This story of a 51-year-old college student, posted on the Humans of Bombay Facebook page, is every kind of awesome. The post, shared some 18 hours ago, already has over 7000 shares and more than 2000 comments, all praising the woman’s courageous effort to educate herself. This woman proves you’re never too old to chase your dreams. We’ll let you read the post here to know more about her experience in college, the friends she made and who was the happiest when she did well in her exams.
“After my 12th standard I had to give up my education to get married. It was a joint family, so continuing my education was not an option, but somewhere within me I always felt like I had missed out…that I wanted to study further. I gave birth to three beautiful children, and my thirst for knowledge was so much, that I never allowed them to take tuitions until the 9th standard — I would teach them myself, but after some time the subjects were too advance for me to grasp. Often I would tell my children, how I wish I had atleast graduated and made something of myself and they would always tell me to still give it a go. At first I would laugh it off, but once my daughter got married and my other two children were busy with college, I began to consider it seriously.
In 2013, after 30 years, at the age of 51 I decided to fill out the form for my FYBcom with the encouragement of my family. I still remember my first day in college — I felt so overwhelmed because all my classmates were young students! I had sleepless nights wondering if I would be able to cope, but my children helped me every step of the way. It was such a strange feeling — all my life I’d taught them, but here I was at 51 learning mathematics from my son and how to write essays from my daughter. Even my mother-in-law would wish me best of luck everyday before I went to college.
Funnily enough, I started making a lot of friends. These youngsters are so accepting of everything that they immediately made me a part of their group. On one occasion, my mother-in-law was admitted to the hospital because of which I couldn’t go to class for a few days, but my friends…these young children would meet me after class and teach me at the college courtyard. I’ve learned so much from them as well — I’m an active participant of our class’s Whatsapp group which I had never even used before!
The time I was most nervous was during my first year exam. After I came out of my last exam, I saw all three of my children waiting outside for me, just like I used to wait out for them after their exams. When the results came and I had cleared, my husband was the happiest…he was so overwhelmed that he started crying and immediately took me out to buy a sari…it was the best day of my life.
I’m appearing for my final year exams this May and I know I will clear them…I can’t wait to be called a graduate after all these years. I have a few plans to put my education to use after I graduate, but for now I’m happy that I’ve had this experience…it’s taught me that it’s actually never too late to do anything.”
