During the early stages of his career with the Chartered Bank, VR probably considered himself to be a kind of expatriate – though he was a local employee – with a colonial bank who would be quite happy to be posted to India in his last year of service so that he could comfortably start his retirement in the country where he was born and educated. He had bought a house in Bangalore for his retirement. He sent his daughters to India for their education, though they agitated and soon returned to Singapore. He made sure that in Singapore his daughters went to girls-only schools so that they would grow up with conservative values and be able to settle down with husbands in India. When one of them could not get a place in a girls’ school, he did not mind keeping her at home for a year. He kept in touch with most of his relatives in India and helped a few. He took his family on regular visits to meet his relatives and friends in India. In short, he was very much an Indian Indian who was in Singapore to make a living – a good one as it turned out.

But by the time he actually retired from his service at the bank, his friendships and interests had changed so much that his outlook had changed completely. Being involved in religious affairs seems to affect one's perspective of home and sense of belonging in different ways. A predecessor of VR at HEB was Devan Nair, one of the most nationalist of Singapore's leaders. Soon after he took over the chairmanship of HEB, Devan Nair spoke of universal values and being a citizen of the world and at one time of even settling down at Auroville, near Pondicherry, India. (He did change his mind soon, but that is a different story.) Getting involved in HEB's affairs had the opposite effect on VR. He became a true Singapore Indian. Perhaps it was the frequent opportunity he had to soak in the aura of other strong Singaporeans that made him think Singaporean. Perhaps it was his exposure to a series of problems peculiar to a new nation and a multi-racial society – which was quite different from the accounts and systems related issues that he had tackled at the bank – that completed his conversion.

When a Singapore Hindu, even a nominal one like VR, succeeds in his career or business, it is not uncommon for him, when he reaches the age of 50 or so, to seek social recognition of his success by getting involved in the management of some temple or other. But that is not how VR got involved in temple management. He was called to assist. That is how it began.

In Pasir Panjang, one of his neighbours was S Rasiah, who was on the committee of Ruthra Kaliamman Temple. The temple originally established on the grounds of Alexandra Brickworks had to be moved. The land was sold to the Port of Singapore Authority. The committee found temporary accommodation for the god forms (murthams or statues) at Manmatha Karunya Iswarar Temple, in Cantonment Road, which itself was under notice to vacate.

The Ruthra Kaliamman Temple committee was a well motivated one. The chairman was V Sivapragasam with Rasiah as vice-chairman and T Muthu Kumar, secretary. They found alternative land at Depot Road. However, building a new temple was a novel and challenging experience for them. Though it was the first new Hindu temple to be built in Singapore in 50 years, raising funds was not easy. Their target was $2.2 million. There was also the question of managing the financing and accounts.

Rasiah had heard how hard-working and diligent his neighbour VR, by then a senior officer of the Chartered Bank, was. He invited VR to join his team to help build the temple. VR was aware of the nature of contribution expected of him. He had heard that many Hindu temples were not in the habit of keeping proper accounts and that there had been a few scandals. If he joined Rasiah's team he knew he would have to spend considerable amount of time on temple-related work. His concern was whether he would have sufficient time for that since he had a demanding job and a young family. He consulted his wife. The wife's response was that one should never say “no” to any request to serve a temple. He said “yes” to Rasiah. VR was elected treasurer of Ruthra Kaliamman Temple in September 1979. VR took that responsibility as seriously as he had taken any assignment at the bank.

What VR lacked in terms of formal education, he made up by working harder than any of his colleagues. He took all the training courses the bank had to offer. He topped the class in a Dale Carnegie course. He learnt to speak a few new languages as an adult. He never ate lunch alone. He never turned down a social invitation from anyone, especially colleagues. He was never active in the employees’ union. He was loyal to his boss. Bosses trusted him. Promotions were bestowed on him. He specialized in organization and methods because he was asked to. He always believed bosses knew best. His job was to execute their orders to the best of his ability. While rising up the ranks in the bank, he never neglected his family responsibilities. He was known for his filial piety and he supported several relatives.

His approach to life was the same in retirement. He remained the caring head of his family that he always was and a faithful friend to a number of people he had met. There was one friend he met while nearing retirement who was to become his boss/mentor for life – SR. That relationship more or less defined all the service he rendered to the temples he was associated with, his community and the nation. He was happy doing whatever he was asked to do. He perhaps did it more diligently and faithfully than anyone else might have.

