Thiruvananthapuram

The Travancore kings were far-sighted rulers who cared for the welfare of their subjects above all else, and very soon Thiruvananthapuram came to have the best of everything, be it schools and colleges, hospitals, palaces and inns, a network of waterways and roads, a drinking water supply system, radio broadcasting stations, illumination of roads and buildings with piped gas, parks and stadia, libraries and entertainment centres etc etc. Many of these core systems survive even today, testifying to the vision and dedication of the great kings of yore. In fact, old timers will recall how half a century of ‘development’ in the post-Independence scenario has been unable to leapfrog this infrastructural framework put in place by the Travancore kings.