At 37, he is the oldest to join an engineering college

CHENNAI: At 37, most people are busy introspecting mid-career graph and possible course corrections. However, S Nambirajan, who is on the wrong side of the thirties, has different plans.
The June 1973 born orthopaedically challenged man hailing from a remote hamlet in Nanguneri village in Tirunelveli, has joined the A C College of Engineering and Technology (ACCET) in Karaikudi to study BE in Mechanical Engineering.
Nambirajan is the oldest candidate to join a course through the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA 2010) single window counselling. "There is no age limit in Tamil Nadu to join an undergraduate degree course in engineering," TNEA secretary V Rhymend Uthariaraj said.
Nambirajan completed school in 1990 after clearing an arrears paper in English. Later he obdiploma in mechanical engineering from a government polytechnic in 1993. This year he joined BE under the quota for the physically disabled. His cut-off score is only 88.
Two other candidates, past their thirties, had also applied for the single window counselling this year. However, both have chosen to skip the counselling and joined self-financing engineering colleges under the management quota.
Among them is M Kumara Prabhu of Tirunelveli, born in April 1979. He is now packing his bags to move to Keelakarai in Ramanathapuram district to pursue his "childhood dream" of becoming an engineer.
"I am relocating there with my wife and child to study BE Chemical Engineering at the MohaEngineering College. I have my own cottage industry manufacturing bags and gift items. I get regular orders from big stores in Tenkasi and I am confident that I can handle studies and maintain my family using that income," Prabhu told The Times of India.
A first generation graduate learner, Prabhu said he was disappointed at having discontinued studies after class 12 due to financial problems and joined a short-term leather technology course at the Central Leather Research Institute in Chennai. "Now my economic position has improved and I will be able to fulfil the wishes of my parents of becoming a graduate," he adds.
Likewise, 31-year-old M Arul Jaikar of Tiruchi has joined the CARE School of Engineering. He had earlier pursued a BA degree.