The first assignment that SR gave him was to clean up the accounts of HEB which he did. The next was the overall management of the four temples and some oversight of other Hindu temples. He did that too – in the same way he functioned at the bank. He made the four temples excellent service centres, with constant product and service innovation. Never mind that in the process the whole ambience of the temples changed from being – for more than a hundred years – quiet places of worship and contemplation for most days of the month for eleven and a half months of the year to one of gaiety and crowded celebrations almost every day of the year. One result was the temples could frequently be refurbished, renovated or rebuilt. The other result was that they all had surpluses by the end of the nineties so that SR could channel some of them to charities.

For five years SR presided over the two boards. He had a stake in the nation and the system others had created. He had assisted Singapore's founding fathers in their creation. He was not going to let a part of it, however small, rot. When he took over, he knew what was going on in the temples in Singapore. Having spent a significant part of his career helping to maintain law and order in the country, it was natural that he should focus first on housekeeping. Three practices bothered him. Submission of HEB accounts was late for five years. Cash collections at the four temples were taken to a shop in Serangoon Road and deposited in the bank after some time. He needed a trained and dedicated book-keeper to bring that practice to an end and set up proper procedures, and to bring the accounts up to date. At the time, construction of Ruthra Kaliamman Temple was the buzz in the Hindu community. His old friend from Muar, Rasiah, was very much involved in building that temple. He asked Rasiah who were helping him with the project. Rasiah introduced VR as the treasurer. When asked by SR, on behalf of HEB, whether VR could help out at HEB as well, VR said he would, but he would like to hand over his responsibilities at Ruthra Kaliamman Temple to someone before joining HEB as he could not possibly shoulder both responsibilities. Pretty soon, he did.

The third problem bugging HEB was the way HEB properties were being managed. Early tenants like Govindasamy Pillai were paying a nominal rent to HEB and subletting the shops to new tenants paying commercial rents. HEB did not have enough money to carry out sorely needed repairs to the properties. In short, the rental returns to HEB were extremely poor and the properties needed urgent repairs. SR got three members who were Hindu Singaporean businessmen of repute with a track record of success in business over the years – S Chandra Das, Gopinath Pillai and Satpal Khattar – to address this problem.

The priority was to address the problem of accounts. The main reason for the non-submission of accounts was that the then secretary of HEB, P Arumainathan, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology, had a stroke from which he never fully recovered. His successors were also unable to address the problems.

Veeraragavalu Chetty Renganathan, in short known as VR Nathan or merely as VR to friends, was born in Tiruvarur, the famous temple town of Tamil Nadu, on 27 October 1930. VR was raised in a family of humble origins with four other siblings. His father ran a jewelry shop and dealt in precious stones and gems imported from Burma and Ceylon. Business was poor. He could not make ends meet. Finally the shop was closed. VR's cousin, Devarajan, who had worked in the shop for a while migrated to Singapore.

VR studied hard and matriculated from the Tiruvarur Board High School with commendable results. He acquired a special aptitude for mathematics which stood him in good stead throughout his career. Eager to relieve the financial strain of his family, he tried to get himself recruited into the Indian Army without the knowledge of his parents, but was turned down as he was physically puny.

The school where he studied attained fame when another alumnus, M Karunanidhi, became the chief minister of Tamil Nadu in 1970. VR used to tell his family that as a fiery senior student Karunanidhi wrote poems in an exercise book and asked other students to read and sign. G Sarangapany (1903-1974), a social reformer and editor and publisher of Tamil Murasu, Singapore's longest established Tamil newspaper, was also a native of Tiruvarur and matriculated from the same school. Singapore had always held a magic charm for the coastal people of Tamil Nadu. VR, assisted by Devarajan, left his hometown for Singapore in 1951. When Devarajan first sailed to Singapore, it was VR's mother who had sold her gold chain to enable his passage.

In Singapore, Devarajan was working with the firm of S L Perumal, the son-in-law of the enterprising Singapore Harbour Board labour contractor Balaguru Govindasamy Chettiar. Devarajan used to take VR to Perumal's company where VR had an opportunity to have a cursory look at the ledgers and journals when he was whiling away his time and still looking for a job. VR realized that he had a flair for accounts and, before the advent of computing, his skill in mathematics, helped him in many ways. He was getting himself acquainted to a company environment but he politely declined a job offered by Perumal.

