Dr. Lekshmi Nair needs no introduction for food lovers in Kerala and across the world. She is virtually a household name, a multifaceted personality with many achievements in her credit. Even while she is the principal of Kerala Law Academy, Dr. Lekshmi manages her catering business and presents cookery shows and travelogues on television. She is also an active vlogger on social media and is a recognized author.
Dr. Lekshmi Nair has had a vibrant presence on televisions with her wildly popular travelogues and food shows. According to newspaper The Hindu, “She has broken bread with tribal communities in remote corners of Arunchal Pradesh, danced away the night at the Hornbill Festival in Nagaland and eaten with truckers on busy highways and slept in cars on the way to windswept Kedarnath. And then she comes back to host those shows on Magic Oven, which continue to have a faithful following 20 years after the programme launched celebrity chef Lakshmi Nair.” The cookery show called Magic Oven was on when the travel show ‘Flavors of India’, also on Kairali TV completed 10 years. Dr. Lekshmi Nair is virtually the culinary goddess of Malayalam television.
Profile
She Joined the Academy as Guest lecturer in History in 1988 and became Guest Lecturer in law in 1990 and became a full-time permanent lecturer in 1994 and became Professor in 2007. She did her LLB, LLM and PhD from the Academy. She is second rank holder of the Kerala University for B.A Degree in History, which she completed from the Government Women’s College, Thiruvananthapuram and is first rank Holder in LLM of the University. She had also successfully completed her M.A. in History from S.V. University, Tirupati. She received University Merit Scholarship for B.A (History) for the years 1984-86 and the Cullen Award for Outstanding and Meritorious Performance in LL.M.
Her research subject was “Legal Dimensions of Secularism”, which is a critical study on the status of India as a secular state. Her finding in her thesis based on extensive research of the constitutional provisions, its interpretations, precedents and other statutory provisions, is that India is not truly a secular state, but a religiously pluralistic state with secular values. Her study also examines critically the fundamental flaws in the history of India including its independence movement resulting in the present nature of Indian polity and constitution. The research study is in the process of being published as a book.
She is the backbone and strength of the teaching faculty and has many published research articles to her credit. Her areas of specializations are ‘law of contract’ and ‘constitutional law’. She is handling classes for both Postgraduate and Graduate students and is research guide for LLM thesis. She lectures on International Law, International Human Rights, Administrative Law, Law of Contracts and is in charge of the activities of the KLA Moot Court Society in organizing Annual National Moot Courts Competition and National Client Interviewing and Counseling Competitions. Several text books published by the Academy have been authored by her.
She has travelled to Austria, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and United States for various academic conferences, deliberations and official purposes. She had participated in many international law conferences, national conferences and workshops. She had visited the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, the University of QueensLand, Brisbane, Australia, the City University of Hong Kong.
She had participated as the Official Strategist and Coach for the Kerala Law Academy Team representing India at the 10th Williams C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Competition held at Vienna, Austria in April 2003 and at the International Environmental Moot competition held at Stetson University, Florida, USA in October 2003. She has done studies on various areas of Human Rights, as well as Environmental Law, in which she specializes and has participated in conferences and academic sessions on Human Rights and Environmental Law. She had participated in the Advanced Core Professional Training Programme on Humanitarian Law and Policy at the Harvard University, USA from 22nd to 24th of June 2009.
A multifaceted personality, she was news reader with Doordarshan (Malayalam channel) from 1986 to 1988. She is member of the Kerala State Film Censor Board since 2005. She is also a celebrity culinary expert, being the host of the most popular cooking programme “Magic Oven” in Malayalam Television Channel, ‘Kairali T.V’, which is being telecasted continuously on every Sunday for the past 10 years, which programme also, has the highest television viewership rate among similar programmes in Kerala and among Malayalees all over the world.
Three cookery recipe books authored by her and published by D.C Books” are among the best sellers in Kerala and have gone into several editions and re-prints. Another programme hosted by her in Kairali T.V is a travelogue titled “Flavours of India”, highlighting the various food specialties, culture and heritage of each of the states in India and is having high viewership rate and great popularity.
She is in the process of publishing the travelogue as a book. She is also a literary critic and writer. She is also the brand ambassador of leading brands including ‘Nirapara’ and she is also guest faculty at catering schools in Dubai, Muscat, Oman etc. She had given umpteen number of culinary demonstrations in various countries captivating a wide range of audience.
Her expertise in cooking stems from the catering business she has been running for about 20 years. Now, she has taken her love for cooking to the next level by launching a new counter in the food court at Pothys Super Store in Thiruvananthapuram.
