally contribute articles to almost all prominent dailies and magazines, Shri Pillai had served as the Managing Editor of the Janmabhumi daily. He had tried his hand at publishing and turned his business into a successful venture. He encouraged many budding writers by publishing their works without any profit motive through his organization named VIGIL (Regd). He was elected the youngest president of Calicut Bar Association in 1995. He held several positions, including President of Kerala Book Publishers Association; Advisor of All India Chess Association; Kozhikode district president of All India Kabadi Association and other sports bodies. Besides, he was the founder of VIGIL, a socio-cultural think-tank.
Shri Pillai has won more than 32 awards so far. Recognizing his contribution to various fields, JJT University in Rajasthan accorded him with D Litt.

Hailing from Venmony village of Alleppy district, Shri Pillai chose to settle down in Kozhikode. His wife K. Reetha is a practicing lawyer. His son Arjun Sreedhar is a lawyer at the High Court of Kerala and started the profession as junior to his father. His daughter-in-law Jipsa Arjun is a post-graduate in paediatric dentistry and is practicing at Calicut. His daughter Arya Arun is a postgraduate in Dental Science and is practicing in Cochin, while her husband Arun Krishna Dhan is also a lawyer in High Court of Kerala and started his career as junior to his father-in-law.

On November 5, 2019, Shri P.S. Sreedharan Pillai was sworn in as the 21st Governor of the State of Mizoram. Ajai Lamba, Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court administered the oath of office to Shri Pillai at the swearing-in ceremony in Raj Bhavan, Aizawl. The collection of articles found in this book reflect the different traits of the writer.