[1][9] Gopalan was born in 1911 into a conservative Tamil Brahmin family, at Painganadu agraharam, Thulasendrapuram in British India.

[5] Rising through the ranks, Gopalan was later empanelled and served as Joint Secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Rehabilitation.

While in Lusaka in the 1960s, as recorded in a public lands document dated March 9, 1967, Gopalan and his family resided at 16 Independence Avenue.

[12] He was appointed to the selection grade of the Central Secretariat Service from 1 May 1966,[13] and ended his posting in Zambia with effect from 24 July 1969, reverting to his former role in the Department of Rehabilitation.

[17] The couple had four children: the oldest, a daughter, Shyamala, who earned a PhD in endocrinology at the University of California, Berkeley, and went on to have an academic and research career in the US and Canada; a son, Balachandran, who received a PhD in economics and computer science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and returned to an academic career in India; a daughter, Sarala, an obstetrician who practised in Chennai; and the youngest, another daughter, Mahalakshmi, an information scientist, who worked for the Government of Ontario, Canada.