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| Home >> Get Inspired >> Service Journeys >> Everyday Heroes |
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Ashvin Iyengar -- 'the reluctant student' He may declare himself the reluctant student or muse about faith. Sometimes, he may wrestle with his shadows or finally pay attention to all his fractured parts. But Ashvin Iyengar or Ash, as he is popularly known, has witnessed the drama of life and now dares to dream. No, I am not talking in riddles. The above are some of the lines written by the eloquent CharityFocus poet, who often marvels at his ability to touch people with his own verse. Ash is fascinated by uncertainty, change and the varied emotions that color human life. Like the true poet and philosopher that he is, he creates poems of passion, pain and hope. This profile is an attempt to depict Ash's finest qualities and traits; his faith, and his compassion and above all the universal love that he epitomizes. Born in India, this wanderer -- who often looks at flowers and wonders what kind of consciousness they have -- describes himself as errant as a child. Not due to his fetish to pull the pigtails of his female classmates at school, but because of his unconventional views and attitudes. Though Ash may balk at the memories of eloquent speeches given each year on his birthday (which falls on the Indian Independence day), as a teenager, he soon discovered the power of words and poetry. And by the time he reached college, he fell in love: with writers like J. Krishnamurti and beautiful classmates .
The years after college were times of changes and turmoil for Ash. After witnessing blatant corruption in the first company at which he worked, Ash found his way to the United States, where he has been for the past 18 years. These years marked a tremendous period of personal struggle for him. For a believer of unconditional love, Ash went through a traumatic emotional period, as he battled with his spirituality and the end of his marriage. But Ash, who immediately befriends the loneliest souls, knew that what happened was a lesson. "I want people to know my story so that they know that one needn't have one's act together to serve. All you need is love inside," he says with a smile in between his jokes. That's another strong trait in Ash: his ability to tickle you with all his sensible or sometimes senseless, self-depreciating jokes. His hilarious nature often belies the pain of his personal struggle for enlightenment and love. But, like a true victor, he finds pleasure in his pain and meditation. Meditation is what constantly keeps him rooted to simplicity and gives him peace of mind. In touch with all the current meditation trends and the latest spiritual Guru, Ash is forever open to enlightenment. "It's not going to happen in this lifetime though," he says with a repentant sigh. Ash has always used his technical and software skills to help various non-profits. He has done several projects for CharityFocus. "Ashvin has one of those special, inspired minds that is able to constantly think up brilliantly innovative, simple and useful ideas," says John , a CharityFocus volunteer and Ash's friend. An example of this ingeniousness is the charity registry he created for JustGive. It gives people the chance to offer their loved ones the option to donate money to a charitable cause. Ash is a sweet man, who is unashamed of pouring his heart to you and exposing his vulnerability. He is among the rare kind of people who seek their joy in bringing a smile to others' faces. Watch what you say in front of him, or else he might just present you with that book you have been wishing for or that chocolate that you love so much. "I love giving gifts to people. Isn't it nice when you see that smile on their face?" he says with a boyish smirk. A passionate cat lover who loves the whole feline family, Ash is, was and always will be dead against the idea of someone writing a profile on him. "All profiles are illusions. It assumes people are consistent. Personalities are like masks; they keep changing. You can't pin me down," says Ash. "You know what I really am?" he asks me rhetorically one day. "I am not sure I would want this to be known to the world at large -- but what I am is a wounded healer. Because I suffer so openly, it lets others get in touch with their pain and lets them heal a bit. Because truth is that the more I suffer, the more compassion I have, and everybody's pain becomes that much more poignant to me. I think bad students make good teachers, because they have made every mistake in the book and so have that much more compassion. I think I can now offer the benefit of lessons I have learned through much suffering." "Ash is a category all by himself," says a shy friend who does not want to be named. "He is someone who is jovial yet serious, someone who can be old and young, someone who suffers and yet enjoys, someone who is naïve yet wise, someone who is an expressive poet yet enjoys silence." Ash is like the changing seasons. He is the color of the dawn and dusk, which mellifluously lets day and night come into our lives. [ email ashvin ] © CharityFocus 2003
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Do not write him off as a hopeless romantic. As the general secretary at his college, IIT-Bombay, Ash managed to create a voice for the students by canvassing for their representation in the College Senate. Whenever he was not bunking lectures or getting himself into trouble with mischievous antics (I am prohibited from telling you about them), he devised creative ideas like going to a nearby slum community to distribute extra daal along with the bread corners that the college's hostel canteen regularly threw away.