When the post-Independence history of Singapore's Inter-Religious Organization is written three names will stand out: Lee Bock Guan, VR Nathan and Haji Abu Bakar Maidin. Lee is president of the Buddhist Lodge. VR was the longest-serving chairman of the Hindu Endowments Board, and Bakar the longest-serving president of Jamiyah or the Muslim Missionary Society. In an interview for this book, Rustom M Ghadiali, president of the Parsi Zoroastrian Association, who had worked with them for many years, said: “They were like brothers.” There was nothing trite in Ghadiali's description of the three men. It was a sincere description of the friendship between the three which came through in interviews with Lee and Bakar.

VR had known Bakar since the late sixties when they both worked in the same building – Shaw House at the corner of Orchard and Scotts Roads. A few years later, Bakar became president of Jamiyah and they lost touch. VR was busy with his career and Bakar was immersed in Jamiyah with a missionary zeal. Their paths crossed again when VR got involved in IRO affairs first as a mediator and then as a Hindu representative and as someone who knew the government's expectations.

It was the latter part of VR's credentials that made key members of IRO approach him in 1995 to resolve an issue that had been bugging IRO for some time – whether to admit the Baha'is into the organization. The Muslims already active on IRO did not want them included as it would be interpreted to mean that they were recognizing them as a separate sect or religion. Given what the Baha'is professed, those Muslims felt that their religion did not permit such acceptance. Representatives of other religions on IRO did not want to sit in judgment but at the same time felt that they could not simply ignore the Baha'is’ application. They consulted VR. He told them: Admit the Baha'is. A number of Muslims resigned from IRO, but soon the organization was stabilized. In the process, Bakar got to appreciate VR for what he was – a cosmopolitan who cared about religious harmony in Singapore. VR got to know Bakar as one who took his mission seriously and who would not hesitate to seek anyone's support to carry out his missionary work.

S R Nathan, SR to his friends, had been chairman of the Hindu Advisory Board since 1981. A distinguished civil servant, SR was First Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was the highest ranking public official to chair HAB in its history.

HAB, by its charter, is an advisory body, to advise the Minister on Hindu affairs in Singapore. The Hindu Endowments Board is the executive board with the power and funds to administer its endowments – basically four temples and properties belonging to the four temples. The two bodies used to conduct their own separate meetings until the arrival of SR. That was to change. SR, being a leader wanting to get things done, began the practice of presiding over joint meetings of both the boards with the concurrence of P Selvadurai, chairman of HEB, a practice that continues.

Even prior to his appointment to HAB, SR was somewhat familiar with the affairs of Hindu temples in Singapore. He was a practising Hindu. He was close to his brother-in-law and neighbour, N P K Rajamanickam, who apart from being the leading Hindu astrologer in Singapore, was also one who was known to have had some spiritual experiences. Rajamanickam wrote a weekly astrology column in the Sunday edition of Tamil Murasu, often said to be the most popular section of that newspaper. He was widely respected in the Hindu community. SR is probably the only senior government official who let it be known publicly that he was a practising Hindu, a fact that by itself endeared him to a number of Hindus. He got married at the Mariamman Temple. SR also kept in touch with his childhood friends and anyone who ever worked with him. One of his early assignments in government service was to work in the labour movement which at the time had a high proportion of Indian activists. All these factors would have resulted in a free flow to him of information related to all major temple affairs in Singapore. He would have been the best informed person on these matters.

When SR accepted his appointment to HAB, he already had in mind some specific tasks that needed to be urgently addressed. Submission of HEB's accounts to the Ministry and Parliament was behind schedule by five years. He wanted to set that right.

A brief survey of the early history will help in getting a better understanding of why SR had to make the approach to VR.

British masters ruling old India decided that two religious groups – the Hindus and Muslims – needed to be managed by colonial servants or those faithful to the crown while those professing other religions could be left to manage their own affairs. When the empire extended to Southeast Asia, the colonial administrators adopted the same approach – in slightly different forms in different territories. In Singapore, which was first ruled from Calcutta, the method was very similar to that in India. The manner in which some of the Hindu temples were brought under the control of such a board was also similar. The backdrop of social divisions along caste and trade lines among devotees and functionaries that led to some of the tensions in these temples was also similar. A brief survey of the early history will also help to acquire a better understanding of why SR had to make a few decisions “which looked authoritarian to some” (SR's words) but were necessary and how VR implemented them efficiently.

