Twinkle Khanna Recalls When She, Son Aarav Were Applying To Universities: 'Decided We Will Pretend To...'

Twinkle Khanna, former actor turned author and columnist, started a new journey by enrolling in a master’s program in fiction writing at Goldsmiths, University of London, at the age of 48. In a recent interview on the YouTube channel A Suitable Agency, Twinkle talked about applying to universities alongside her son, Aarav Kumar, who was also seeking admission abroad. She also shared her experiences of building friendships with people of various age groups during her time at the university.

Reflecting on her wish to return to university, Twinkle recalled, “When my son was young, I used to take him to school counselor and I kept saying, ‘I want to go back to university,’ and the counselor told me that for now I have to take care of my child and I can go back to uni when he is older. I used to laugh at that and say, ‘That’s misogynistic, I am going to put you in the newspaper,’ and he would joke with me about it.”

Twinkle and her son Aarav applied to universities at the same time. In the pandemic, Twinkle decided to study and did online courses at Oxford for six months. They both applied to one university, which wasn’t their first choice. “I didn’t know which ones to go to. There was a time when my son and I both were applying to universities together and we had one university that we both had applied to and we were horrified, it was not our first choice, but it was like, ‘Oh my god, if I get it, I will have my son on the campus and he is going to see me.’ We decided that if that happens, we will pretend to not know each other because that’s really uncool. But I ended up getting my first choice, Goldsmiths,” she said.

Twinkle also talked about her time at university, saying that she suddenly had this group of friends called Scribes in the City. “One of us was 66 years old. I am 50, so we had two buddhies and then we had these two 25-year-olds. I have to say that the buddhies kind of outed the 25 year olds. But it was really nice. I was worried who will I have lunch with everyday and I met them and I never had to have lunch alone. So, that was my highlight,” she added.