Ashwin is the Assistant Cultural Secretary and the Vice President of the Debate Club in his school. His passion includes chess, quizzing, and writing. He wants to study Computer Science to find elegant solutions to everyday challenges. 



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Ashwin Vinod Kumar

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 id="h-ashwin-vinod-kumar-is-wise-for-a-16-year-old-with-a-little-kindness-from-a-loving-grandpa-he-managed-to-overcome-a-negative-pattern-that-threatened-to-derail-his-success-at-school-how-many-similar-challenges-could-we-all-overcome-with-a-little-help-from-our-friends-and-family"
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 ASHWIN VINOD KUMAR is wise for a 16-year-old. With a little kindness from a loving
 grandpa, he managed to overcome a negative pattern that threatened to
 derail his success at school. How many similar challenges could we all
 overcome with a little help from our friends and family?
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 When we think of kindness we imagine grandiose acts of charity, or
 experiences of random acts of kindness with strangers. However, the
 simplest and most profound acts of kindness are often those we take for
 granted in our everyday existence.
 

 
 “The world is full of obvious things if one only takes the time to
 observe them,” said Sherlock Holmes. The world is full of kindness if we
 take time to observe, I say.
 

 
 Ever since I was 6 years old and in the 1st grade at school, I have
 faced difficulty with the Tamil language. I lost the top rank at my
 school 10 years in a row because of my grades in Tamil. My parents never
 had any expectation, either academic or otherwise, other than that I
 pass Tamil so that I could go into the next grade. So coming to the end
 of grade 10, my freedom was at last in sight – the last year of studying
 Tamil. Ten long years of struggle, an entire saga of my life, would
 finally draw to a close. But this was also going to be the most
 difficult time of my life, because the exam would be graded by the
 Central Board of Examiners, and who knew what destiny awaited me.
 

 
 I shared this most agonising secret with my grandfather one day, and he
 graciously offered to help me, saying that he had studied Tamil for 15
 years. It was as if an angel had descended to answer my prayers; his
 help was exactly what I needed. But he and I lived in different cities.
 Thankfully, one thing the pandemic has taught us is that distance
 doesn’t matter.
 

 
 And so it began. We studied (to my dismay) every single day. He would
 call me at 2 p.m., just as I finished lunch, and we would study for an
 hour on video call. He had downloaded the textbook onto his laptop, and
 he read out and explained every single word, not once, not twice,
 perhaps fifteen times or more, until I finally understood, finally
 remembered, and finally expressed some confidence.
 

 
 I did not want to study Tamil because early on I had performed badly.
 Then, I continued to do worse because I did not want to study. It was a
 vicious cycle. Now I studied, not because I enjoyed it – I absolutely
 did not – but because I got caught up in my own request. I couldn’t
 disappoint my grandpa who called me sincerely every day at 2 p.m.
 

 
 I started looking forward to his calls, and enjoyed the time immensely.
 Forget about Tamil, I just enjoyed talking with him. He is my grandpa.
 We bonded. And that bond made me resent Tamil less. How could I dislike
 something my loving grandfather was talking about? Looking back, those 7
 hours a week, and all the tales with which he regaled me so that I would
 enjoy Tamil, were astonishing. He shared humorous and interesting
 anecdotes, and in between stories of his school and university days, he
 showed me glimpses of how to appreciate my mother tongue, and indeed how
 beautiful any language can be.
 

 
 Well, like all good stories, this has a happy ending – I got good grades
 in Tamil. But that is not the end of the story, is it?
 

 
 This story is about the kindness of a grandfather to his grandson – not
 only teaching him his mother tongue, but helping him fall in love with
 it. This ending is about grandpa roping in grandma in all the fun, so
 that the grandson learns higher lessons in togetherness and bonding.
 This ending is about how all of us have a coping ability, immense
 resilience, and the human spirit, which decides to shine if we kindle it
 with love and joy.
 

 
 And the ending of the story is not what matters. The journey does. The
 world is full of kindnesses if we take the time to observe them. A lot
 of them are invisible and present in our own backyard. When we learn to
 see them, and sow those seeds of kindness in the world, letting them
 shine, the world will be as inspired as I am.
 

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 The world is full of kindnesses if we take the time to observe them.
 A lot of them are invisible and present in our own backyard.
 When we learn to see them, and sow those seeds of kindness in
 the world, letting them shine, the world will be as inspired as
 I am.
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