From India to Africa

Rajagopalan was born as the eldest son of Nanu Vaidyar. His mother Kalyani was the youngest daughter of a well-known ayurvedic medical practitioner at Ponnani namely, Moothedath Kunhikrishnan Vaidyar.

Rajagopalan completed high school at Pattambi, pre-university course at Christ College, Irinjalakkuda and a five-year degree course at the NSS College of Engineering (Kerala University). He was employed at Ooty as Junior Engineer in 1970. Later he joined the Kerala State Public Works Department and worked at Kannur and Perintalmanna. The Government of India deputed Rajagopalan to the United Republic of Tanzania (East Africa) in 1978. He completed his foreign assignment and thereafter took up employment with a private management consultancy group based at Dar es Salaam as the head of its structural engineering department. He moved to Lesotho in 1988 with an assignment given by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to coordinate projects it funded in that country. Rajagopalan spearheaded a team of international consultants and helped to introduce a modern building control regime in the Kingdom of Lesotho. He also worked as the Deputy City Engineer with the Maseru City Council. Rajagopalan received a national performance award of the Government of Lesotho in 1997. The Government of Lesotho appointed him as Advisor, building control on contract in 2002. He continues to serve the government of Lesotho in that capacity.