Sainik School, Kazhakuttam (the only such school in Kerala) was founded in 1962, to groom young boys for the National Defence Academy. The then Defence Minister V K Krishna Menon laid the foundation stone for the campus on February 5, 1962. The design of the first phase was done by Professor J C Alexander of the College of Engineering, Trivandrum. The school started functioning in Kazhakuttam in 1964. Till then it operated from a few army barracks in Pangode. School houses are named after national leaders, military heroes, poets and historic personalities such as Nehru, Prasad, Ashoka, Velu Thampi, Shivaji, Cariappa, Rajaji, Tagore, Krishna Menon and Patel. V K Krishna Menon at Sainik School, Kazhakuttam | Photo Credit: Special arrangement The 225-acre campus has residential facilities for students of classes VI to XII. The school has produced stalwarts in all walks of life.Till early 1990s, the major modern institution in Kazhakuttam and surroundings was the University of Kerala campus. Technopark has dwarfed the University campus with a campus that is twice as big as the University campus and with 25 times more people in it. ‘Vaidyankunnu’, a hillock that is now the location of Technopark, is also the title of a novella written by S.E. James, a former research scholar who later became a lecturer in Malabar Christian College. Film actor Premkumar’s grandfather Dr James used to stay at Vaidyankunnu, which is possibly the reasons for the name though some claim that it had a medicinal plantation. Actor Premkumar and his grandfather Dr James | Photo Credit: Special arrangement G Vijayaraghavan, founder CEO of the Technopark has rare photographs of Vaidyankunnu, taken just before construction started. Vijayaraghavan, who not only led the establishment of the park but also introduced a new work culture to Kerala, credits the late K P P Nambiar with the mooting of the idea. E K Nayanar, the then Chief Minister, laid the foundation stone for the park in March 1991 and the park was dedicated to the nation by the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao on November 18, 1995. Brahma Softech was the first company to be set up there. It has been taken over by R R Donnelly now. Standing tall Technopark is today one of India’s largest IT parks, and often described as one of the world’s greenest Technopolis as well. It is spread across 760 acres with a massive 9.7 million sq ft of built up space. In all, 450 companies operate in the park and above 56,000 IT professionals are employed in them, in addition to creating indirect employment for over 2 lakh people. Technopark holds a little India in it, with IT professionals coming from all over the country. The ethnic diversity in food outlets you can spot around Kazhakuttam also is a reflection of the diversity of professionals in the park. With Technocity emerging in Pallippuram, the area will further strengthen its claim as an IT hotspot. A view of Technopark | Photo Credit: Speciala arrangement The writer who works in the Karyavattam campus finds the contrast of his own campus with that of Technopark campus as very striking. It is physically and philosophically different. The Technopark campus is well kept and has an international ambience. In contrast, the Karyavattam campus looks deserted, but it has its own natural beauty, though some of the buildings in it are an eye sore. Much before dusk falls, Karyavattam campus sleeps, but for a few labs and the common library. Technopark buzzes with techies working late into night. Two worlds, one of free thinking, dreaming and reflecting, and another of deadlines, deliverables and technology. The concluding part of the series tracing the history and development of Kazhakuttam

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