VIJAYAPURA/BAGALKOT: There is no age limit to pursue education. And a testimony to this saying is 76-year-old Ningayya Wadeyar, who is appearing for his fourth postgraduate degree exam. Clad in a pink kurta and a white dhoti with a turban on his head, Ningayya, a resident of Kelur village in Ilkal, is appearing for MA (Sociology) exam for the academic year 2018-19. He took admission in Indira Gandhi National Open University in 2017 as an external student. He wrote his first paper earlier this month at BLDE Educational Institution. He will be writing his last paper for this course on December 26.
He chose to write the exam in English though he studied in a Kannada medium school. Ningayya is a former employee of the Department of Health and Family Welfare. He worked as a clerk for 33 years and started receiving a pension in 2000. In 1967, he got his BA degree as a regular student. In 1996, he took admission as an external student for Master of Arts in Kannada at Karnatak University, Dharwad (KUD) and passed the exam successfully.
After a gap of almost 15 years, he got admission for MA (English) in KUD and cleared the exam after multiple attempts. After successfully getting two PG degrees, he cleared MA (Hindi) as an external student from the same university in 2016. Ningayya said, “I continued my studies as it was my dream ... The poor financial condition of my family forced me to discontinue my studies. I was not interested in spending my retired life like others. As I am getting a pension from the government, I decided to invest my money to gain knowledge. If I pass this exam this year, I have plans to continue my studies in other subjects.”
Interestingly, 76-year-old Ningayya Wadeyar is capable of writing using both his hands. He was right-handed earlier, But after he lost strength on his right hand owing to age-related issues a few years ago, he has been writing with his left hand too. He has also penned seven books in Kannada, which have received district-level awards. Now, he is planning to open an English tutorial in his hometown.