Kapali Theevatti PMO Consultant V Ramkumar

Mannargudi boy makes it to the PMO

From World Bank Consultant to Sanyasi and Torch Bearer at Kapali Temple, Ramkumar has now landed up a Consultancy Role with the PMO and is looking at complete transparency in the Temple Space through the eGovernance model

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Exactly a year ago, this section featured a story on former World Bank Consultant V Ramkumar, the man from Mannargudi, turning to a Sanyasi and dedicating himself to service at Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/07/kapali-v-ramkumar-world-bank-to-sanyasam.html). Starting with the Vasantha utsavam last year, he began to play the role of the torch bearer at processions carrying the Theevatti end to end. In the Panguni Utsavam this year, he was there every session most times leaving the temple after 1am and returning at 3.30am.

Hailing from Mannargudi, he has also been a big devotee of Rajagopalaswamy (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2021/09/mannargudi-rajagopalaswamy-temple.html?m=1). This section has featured has featured a few stories on Mannatgudi boys making it big in life. In cricket, R Madhavan was on the verge of playing for India in 1984 (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/10/r-madhavan-tn-cricketer-1980s.html?m=1) while polio hit S Venkatesan made it to the Board of NBFC as the CFO of Sundaram Finance (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2020/09/venkatesan-s-sundaram-finance.html?m=1). But this one is the biggest. 

The Processional Torch Bearer

Come this Vasantha Utsavam, his 2nd as the Theevatti carrier for the entire utsavam, he received a surprise call that left him completely stunned. Right from his teenage days in Thillai Nagar, Tiruchirappalli, he had been associated with societal service working for the VHP. But this invitation was quite out of the blue though right from his childhood, his parents instilled in him the thought of protecting ‘Bharat’ and doing everything in one’s fold towards keeping up our traditions. His grandfather had been a freedom fighter and had walked along with Rajaji on the Salt Satyagraha.

eGov - Consultant to the PMO

He has just been appointed as the Consultant to the PMO to work on a prestigious project that is very close to the PM’s heart. Having taken to the Sanyasi path, he was hesitant to take this up and wondered if he would get entangled again in a World that he had proactively chosen to given up but he was talked into by the powers that be who convinced him that his would be a significant role in this project and an invaluable contribution to the Society. 

As early as 1988 when he was just into his mid-teens, he had begun collecting money – Rs. 1.25 from individuals for the Ram Janmabhoomi project and surprised everyone with the amount he managed to pool in a short period of time. He was an extrovert right from those days and extremely articulate in his communication.

‘Sanyasi’ Ramkumar will be working on ideating and implementing eGovernance on a large scale in the country. He sees a big transformation on this front in the coming years.

eGov Model a real Game Changer in the temple space

Clad in his now traditional Kaavi Veshti and sitting in front of three beautiful photo frames of his acharyas at his home in Rangarajapuram, Ramkumar told this writer that every citizen would be brought on record under the eGovernance model

He has already begun work on mapping assets relating to temples “60 years ago, the assets of our temples in TN was mind boggling. Do these feature on the temple websites. We have to look into the lost properties over the last three decades and get them back. Similarly the monuments within the temple have not been mapped. It is important to protect what is available today and for that to happen, the first step is map these assets. We also have to map every stone and pillar in our historical Palaces.”

Ramkumar is high on documentation and it was a role he specialized in at World Bank where his project reports comprised several hundreds of pages. In the coming months, one can expect a marked improvement in the eGovernance model in temples.

Another area of specializing is writing tender documents and he will working on these as well. 

Historical temples to come under ASI?

One of his thoughts is to bring the 100+ year old temples into archeology and he believes that we will not be far away from that. Of course, in the past, there have been issues relating to the staff strength at ASI and their ability to monitor a huge number of temples. 

Idols - From Icon Center back to Temples

One of the other goals that he has set for himself on the governance relating to temples is to track and record the idols and get them back into the temple complex “What are the idols doing in Museums and icon centers. They have to be provided adequate security at the temple”, he says.

He sees eGovernance playing a dominating role in the future “Every citizen will be watched from the richest to the poorest. We will soon be a beggar free Republic. The days of bad Governance will come down.”

Digi attendance model for Priests

Earlier this month, this section had featured a story on temples moving into digital attendance model for priests and service personnel (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2023/07/tn-temples-priest-selfie-photograph.html?m=1). This Facial Recognition System (FRS) too is part of the eGovernance model that is now being taken up aggressively. 

Having given up his corporate role and moved into the Sanyasi role over the last year or so, Ramkumar is now back into his much familiar Consultancy role. He is now spending at least six hours each day on the eGovernance work including video calls with the PMO. He has already made a couple of trips to Delhi for face to face discussions with the top officials at the PMO. 

Protecting our Sanathana Dharma through his Vedantha Classes

In line with his traditional outlook, he is now educating devotees worldwide on Vedantha, taking classes online. Of course, he continues to be the torch bearer at processions at the Kapaleeswarar temple in addition to initiating youngsters on the devotional path by presenting them with Saligramam stones, devotional books and Rudrakshams.

Ramkumar is a no nonsense man and usually goes the full hog to achieve his goals. It will be interesting to see how he progresses in his endeavor towards eGovernance of temples moving these institutions and the personnel there towards a state of complete transparency.

Tail Piece: A big surprise in the coming phase for temple priests could be a move towards digital payment of ‘Thattu Kaasu’ and if that happens it will be one of the biggest transformations in the temple space