Bakul Chatterjee at the Science City auditorium on Saturday

Bakul Chatterjee is different from her batchmates in BA (General) at Shibnath Shashtri college (South City, morning). For one, she’s over 60 years older than they are. Two, studying for her is a grand passion.

Chatterjee is the oldest student to ever be honoured at The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence — on Saturday she handed out awards to the schools with the best academic performance in 2009. She doesn’t remember exactly when she was born, but could be in her early 80s. Her eldest son is past retirement age.

Born in Madaripur (now in Bangladesh), Chatterjee was married at 13 to 25-year-old Suresh Chandra Chatterjee, an engineer with the PWD, in the late 1930s or early ’40s. “Ami para gramer meye, Kolkata ashar aage kono dino ishkool jayini,” she says with a “Bangal” accent. “My sisters-in-law would study. I also wanted to study. But I was afraid to ask,” she relives.

“Years later, when we came to Calcutta and all my children (she has five) were in school, I enrolled myself at a local school,” she remembers. “My husband was against it. He said he would teach me at home. But he didn’t have the time. He thought his wife didn’t need to earn so why should she study?”

To prepare for Madhyamik, Chatterjee had to start at Class VIII. School was a struggle. Getting to Class X at Saroj Nalini Girls High School took time; she doesn’t remember how long. Madhyamik was passed easily, she says, “I just failed twice or thrice”.

She doesn’t remember the total number of times she has failed, but she picked herself up every time. There was a time when she and her youngest daughter would go to Saroj Nalini Girls High School together. “Nobody knew we were mother and daughter. Everyone used to think that I was from her locality.”

After she passed the exams, life dealt her a blow — her husband died. But Chatterjee persevered, enrolling in Deshbandhu College for Higher Secondary in 1998. It took her years again to clear the exams.

Tragedy struck yet again when Chatterjee’s son died. After a year’s break, Chatterjee was back to books at college, where she joined the BA general section.

She would have to finish household work if the maid didn’t turn up, sometimes on an exam day. She has passed her Part I and Part II and is waiting to take her Part III exams.

College at 6.30am is no trouble for the octogenarian but stairs can be. “Sometimes I wait at the second floor and they announce that class is on the fourth floor. Then I tell my classmates that I will take my notes from them; it isn’t possible for me to climb so many stairs at such short notice. That’s the only time I miss my classes,” says the lady whose only accessory is a hearing aid.

She is disappointed in the girls of today. “Nowadays the girls I see in college only want to chat,” she says. Rather than study further, once she clears the Part III, Chatterjee plans to “cultivate more knowledge in English and practise playing the sitar”.

She brought the audience to its feet for a spontaneous ovation. When asked later how it felt, she giggled like a little girl. “Bhalo lagche. Aro porashuna koruk shobayi (I feel good. I wish everyone to be able to study more),” she said.