‘My age is the same as that of my country’: Woman born on India’s Independence Day
Never ask a woman her age, goes the adage. But Lucknow-based Vijay Kumari, wife of a decorated retired Army veteran, never seems to mind the query. And for a good reason.
"My age is the same as that of my country," she says, breaking into a giggle as she forwarded her Aadhaar ID as proof of her birthday.
"I was born at the stroke of the midnight hour in Varanasi, when India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru hoisted the Indian tricolour, signalling the end of the British colonial rule, and made his famous 'tryst with destiny' speech," she told PTI.
Wife of Major Dhirendra Nath Singh of the Kumaon Regiment, an awardee of the Vir Chakra, the country’s third-highest wartime gallantry award, for the 1965 India-Pakistan war, Kumari recalls how her birth date accounted for her popularity.
"When I was in primary school, my friends would always talk about my birth date. School functions, rallies and prabhaat pheries were a regular affair. My parents would tell me that my birthday is celebrated across the country," she recalled, adding that since she was born on Independence Day, her father named her Vijay, meaning victory.
"After marriage, my husband would often say that my destiny is inseparable from my country's, as my birthdate and time are similar to India," she said.
Her two sons were commissioned into the Army as officers (in 1988 and 1989), and so one of her grandsons was commissioned in the Army in 2016, while another one is currently undergoing training at Mhow (in Madhya Pradesh).
Her third son is a dentist, and she has a daughter too.
"All my family has spent their life in the service of the nation," she says, with a hint of pride in her voice.
Her most memorable moment? "My husband being awarded the Vir Chakra. I am so proud of him for, back in 1965, at the age of 25, he silenced enemies’ guns despite having lost a leg in an enemy mine explosion," she said.
Major Dhirendra Nath Singh was commanding a company of a Battalion of the Kumaon Regiment, which was ordered to capture Keri.
"My husband's medals and a telegram addressed to him read: The President is pleased to award Vir Chakra to you for gallantry' are among my prized possessions," she said.
Major (retd) Singh breathed his last at the Army's Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi on April 4, 2025. Kumari also recalls how her family, responding to the then prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri's appeal, skipped a meal daily.
"Those were difficult days in the life of the young nation. There was a foodgrain crisis, and like most, we too decided to make a small contribution," she says.
Travelling down memory lane, she recalls how India overcame great difficulties and is tasting success in different fields.
"I feel that my story is similar, as everything was not rosy. One of the biggest setbacks was my husband losing his leg during the 1965 war," she said.
Despite getting a prosthetic leg in 1966, her husband, posted in Lucknow, was declared medically unfit in 1971.
"Yet, he ensured that our sons joined the Army and was enormously pleased when he attended their passing out parade," she recalled, rounding off the conversation with a "Jai Hind."
