Nationality Indian Home town Bangalore Other names RVM, AiR Name Ravi Melwani | Occupation CEO Role Author Organization RVM Foundation | |
Born 15 October 1966 (age 57) ( 1966-10-15 ) Bangalore, India Education St. Joseph's College of Commerce | ||
Ravi V. Melwani (RVM) (born 15 October 1966) is an Indian speaker, an author, a singer, a poet and a philanthropist. He was one of the earliest successful Indian retailers who launched India's largest store of over 300,000 square feet and transformed the way retailing was done in India. He is the founder of RVM Foundation, which aims to make a difference in the society through its humanitarian, inspirational and spiritual initiatives. The RVM philosophy stands for Rejoice, Value Life and Make a Difference, which is a way of life towards happiness and fulfillment.
Contents
- Early life
- RVM Foundation
- Humanitarian initiative
- Inspirational initiative
- Spiritual initiative
- References
Early life
Melwani was born in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Being born into a family of businessmen, Melwani ’s natural inclination was to join his father in running the family business. At a very young age, he mastered the craft of business and became a well-known name in the retail sector. With popular brands like Kids Kemp, Big Kids Kemp and Kemp Fort, he established retail stores across Bangalore.
It was during the peak of his career that Melwani embarked on a quest within himself. His success journeys prompted him to introspect about the ultimate goal of life. Melwani realized that life’s purpose is to understand oneself, contribute positively to the world and make a difference in the lives of others. Melwani himself started distributing blankets and providing food to those homeless sleeping on the streets of Bangalore. He soon realized that there are many poor and destitute people who require medical care and shelter as they were dying in pain with no one to care for them. This thought led to the idea of setting up a hospital where the destitute patients will be treated free of cost.
RVM Foundation
RVM Foundation was established in 2008. The foundation has three key initiatives: Humanitarian, Inspirational and Spiritual.
Humanitarian initiative
During his personal endeavor to support those in despair in the society, Melwani pledged to reduce pain and suffering. RVM Foundation Hospital was set up in 1998 with an aim to provide free medical care to the destitute and needy. The hospital, which has a capacity of 250 patients as of now, does not have cash counter. It conducts medical camps every week across Bangalore and treats people free of cost. As of 2015, the hospital has treated thousands of care-deprived destitute patients. The hospital has separate wards for burns, psychiatric, HIV, TB, pediatric and orthopedic patients. RVM Foundation is in the process of expanding the hospital into a 1000-bed one
As part of this humanitarian initiative, the hospital has a 24x7 Medical Helpline. The hospital also has tie-ups with several transit homes and other hospitals.
RVM Foundation also has its own homes where destitute patients are moved from the hospital after they have recovered completely. These homes serve the needy giving shelter, food, clothes, medical care and houses 400 residents as of 2015, including children, males and females, without any condition whatsoever.
RVM’s humanitarian mission is all about maximizing service to humanity, and reducing pain and suffering.
Inspirational initiative
RVM School of Inspiration aspires to inspire people to live a better and more positive life. RVM is a positive-life philosopher who aims to transform the way people live through his talks and motivating discourses. Thousands of people are connected to this inspirational endeavor every day through messages, videos and thought-provoking quotes on various social networking sites.
Through his books “I Wanna be Happy,” “The A To Z of a Life Philosophy,” “Power Your Life with PEP”, “100 Diamond Quotes” and “Succsex”, RVM shares the concept of living an inspired and a fulfilling life.
Spiritual initiative
Melwani’s spiritual initiative started from his belief and faith in Lord Shiva. A staunch believer in God, Melwani built the Shiv Temple at Old Airport road, Bangalore. Every day, thousands of devotees come to the temple for darshan, bhajans and various poojas. The Maha Shivratri is celebrated with much fervor and attracts crowds from various parts of the world.
Melwani narrates the story of how the thought of building a Shiva Temple occurred to him. He says, “I had a vision during one of my morning ‘thought time’ — a vision to build a temple where a huge statue of Lord Shiva would stand, building faith, hope and belief for generations to come. When this inspiration struck me, I had no money, no land, and no plan. I believed that this is the message from God and started working to realize this dream”.
Melwani believes that by the grace of the universal power, his life has evolved, transformed and even metamorphosed. He is now on a path of self-realization and God realization. His spiritual quest took him from being a strong believer in Lord Shiva to going further ahead and asking important questions like who we are, where we come from, what is the purpose of life, is reincarnation real, does the doctrine of karma actually work, what is a soul, where is God and what is God. The search for answers has made him realize that he is not the body, mind or the intellect. He knows that he is the Soul, Spirit or the Atman. Melwani believes that he is not this physical body, but the spirit within the body. Therefore, at present, he calls himself “AiR” – Atman in RVM.