V.Siva Subramaniam  [kamalam@starhub.net.sg ]  was a career banker spanning 4 decades and worked in the Central Bank of Ceylon and the Development Bank of Singapore. An economist by training he broadened his skills into finance and management securing associateships of the relevant professional bodies in the UK and Australia. He holds a MBA degree and is a CPA. After retirement in 1986, he contributed regularly to The Aum Muruga Journal, in Sydney, Australia. The subject he now writes about is spirituality. The themes of special interest to him are the challenges to spirituality and the community’s identity and values from an over-exposure to cultures that promote materialism and crude individualism.