Vijayapura: Clad in green pagadi (traditional turban) and dhoti, he certainly looked different among all the other students busy writing their exam. Neither his age nor his attire gave an impression of him being an ordinary student.
Attending his Postgraduation examination from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Ningayya Odeyar is zealous of completing his postgraduate course even at the age of 81. Passionate to study, Odeyar is pursuing his postgraduation through correspondence from IGNOU Centre here. He is doing an MA in English and was attending the final year examination for the first year.
The exam supervisors too were in surprise for a while when they found out that this aged-man had come to attend the exam as they never expected to witness a student this old. Having a little suspicion about the unusual student, the staff decided to check the documents such as the hall ticket before allowing the senior citizen to write the exam.
When he began writing, he was fast and his hands were simply not shaking which is normal for people of his age.
Native of Gudur Village of Bagalakote District, Odeyar is basically a retired employee of the Health Department. He is so much enthusiastic to take up higher education that he has already completed four courses in masters from Karnataka State Open University and IGNOU, and is now writing exams for the fifth course.
He said that at this age when he is already retired, the only reason he is pursuing education is to gain knowledge. Odeyar was supposed to write the exam last December itself but because of the Covid pandemic, the exam got postponed. The exams have now started and will end on April 11.
Manjunath Kori, the Coordinator of IGNOU centre here has expressed happiness that a senior citizen is showing keen interest to pursue education even at this age when people normally like to spend time at home with family or friends.
