Kochi: For 70-year-old Rajagopal K Nair learning is a continuous process. Whenever life threw up a choice, with one of them being an opportunity to study, he would always jump in. No surprise then that recently when he was given the choice to head a private college in Chennai or enroll for the MTech course at the School of Computer Science at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat), he opted for the latter. Nair, a native of Deshamangalam in Thrissur, holds several degrees including seven master’s degrees in various fields of engineering as well as management. For him, upskilling is a fundamental philosophy that he has been pursuing for decades. According to the engineering student, pursuing computer science initially was a random choice. In 1979, when most Indians were unaware of computers, he opted it as a career option and joined IIT-Kharagpur for a diploma course. That was a period when only three mainframe computers (large computer systems that take up the space of a room to operate) existed in the country. At IIT-Kharagpur, Nair was guided by his professor G L Dutta who introduced him to the world of computers. Later, Nair went on to work for government ministries in New Delhi and was also one of the initial employees of Hindustan Computers Ltd (HCL). From 1997 to 2011, he was associated with Anna University as a part-time teaching faculty. “Rajagopal’s passion for learning is an inspiration for all the students at the department. Though he applied for the course last year, he couldn’t get admission due to some technical reasons. We are happy that he joined us this year,” said head of the department Madhu S Nair. Madhu says the department has had several students who took admission post their 40s but when Nair applied at 70, it came as a surprise to the faculty. The 70-year-old student had worked with several companies throughout his career, but he also took regular breaks to upskill himself. “Something that is fascinating about the IT industry is that you can exit at any point of your career and enter at any time provided you catch up with the technology of the day,” says Nair. Nair is also an author having published four books in the domains of mathematics and computer science.
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