People defying age barriers: Age is only just a number. No matter how clichéd this adage sounds, it exists for a reason. The simplest one being that it is positively true. Aging people, with their stories of inspiration, are proving it to be true every single day. Most recently, it was reported that a 64-year-old retired Odisha banker, who cracked the challenging NEET exam, is now a first-year MBBS student. The internet is all praises for Jay Kishore Pradhan's spirited achievement, lauding him for defying the barriers of age that so often hamper life growth.
Upon the same premise revolved SheThePeople's 40 over 40 awards, hosted earlier this month, in a bid to celebrate women over the age of 40 who have achieved, reinvented themselves, and claimed their space in various fields of enterprise. Get to know the winners here.
Here's looking at Waheeda Rehman, Jay Kishore Pradhan, and some similar others' stories, that can become an inspiration to thousands in the fight against ageism:
1. Jay Kishore Pradhan
Jay Kishore Pradhan, who is a retired banker from Odisha and all of 64 years of age, cleared the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) this year. He has now enrolled, alongside countless young students, as a first-year Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) in the state's Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology. This means Pradhan will complete his medicine course by the time he is 70 years old.
On the occasion, he was quoted saying, "I have no commercial intentions going ahead. I want to serve the people till I am alive." The university's Director Lalit Meher said, "Pradhan has set an example by getting admission as a medical student at such an age."
2. Harbhajan Kaur
Harbhajan Kaur, 94, began her ">entrepreneurial journey four years ago. She was reportedly encouraged by her daughter to start her sweet brand called ‘Harbhajan’s-Bachpan yaad aa jaaye’, under which she makes organic besan ki barfi sold at the organic mandi in Chandigarh.
Her daughter Raveena Suri who encouraged her to pursue her passion was quoted saying, “She expressed one day that she has not earned a single penny from her own and her words struck to my heart. She is so talented and we never went to eat outside, not even a bar of chocolate as she cooks really well. Our childhood memories are related to besan ki barfi and that’s why I encouraged her to make them and sell them as well.” Read more about Harbhajan Kaur here.
3. Man Kaur
103-year-old Man Kaur is a gold-winning athlete, and inarguably, among the oldest in India. A medalist at Poland's World Masters Athletics Championships 2019, Kaur is an inspiration to the masses. A resident of Patiala and has won 31 international gold medals and over 13 national medals. Read more about Man Kaur here.
In an interview with The Hindu, she has said, “Mujhe sports pasand hai, aur har kudi ko accha khana kha na hai aur khel khud me bhag na hai” (I like sports and every girl child should eat healthy food and participate in sporting activity). She further went on to say, “Changa daud raha hu, ruk na kyun bhai?" (I am running well, why should I stop?)
4. Mala Dutta
Mala Dutta, 57, is a former Indian Economic Service Officer, working with the Defence Ministry. It has been 34 years since she received her master’s degree. In March 2019, she made headlines for receiving her Doctoral degree, alongside her 29-year-old daughter Shreya Mishra. The mother-daughter duo received their PhDs on the same day from Delhi University.
Dutta set out to pursue her dream of holding a PhD degree and enrolled herself for PhD (in Finance) in 2012. It had been 34 years since she last received her Master's degree. "Learning with the students of my daughter’s age was fun. There were instances when my professors would call me Ma’am, but I enjoyed it. It was a wonderful experience," Dutta had said. Read more about the duo here.
People defying age barriers show that the human spirit is forever youthful and there is no time cap on dreams
5. Karthyayani Amma
97-year-old Karthyayani Amma from Kerala grabbed headlines after becoming the oldest ever candidate to appear for the Kerala Literacy Mission’s Akshara Laksham (Million Letters) literacy exam in August 2018. She topped the qualifying Class IV exam with a whopping 98 per cent score. In 2019, she gained global recognition after being selected as the Commonwealth of Learning Goodwill Ambassador.
For her exams, she took lessons from her great-grandchildren. “In our days, women never went to school. When my younger daughter Amminiamma qualified in the tenth equivalent examination in 2016, I took it as a challenge,” she had said. Read more on Karthyayani Amma here.
6. Waheeda Rehman
The yesteryear actor isn't making a lot of film appearances now, but that's probably because she is busy catching up with her other passions in life outside cinema. Rehman, now 83, is known for harbouring an interest in wildlife photography, something she vividly exhibits through pictures of herself from her travels that never see her without a professional camera strapped around her neck. Read more about it here.
But photography isn't all she is adept at. Rehman recently went snorkelling with her daughter in the Andamans and has also professed an inclination towards building on her sports interest with activities such as scuba diving.
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Source: Kashvi Rekhy, Instagram (2021)
Views expressed are the author's own.
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