Col. Gopal Karunakaran (Retd) is the Project Director (Schools), HCL Comnet Limited. Col. Karunakaran graduated from the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasala, and joined the Indian Army in 1981. He served for over 11 years in Kashmir and had a stint with the United Nations at the Iraq-Kuwait DMZ. He commanded an Infantry battalion in Kashmir from 2001 to 2003. Col. Karunakaran completed the prestigious Higher Command course from the Army War College, Mhow, in 2004. He was posted at the Army Headquarters in New Delhi, from where he took the unusual step of leaving the Army to join the education sector for an opportunity to work with children and to improve himself. At present, he is serving as the Project Director-Schools with the Shiv Nadar Foundation.