Kerala’s power couple share secret formula: ‘Be each other’s sounding boards’

Sitting on a beige sofa at their official residence in Thiruvananthapuram’s Kowdiar neighbourhood, the couple spoke about the secret to this success. Ulysses helped, but so did their decision to fiercely guard their individual opinion and styles of functioning over their 34-year-long career.

IAS officers of the 1990 batch, Muraleedharan and Venu met during their IAS training in Mussoorie. While Venu, a medical doctor, is originally from Kozhikode, Muraleedharan is from Thiruvananthapuram. Without going into the details of their courtship, Muraleedharan says, “We didn’t know each other before that. We travelled together to the academy (in Mussoorie) and it started from there.”

Talking of her early days as an IAS officer, Muraleedharan says her strength lay in working “in a system, rather than alone”. And she ended up doing just that, as she worked with various departments — from Panchayati Raj to textiles and the women’s collective Kudumbashree. “I concentrated on local, decentralised governance,” she says.

During each of these stints, she brought in her own style and pace of work. “My colleagues in Kudumbashree (where she worked for six years) would say that if I was in a bad mood, my hair would be tied up, and if I was in a good mood, I would wear my hair down,” says Muraleedharan, who now sports a close crop.

For Venu, who is happy to let Muraleedharan answer “90% of the questions”, the IAS journey has been no less rewarding. “I have contributed to making a change, but perhaps not in the way I thought of when I started off…One has to take the opportunities the service provides and make peace with them,” he says.

The couple have two children — Kalyani, a contemporary dancer, and Sabari, a graphic designer. “In 1994, when Kalyani was born, I exhausted my maternity leave (of eight weeks). Venu then took over childcare. Paternity leave was unheard of then,” says Muraleedharan.

Talking of striking a work-life balance, Muraleedharan says that she does not bring work home the way Venu used to. “I have a switch that turns off as soon as I get home but he (Venu) does not. He continues to be on the phone, holding meetings and strategising,” says Muraleedharan, who writes poetry and plays the piano while Venu dabbles in theatre and is interested in writing prose.

The couple, however, admitted to discussing work at home “all the time”. It’s something that’s both unavoidable given their work profiles and useful since they “learned from each other’s unadulterated, honest perspective”. Muraleedharan says, “If something needs to be done, we do discuss quite a lot with each other and strategise. It’s something we have done throughout our careers.”

Venu adds, “We supported each other, brought in a different perspective and served as each other’s sounding boards”.

And when their opinions clashed – and there were quite a few of those when Muraleedharan, as Additional Chief Secretary in Local Self Governance department, reported to Venu, who was then Chief Secretary – they made sure they “didn’t exercise power over each other” in their personal and professional lives.

“We sorted out each of our differences like any two colleagues would, through discussions and negotiations,” Venu says.

And yet, Muraleedharan says, her path to becoming Chief Secretary was a “tad bit more difficult” than Venu’s because “it is sometimes harder to be heard” as a woman IAS officer.

As the Chief Secretary, she says she brings to the table a perspective and style of working that’s distinct from Venu’s. “When he comes across a problem, he solves it immediately. But if I come across one, I keep working on it. I prefer to get to the core of an issue, which means my solutions are long-term,” she says.