Some of the problems that HEB under SR's leadership inherited were quite old and not just confined to the four HEB temples. The second oldest of the challenges was perhaps the need to sensitively (without hurting the feelings of devotees) and satisfactorily (from the viewpoint of the authorities) manage the Hindu festivals like Thaipusam and fire-walking that spilt out into the public domain and out of the temple surroundings. Different temples celebrated Thaipusam in a slightly different manner from the way they celebrated it in Palani, Tamil Nadu, one of the six holy places dedicated to Thandayuthapani or Murugan. In Singapore, the Chettiars took out their urchavar (metal god-form that is meant to be mobile on special occasions) in a chariot procession through the city on Punarpusam, the day before Thaipusam. The procession will start at sunset and, with the help of torches, wind its way through those streets of the business district where Hindus had shops or warehouses and return to Thandayuthapani Temple in Tank Road. In the early days, there would be quite a few oiled torches to light the way as street lighting was poor. Also in the early years, the route included Beach Road.

The most important relocation of a temple that VR had to supervise had to be undertaken a little prematurely, before HEB built up its cash reserves. Sivan Temple's Orchard Road premises had been acquired by the government in 1983, to build the Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station. Chairman of HEB then, P Selvadurai MP, had accepted the compensation the government had offered without appealing for a higher amount or securing an alternative site to relocate the temple. The temple had no reserves as any surpluses hitherto had been accruing to its chief priest.

HEB decided to relocate the god-forms in the temple at the vacant part of the land next to Perumal Temple while it tried to get an alternative site. Newly-elected MP Chandra Das got involved. He felt that the god-forms should not be moved out of Orchard Road until a new site had been secured. He believed such an approach might persuade the government to allot a site quickly. All he could accomplish was to get some Urban Redevelopment Authority funding to construct a temporary structure next to Perumal Temple. Selvadurai had approached the government for a site in Geylang. Some devotees wanted the new Sivan Temple to be erected at the site of the former Tekka Market which was then being used as a car park. Chandra Das supported the choice of Geylang for two reasons: temples had to tender for any new site. He was trying to persuade the government to allot a piece of land without tender as there was no way the temple could afford to raise enough funds to compete in a commercial tender. He rightly guessed the chances of securing a plot without tender were much better in Geylang than in Tekka. Secondly, North Indians by then were big donors at the Sivan Temple. The bulk of North Indians in Singapore lived on the east coast. They would support the building of the temple in Geylang more enthusiastically than they would a new temple in Tekka area where the North Indians already had a temple.

Chandra Das said: “There was a hell of a hue and cry. Why Geylang, a Malay area? I said: Where is Mariamman Temple now? At the heart of China Town.” SR who had by then assumed chairmanship of HAB supported him.

As seen in the earlier chapters, VR's first significant contribution to HEB was getting the accounts of its four temples and the board itself up to date and organized in such a way that temple clerks could continue to maintain them. He did not simply introduce the procedures and leave their supervision to the temple committee's finance member. He virtually became the chief accountant of HEB and spent all his evenings making sure that the cash, accounts and stocks tallied after every special prayer or festival and every month. His presence at some temple or other of HEB during office hours every day and often late into the night created a work culture at the board and its temples that meant no one handling money or stocks could escape being scrutinized.

In terms of procedures at temples, one of VR's important contributions was that collection from plates or trays extended by priests, thattukkasu, should be accounted for and shared among all temple workers and priests. Collection of money in this form is a recent phenomenon at Hindu temples. In the old days, people who built the temples or those who came in later to support them would have provided sufficient endowments to pay for their upkeep and the payment of salaries and benefits to priests and other employees. When income from endowments was not sufficient, well-off members of the congregation would provide the necessary funds through their committees without involving the priests in any way. In some temples, collection boxes (undial) would be installed but far away from the sanctums. The idea was the priest should not know who was placing how much into the collection box and that he should treat all worshippers, rich or poor, in the same manner.

Some time in the middle of the last century, some enterprising priests in India started adapting a practice of vicars of churches. In fact they improved on it. Vicars only passed around trays or bins through elders or altar boys at the end of the service. Hindu priests who were performing a ritual of deeparathanai (worship with light) by showing burning camphor on a conical-structured plate or a lighted oil lamp around the god-form in the sanctum sanctorum now put the camphor or the lamp on a wide flat plate and extended it to the devotees immediately after coming out of the sanctum.