Sri Venkateshwar International School

Sector-18, Dwarka, New Delhi-78

ENGLISH-IX
‘How I Taught My Grandmother to Read’ (by Sudha Murthy)

The story is a first-hand narrative in which the author recalls how she taught her
grandmother to read. The author’s grandmother had never gone to school as a
young girl, but had nursed a deep desire to study. As she grew older, she ensured
that her children, and later, her grandchildren were educated.

Her deep desire to read came alive when her granddaughter went to another
village to attend a wedding and she was not able to follow one of the stories that
her granddaughter used to read out to her, from a magazine. This made her
determined to learn to read, even though she was sixty two years old. She asked
her granddaughter to be her teacher and the author was amazed at the sincerity
and dedication with which she applied herself to her studies.

By Dussehra, the grandmother had learnt to read and on the day of Saraswati
Puja, she gifted her granddaughter material for a frock and touched her feet as a
mark of respect for her young teacher. In return, the author gifted her
grandmother her favourite story, Kashi Yatre, which had inspired her to learn to
read and which had now been published as a novel.

GRANDMOTHER:
Krishatkka is the grandmother who could not get education because of the
death of her mother in her young age. Also, educating a girl was not
considered essential. She accepted the fate and continued to be happy
with the family. She adjusted herself with the circumstances. She likes kids
and her family.
Grandmother is a religious person. She goes to temple and shares the
religious story ‘Kashi Yatre’ with her friends. She is also interested to go on
a pilgrimage at Kashi. She is a very determined person. She decides to be
an independent reader and also decides the deadlines for her task. She is
not money minded because she is not more concerned about money but
about being independent. She is very emotional. When she could not find
anyone to read Kashi Yatre, she cries a lot. She also cries when she talks
with the writer about her inability to read the novel. Kshitakka is a good
student as she can grasp the things very quickly. She also respect her
teacher (her granddaughter) by touching her feet.

GRANDDAUGHTER:
The author is a twelve-year-old child. She has been living with her
grandparents in a village in north Karnataka. As her grandmother is
illiterate, she used to read a novel serial published weekly to her
grandmother. Later, she taught her grandmother to read Kannada
alphabet. It was her caring attitude that made her read out to her illiterate
grandmother next episode of her favourite every week diligently.

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS (40-50 words)

Q1. Why had the grandmother not gone to school?

Q2. How do we know that the grandmother was determined to read?
Q3. Why did the grandmother touch the feet of her granddaughter?
Q4. Why does the grandmother identify with the protagonist of ‘Kashi
Yatre’?

LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS (100-120 words)

Q1. Comment on the author’s relationship with her grandmother.

Q2. Have you ever been on a trip to any place in India, where you didn’t
know the language spoken locally? How did you feel? How did you manage
to communicate?
Q3. The common belief is that God wishes us to serve him through his
people, mankind. Do you agree with this faith? Justify you answer in context
of the story.