Pallithura is a village in the district of Trivandrum, the capital city of Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

 state in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. Literally translated from Malayalam, it means 'the beach (Thura) besides the church (Palli). Although most churches in this region where beside the Arabian Sea, the etymology

Etymology

Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...

 is significant because Pallitura is one of the places where St. Francis Xavier

Francis Xavier

Francis Xavier, born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta was a pioneering Roman Catholic missionary born in the Kingdom of Navarre and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a student of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits, dedicated at Montmartre in 1534...

 established a church. This church has now been transformed to the space museum of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre

The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre is a major space research centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation , focusing on rocket and space vehicles for India's satellite programme...

. The villagers of Pallithura are now famous for their sacrifice in 1962 of most of their village for creating the Thumba

Thumba

Thumba is a suburb of Thiruvananthapuram city, capital of Kerala, India.Thumba became well-known to the out-siders after the establishment of Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station , which was the first of that kind in India...

 Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS), which was the basis for the formation of Indian Space Research Organization. The revival of interest in the history of Pallithura resulted as a result of President Abdul Kalam

Abdul Kalam

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam usually referred to as A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, is a renowned aerospace engineer, professor , and first Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology Thiruvananthapuram , who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007...

's mentioning of it in his books and speeches.

Location

The location of Pallithura can be specified based on the time in question: before and after the formation of TERLS. Till the formation of TERLS, Pallithura bordered Veli in the south, Kulathoor in the east, and Kochuthura in the north. The Parvathy Puthannaar canal formed the border with Kulathoor. Due to this vast expanse making the then Pallithura one of the biggest parishes in the diocese, folklores recall the affectionate name Kudalam Pallithura for the region. After the formation of TERLS, however, the villagers lost their border with Veli when they were rehabilitated and jam-packed to its southern border with Kochuthura.

Pallithura of 1960s

Based on the rehabilitation agreement with the government of India, a model village was to be rebuilt to its southern border. The villagers are of Latin Catholic faith and hence a large church which was a priority was built. A primary school was built to facilitate basic education. The houses were neatly built single bedroom on ten-cents of land consisting of a kitchen, patio, and a living room. They were aligned in thirteen parallel lanes, with sixteen houses (eight on each side) on a lane. A state-of-the-art water supply and distribution system was the attraction providing water for the entire village through two public taps in each lane. A police

Kerala Police

The Kerala State Police is the law enforcement agency for the state of Kerala, India. Kerala Police has its headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. The Police training college was set up by Travancore Maharaja in Thiruvananthapuram in mid 20th centuary. In 2004,a larger Kerala...

 check-post was formed to maintain order in case people were not very comfortable with the packed nature of their new neighbourhood. A public transport

Kerala State Road Transport Corporation

Kerala State Road Transport Corporation is the state-run bus company in Kerala, India. It is one of the oldest state run public bus transport services in India.-History:...

 main road with a designated bus stop provided access to the city. In order to aid the villagers who were dependent on the sea for their livelihood, an ice-plant and fish processing

Fish processing

The term fish processing refers to the processes associated with fish and fish products between the time fish are caught or harvested, and the time the final product is delivered to the customer...

centre was built. For entertainment, a radio-kiosk was built and land was set-aside for resting at evenings. A market-place and a medical clinic was built at the centre of the village.