Too Old For Entrance Exam? Look At This 80 Year Old Man Who Sat For IIT Entrance
“Defying all odds ” seems to appear quite frequently as a headline these days in the news around us, but how many odds are one willing to defy in pursuit of their passion? Age? Financial obstacles? Preparing alongside your son for an entrance examination? The story of an 80 year old engineer who has hit the headlines of late, has all these ingredients. Nandakumar K. Menon who turns 81 in a couple of months, had the zeal to appear in an entrance examination for IIT Madras held on June 5th.
Menon is a man of great zealousness and commitment, who recalls his wish to become an engineer since his early schooldays, but had to waddle his way through financial hiccups. Nevertheless, he fulfilled his ambition as he graduated with MSc. Statistics from the College of Engineering, Trivandrum and further pursued post-graduation in Cryogenic Engineering from a prestigious University in the US, that too with a scholarship sponsored by NASA. For a man of such avidity, there had to be another milestone that he wanted to reach for himself. And better late than never, he found his opportunity as he entered into his Eighties. His longing for his motherland prompted him to give up his US Green Card and return to India. Sicne childhood he was inspired by the legendary Indian Engineer M. Visvesvaraya and dreamt of contributing to the development of the country.
As he started preparing for the entrance exam, his son, Sethu Nandakumar, a lawyer, supported his father throughout this journey. He too wrote weekly exams to qualify for the entrance, but he did not clear it. However, the sheer joy of helping his father follow his passion is good enough as a guerdon according to him.
Despite his age, Menon would wake up every morning at 5.30 and would study for 13-14 hours a day. He had to clear 16 weekly exams with a minimum of 50% marks to qualify for the entrance. When Menon entered the premises of the IT firm where the entrance was held, he raised many eyebrows including those of the security guards who needed a lot of convincing that he was indeed a candidate.
