Manju Narang: “At 50, I went back to college after 35 years”: How this woman proved there’s no age limit to chasing your dreams
A video of a woman in her 50s going for a college exam recently created a lot of buzz on social media. It shows a woman walking towards a college campus, phone in hand, talking to the camera. She tells viewers she has her college exam that day and is about to enter the college for it. As she walks towards the campus, her son can be heard cheering her on in the background with “All the best.” She is about to appear for the exam: nothing unusual about that, except she is 50 years old, and the last time she sat in a classroom was 35 years ago.The clip was shared on Instagram by the woman herself, Manju Narang, with the caption, “‘There is no age limit for studying’ got real. Student at 50, college exam class.” A cheeky bit of on-screen text added, “POV: It’s been 35 years and you’re still clearing your back papers.”
6 May 2026 | 16:56
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The video has since won over the internet, with viewers praising her confidence and determination. But behind those 30 seconds of footage is a much longer, much more moving story: one that Manju herself has shared, in her own words.
A girl who loved learning
Manju Narang. (Image Courtesy: Instagram/@ student_at_50)
Manju grew up in a middle-class family in Bareilly. She says, “ I wasn’t the topper of my class, but was always curious. I loved painting, embroidery, and even picked up beautician skills along the way. Like most young girls, she had dreams of building a life of her own.Then, at 22, she got married. And like it happens for so many women, her whole world quietly shrank into her home. “My days began with packing school bags and ended while cleaning up after everyone had eaten,” she recalls. Cooking, raising kids, helping with homework: she was always looking after someone else. Years slipped by. Her children grew up. She grew older. And somewhere in between, her own dreams got left behind, unnoticed even by her.
When her body said: Stop
Manju Narang. (Image Courtesy: Instagram/@ student_at_50)
Life has its own way of nudging us back towards ourselves. For Manju, that nudge came in the form of pain. Around the age of 50, her hands started hurting. Mornings became a battle with stiffness. Even getting out of bed felt like a task. Doctors diagnosed her with arthritis, and the medicines meant to help came with their own baggage: weight gain, dry eyes, discomfort. “I felt trapped in my own body,” she says.That’s when she decided to try yoga. It wasn’t love at first pose. “The first few days were so painful because my joints wouldn’t bend,” she remembers. But she kept showing up anyway. Slowly, day by day, her body began to heal and something else began to wake up inside her too.
“I want to go back to college”
Yoga didn’t just ease her pain. It gave her a new lease on life, and with it, a hunger to learn everything about it. One day, she gathered her courage and told her children something she probably hadn’t imagined saying at this stage of her life: “I want to go back to college. I want to study yoga.”Manju didn’t have to convince them. Her children said yes instantly. “Kar lo Mummy, hum aapko hamesha support karenge,” they told her.And just like that, after 35 years, Manju walked back into a classroom: a very different one from the last time, but a classroom all the same.
Back to books, back to herself
Manju Narang. (Image Courtesy: Instagram/@ student_at_50)
It wasn’t an easy switch. “Ghar ke kaam, khana banana, family responsibilities, along with all those, studying was difficult,” said Manju. But none of that paused just because she’d enrolled in a diploma course. She was managing textbooks and household chores in the same breath.But when her first semester results came in and she scored well, it made every late night and every juggling act worth it. Today, Manju is close to completing her yoga diploma. And she’s already dreaming bigger: she wants to open her own yoga centre one day.“I never imagined yoga would bring me back to classrooms,” she says, “but it reminded me that life can surprise you in the most beautiful ways.”
Why her story matters for many women
Manju’s journey isn’t just a feel-good video for the internet to enjoy for a day and move on from. It’s a reminder, especially for women who spend decades putting everyone else first, that it’s never too late to return to yourself. Not too old to learn. Not too late to dream. Not too far gone to start again.Somewhere between packing school bags for her children and walking into an exam hall herself, Manju found her way back to a version of herself she’d almost forgotten existed. And now, thousands of strangers on the internet are cheering her on too.
