President Pranab Mukherjee, who is slated to attend BIT-Mesra convocation on Sunday, may not get a chance to meet this oldest degree recipient, but the young-at-heart leader who turned 80 a month ago would have liked to meet the 72-year-old newbie doctorate.

"Whether I am 72 or 27, age is just a number," said S.N. Singh (72), a retired SAIL engineer who now teaches management at three institutes in Ranchi and has just completed his PhD from BIT-Mesra.

At a time most of his contemporaries are planning their Sunday afternoon siesta, Singh, who stays in SAIL City, Ranchi, with his wife Mina, is now waiting to receive his PhD degree.

The President is likely to personally give away only gold medals to graduates, so Singh and the other PhD holders - around 128 - will get their degrees from vice-chancellor M.K. Mishra.

But, that doesn't dampen his enthusiasm. "I don't know if I'll receive the degree from the honourable President or not but at least I will witness the special convocation," Singh, who received his first degree in 1958, said.

It's a lifetime ago, but his memory is vivid. "I topped the 1958 batch in my school (Zilla School, Ara in Bihar) in matriculation. I stood 20th in ISC from St Xavier's College in 1960. I got a first class in metallurgical engineering from BIT-Sindri in 1964," he said.

Armed with a bright CV, he threw himself in work. Joining Rourkela Steel Plant in 1964, he went to Bokaro Steel in 1973 and moved on to SAIL's Centre for Engineering and Technology in 1987.

"I was to retire in December 2004 but I took VRS in 2001. Now I'm a visiting faculty at Indian School of Management, Pundag, the Ranchi centre of ICFAI and Ranchi University. I teach management at all three places," Singh said.

But, "forever interested in new things", he tried his hand at facing the arc lights. "I did the role of the hero's father in a Nagpuri film Sangiya. A 2005 release, it was a hit!"

Then, the PhD bug bit him.

"The topic of my research work is very contemporary, a study on influencing factors in management of technology in India with reference to rolling mill technology in integrated steel plants. It deals with technology management to enquire whether foreign concepts are suitable in Indian steel production," he said. "I submitted my thesis in 2013. In February 2015, I got my provisional certificate and now I'm about to receive the original degree."

Doesn't he hear the tick-tock of age? Reluctantly confessing to a kidney-related problem, he said: "I get huge support from my wife. Plus, my two sons are well-settled."

He will be among the over 1,400 graduate and postgraduate students and PhD scholars to get BIT-Mesra degrees earned in 2015. While President Mukherjee will deliver the convocation address, governor and chancellor of state universities Droupadi Murmu will preside over the ceremony.

The president is likely to confer degrees on 12 gold medallists - Daggula Rohith Reddy (BArch), Chandni Kumari Godhwani (pharmacy), Akash Kumar (hotel management and catering technology), Ishant Prasad (computer science and engineering), Ankush Singh Bhati (chemicals and polymers), Ankita Sarkar (electronics and communications engineering), Sovan Kumar Patra (chemical engineering), Anupama A. Sharan (biotechnology), Meera Ramesh (civil engineering), Mudit Garg (information technology), Kumar Shrey (production engineering) and Utsav Giri (mechanical engineering).