THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The core travel locus of the capital city, packed every hour with people and traffic, Thampanoor is one of the most uttered place names. Ever pondered about its roots? According to historians, the name Thampanoor originated from ‘Thampante ooru’, meaning ‘Home of the chieftain’. It was named after Kunjunni Thampan who was the ‘vicharippukaran’ or the royal chamberlain of Travancore king Karthika Thirunal.
He was the husband of Kunjikkutti Thampuratti, the daughter of the legendary Irayimman Thampi. Thampanoor used to be a part of Vanchiyoor province. The pivotal part of the city has the main railway terminal, ‘Thiruvananthapuram Central’ as its landmark. The first train arrived there in the year 1931 after the rails were engineered, during the reign of Maharani Sethulakshmi Bhai. The initial run was from Kollam to Chackai. Initially, Chackai was the terminating station. Later, it got extended till Thampanoor.
The region was filled with thick paddy fields back then. The railway and bus terminals, Marakkada road and the lorry garage were surprisingly, entirely covered by the abundant greens in earlier times. Since Thampanoor consisted of wetlands and ponds, it was also called ‘Thampanoor yela’.
The pond ‘Vavanjalikkulam’, commonly known as ‘Manjalikkulam’ is now occupied by the playground of SMV boys’ school. “Ponnara Sreedhar park, opposite the railway station, used to be a pond in the past,” says S P Harikumar, historian and author. “Right next to the Ganapathy temple, there was a residence for officials of high positions who travelled by train, called C P Sathram. It was named after C P Ramaswamy Iyer.”
Thampanoor is the hometown of journalist, critic and writer Kesari A Balakrishna Pillai. Renowned poet P Kunjiraman Nair took his last breath in C P Sathram. KSRTC bus terminal, star hotels, cinema theatres, Railway Mail Service (RMS) along with the railway station increases Thampanoor’s prominence. It is a foreground for heavy traffic daily. As a frequent destination for tourists, it usually gets troublesome for them and the natives when it rains due to the unsolved water logging issues.