Narayanan was born on 15 February 1923, in Tholanur, present day Palakkad District, Kerala, India, then part of the Madras Presidency.

[2] He moved to Malaya to further his education, where he completed the Malayan Senior Cambridge Examination in 1940 and enrolled in the Technical College in Kuala Lumpur, intending to become an electrical engineer.

[4] In mid-1943, Subhas Chandra Bose visited Malaya, attracting “vast crowds, not solely comprised of Indians, [who] flocked to attend what were perhaps the largest political gatherings hitherto held in the country (Harper 1999, p.45).”[5] Narayanan traveled to Kuala Lumpur to hear Netaji and was completely inspired by his speech canvassing moral and material support for the Indian National Army (INA).

Narayanan donated a gold ring he had purchased with his meagre savings as a daily-rated worker, and enlisted with the INA soon after (Netaji Centre 1992, p. 67).

[7] On being commissioned in 1945, he served as a quartermaster in a camp in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, before being appointed the Station Staff Officer (Netaji Centre 1992, p. 67).

[10] They were pushing hard to form trade unions themselves, taking advantage of workers facing hardships due to the dislocations in the immediate post-war period.

[12] Aged 26, Narayanan was possibly the youngest participant and was unknown in the international gathering of the leading lights of trade unions from around the world.

Moreover, Gurney had already started implementing the Briggs Plan to cut supplies and support the guerrillas were receiving from the unassimilated Chinese population scattered along the fringes of jungles.

The Plan involved the resettling of nearly half a million Chinese into “New Villages” that were ringed with barbed wire and patrolled regularly by police.

[22] Templer also needed the support of the Indians, who were largely in estates which were being targeted by the guerrillas who wanted to destroy the economy of colonial Malaya.

The communists were also intimidating the estate workforce in attempts to regain control of the labour movement that they had lost when many union leaders aligned to them went underground at the onset of the Emergency (Comber 2015, p. 3).

Templer was suspicious of the Tunku, who led the Malays and had an uneasy relationship with Tan Cheng Lock, the Chinese leader (Comber 2015, p. 9).

[7] A British civil servant in Malaya had noted that “[b]ehind his penetrating gaze there was a tough, even a harsh quality, an intimidating character, whose mordant tongue and vivid language would unquestionably make him some enemies in Malaya (Comber 2015, p.13).”[7] A local historian was more direct in his assessment: “Templer was a feared man, who became notorious for his violent temper and intemperate language (Cheah 2009, p.137).”[23] Narayanan, who had tremendous influence in the estates, was a nationalist but opposed to militant communism.

On one occasion, he had suggested that Templar visit some of the worst areas affected by the insurgency like Bahau (in Negeri Sembilan) and Yong Peng (in Johor) to help build the morale of the people there.

[28] He set aside one-half of the prize money to establish a Workers' Education Fund and contributed a ringgit a day to the scholarship fund for the rest of his life, reflecting his belief that the children of plantation workers should move out of plantations to secure better-paying jobs offering a clear career path for advancement.

He, however, received with gratitude the Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Universiti Sains Malaysia, in 1974, viewing the award as a consolation for his interrupted academic pursuit (USM 2016, p. 144.

In 1986, MTUC honoured Narayanan again by conferring the title, Bapa Pekerja Malaysia (Father of Malaysian Workers) and making him Honorary Life President in recognition of his lifetime of service to the trade union movement in the country.

[32][33] In 1988, the Tata Workers' Union in India invited PP to deliver the 4th Michael John Memorial Lecture and receive the Gold Medal.

[34] Narayanan resigned as secretary general of the NUPW and gave up almost all his other numerous positions in 1992 on account of poor health and passed away four years later, on February 19, 1996, just a week after he turned 73.

The award, a Gold Medal for the Best Student in the Bachelor of Economics programme, was bestowed for the first time on Benedict Weerasena, who graduated with a first- class honours in the 2015/16 academic session (USM 2016, p. 138).