At 47, NRI Gurjit Kaur is enjoying college life she had to skip

Deepkamal Kaur

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Jalandhar, August 24

At 47, Gurjit Kaur believes that her youthful days have returned. She is enjoying being in the company of girls, who are in their early 20s, and is feeling energetic.

A native of Khajurla village near here, Gurjit Kaur could never enjoy a college life in her prime years. She had always felt that something was amiss in her life and had a little regret. She had got wedded soon after completion of Class XII and moved to the Philippines, where her husband has been running a finance firm.

“But life has given me an opportunity once again. My husband wanted our daughters to stay for some years in Punjab, understand the language and imbibe culture and traditions of our native place. My daughters were born in Manila. He told me to take my daughters to the village and get their higher education from here. I came here in December 2021 and got them admitted in a school and a college here,” said Gurjit.

She shared that her elder daughter Kirandeep (18) is pursuing BA (honours) in psychology while younger one Kirandeep (16) is in Class XI at a private school. “Since my daughters had got busy in their studies and are much on their own now, I felt that this is also the right time to take up my long lost desire – to attend a college. I discussed it with my husband from page 1and took admission in diploma in fashion technology at Lyallpur Khalsa College for Women. It has been nearly two weeks since I joined here and it is giving me a lot of satisfaction,” she shared. She recounted her initial experiences, “When I entered the class on Day 1, all girls stood up to wish me thinking me to be their teacher. It took me time to convince them that I am their fellow batchmate.” She beamed as she shared, “All my teachers are younger to me”.College Principal Navjot Kaur shared: “When we started skill-oriented courses, we were expecting more middle-aged women to join us. But it did not really happen. Every year, we get just one or two students who are of this age group and want to start their life afresh.”