Actress Billie Burke used to say that “Age is of no importance unless you are a cheese,” and she was absolutely right. There are 102-year-olds going skydiving, environmentalists taking a stand against the government at 107 and people going back to school at 99!
The story of 105-year-old Bhageerathi Amma from Kerala is quite similar. According to The Hindu, she had to give up formal education after class 3 when her mother passed away. First, she took on the responsibility of bringing up her siblings and after the death of her husband, single-handedly took care of her 6 children.
The Times of India reports that the great-grandmother has now resumed her studies and given the fourth standard equivalency examination under the Kerala State Literacy Mission programme becoming its oldest ‘equivalency learner’.
Key Resource Person of the Literacy Mission KB Vasantha Kumar was quoted saying,
“Though she is past 100, her eyesight, hearing and memory remain sharp.”
He further added that her youngest daughter helped her as she had some difficulty in writing but she successfully completed Environment, Maths and Malayalam exams in 3 days.
Thank you, Amma, for proving that age is just a number and showing us that it is never too late to fulfill our dreams!