Vivek, who enters US President fray, used to frequent Kerala

Indian-origin Vivek Ramaswamy, who has announced his entry into the US presidential fray, used to frequently visit his relatives at Palakkad district in Kerala.

His parents V G Ramaswamy and Geetha Ramaswamy had just returned last week after spending more than a month in Kerala visiting various temples, including Sabarimala Ayyappa temple.

Ramaswamy's paternal cousin V M Prasad, who is a lawyer based at Kalapathy in Palakkad, recollects that Ramaswamy was very much interested in visiting popular as well as local temples when he used to come down to Kerala. He had visited Sabarimala temple several times.

"Ramaswamy's marriage was in 2015. Soon after that he came down to meet all relatives here. At the time of his studies he used to regularly come down on most vacations and spend time with relatives," said Prasad.

"Ramaswamy was very comfortable in speaking Tamil as the Brahmin families in the locality generally communicate in Tamil in homes. He can understand Malayalam, but can't speak. Despite being born and brought up in the US, he was comfortable with the local dishes," Prasad said.

Prasad also recollects the keen interest that Ramaswamy had shown in learning about the Indian judicial systems while he was pursuing law studies in the US. "Vivek used to go to court in Palakkad with my father Muthuswamy, who was also a lawyer, on many days to observe the court procedures," said Prasad.

While his father Ramaswamy hails from Palakkad, his mother Geetha hailed from Thrippunithura in Kochi. Ramaswamy did his education in Palakkad and Kozhikode. Geetha, who is a geriatric psychiatrist, had her studies in Mysuru. The couple migrated to the US in the 1970s. Vivek's sibling Shankar Ramaswamy is also settled in the US, said Prasad.