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How I Taught My grandmother to Read by Sudha Murti: C.B.S.E. CLASS IX

 L-1: 'How I Taught My grandmother to Read' by Sudha Murti: C.B.S.E. CLASS IX

L-1: 'How I Taught My Grandmother To Read': by Sudha Murti

 

Detailed Summary of the lesson:

1. The narrator used to stay in a village with her grandmother in north Karnataka when she was about twelve. They used to get their morning paper in the afternoon as the transport system was not good.  They had to wait for the bus anxiously It would fetch the newspapers, weekly magazine, and the post in the afternoon for the weekly magazine for a week.

2. In those days Triveni was a very popular writer in the language of Kannada. Her style was very easy to understand and a very satisfying one. She usually took the complex psychological problems of ordinary people as the subject matter of her stories. Unfortunately, she died very young at the age of forty years and it was a big loss to Kannada literature. Her novels are much appreciated nowadays also.

3. One of her popular novels titled ‘Kashi Yatra’ was appearing as a serial in the Kannada weekly Karamaveera at that time. It was about an old lady who had an ardent (keen) desire to go to Kashi or Varanasi. It is a common belief among the Hindus that going to Kashi and worship Lord Vishweshwara is the ultimate ‘punya’. That old lady also had this belief, and her struggle was described in that novel. There is another thread of story in the main plot of the novel and that is about an orphan girl who falls in love with a boy and had no money for the wedding. In the end, the old lady who wanted to go to Kashiji gave all of her money for the girl’s wedding and did not go to Kashiji. She says, “The happiness of this girl is more important than worshipping Lord Vishweshwara at Kashi.’

4. The narrator says that her grandmother, Krishtakka was unable to read because she never went to school. The narrator would read the next episode of the story to her every Wednesday when the magazine came after one week. She would suspend all of her activities to listen to the story with full attention. The narrator’s grandmother also never went to Kashi and she identified herself with the protagonist of the story i.e. the old woman who could not go to Kashi and gave all of the savings to the orphan girl for her wedding. She was always anxious like any one to know what happened next in the story.

5. After listening to what happened next in Kashi Yatra, she would do other activities like joining her friends at the temple courtyard. The narrator and her friends also would gather there for playing hide and seek. She would discuss the latest episode with her friends also. At that time the narrator did not understand why there was a big debate on the story.

6. In those days, a wedding was thought to be a great event. Once, the narrator went with her cousins to attend a marriage in the neighbouring village. They enjoyed the marriage fully by eating and moving about freely there because all elders were so busy. The narrator went there for a couple of days but stayed there for a week.

7. When she came back to her village, she saw that her grandmother was in tears. She asked her the reason. She was worried to see her grandmother in that condition because she had never seen her cry even in the most difficult situations.

8. “Avva, is everything alright? Are you ok?

9. The narrator used to call her Avva that means mother in Kannada language is spoken in north Karnataka.

10.  The grandmother did not reply but nodded her head as if she did not want to tell her the reason. At night, the narrator along with her cousins was sleeping on the open terrace of the house. The moon was full on a summer night. ‘Avva’ came and sat beside her. Then she touched the narrator’s forehead with her affectionate hands. The girl understood that her grandmother wanted to say something. So she asked her, “What is the matter?

11. She told the narrator that when she was young, her mother passed away and there was nobody in the house to look after her. Her father was a busy man, so he got married again. Those were the days when education for girls was not considered of much importance. That was the reason why she did not go to school. She was married when she was very young and she had children. Married life made her very much busy and then with the passage of time, she had grandchildren also. She felt very much happy in cooking and feeding her children At times she had regret for not going to school, but she always thought of sending her children and grandchildren to school for studies.

12. The narrator could not understand why her sixty-two year-old grandmother was telling the story of her life to a twelve-year-old granddaughter. But she knew that she loved her grandmother greatly and there would be some solid reason for she was talking to her in that way. She saw her grandmother’s face and felt very sad to notice tears in her eyes. She could not forget her sad face even today. She leaned forward and caught her hand into hers.

13. ‘Avva, don’t cry. What is the matter? Can I help you in any way?’

14. ‘Yes, I need your help. You know when you were away, Karmaveera came as usual. I opened the magazine. I saw the pictures that accompany the story of Kashi Yatra and I could not understand anything that was written. Many times, I rubbed my hands over the pages wishing they could understand what was written. But I knew it was not possible…”

 She also wished she had been educated. She continued saying that she waited for her return eagerly so that she could listen from her the whole story of the episode. She further said that she had even thought of going to the village where her granddaughter had gone. She had also thought of asking anybody about the episode, but she was embarrassed to do so. She was so dependent and helpless at that time. She felt regret for her being helpless and dependent even though her family was well off.

15. The narrator was silent and did not know what to say. 16. The grandmother continued saying that she had decided to learn the Kannada alphabet from the next day onwards. She would work very hard. She also fixed  ‘Saraswati Pooja’ day during ‘Dassara’ as the deadline. She would be able to read a novel of her own by that day and become independent in that way.

17. There was a kind of determination on her face, yet the narrator laughed at her.

18. “Avva, at this age of sixty-two you want to learn the alphabet? All your hair is grey, your hands are wrinkled, you wear spectacles and you work so much in the kitchen…”

19. In a childish manner, the narrator made fun of her old grandmother, but she only smiled at her.

20. “For a good cause if you are determined, you can overcome any obstacle. I will work harder than anybody but I will do it. For learning, there is no age bar.”

21. The narrator became her grandmother’s tutor the next day. Avva was a wonderful student because she did all of her work with full sincerity and devotion. She would read, repeat, write and recite. She was her granddaughter’s first student. The narrator did not know at that young age that one day she would become a teacher and would teach hundreds of students.

22. The narrator secretly bought one copy of the book ‘Kashi Yatra had been published as a novel by the Dassara festival. The grandmother called the narrator to sit on a stool at the pooja place and gave her a frock material as a gift. After that, she did something unusual. She touched her granddaughter’s feet. That surprised the little girl as elders did not touch the youngers’ feet. The younger touched the feet of God, elders, and teachers only. It was a great tradition and all considered it as a mark of great respect.

23. She said, “I am touching the feet of a teacher, not my granddaughter; a teacher who taught me so well, with so much affection that I can read a novel confidently in such a short period. Now I am independent. It is my duty to respect a teacher. Is it not written in our scriptures that a teacher should be respected, irrespective of the gender and age?”

24. The narrator also returned ‘namaskara' to her grandmother by touching her feet and gave her gift to her first student. She opened it and read immediately the title Kashi Yatra by Triveni and the publisher’s name.

25. She knew that her student had passed with flying colours.

Textual Questions

a.  What made Triveni a popular writer?

b.  Why did the grandmother depend on her granddaughter to know the story?

c.   Pick out two sentences, which state the grandmother was desperate to know what happened in the story.

d.  Could the grandmother succeed in accomplishing her desire to read? How?

e.  Which of the following traits would be relevant to the character of the narrator’s grandmother?

(i) determined (ii) selfish  (iii) emotional  (iv) mean

Give reasons for your choice

 

A Dog Named Duke by William D Ellis

 Lesson 2 (Class IX): A Dog Named Duke by William D Ellis

Brief Summary of the Lesson

Charles Hooper, nicknamed Chuck was a zonal manager in a company of chemicals.  He is the owner of Duke, a Doberman dog. One day, Chuck met with an accident. He was taken to a hospital where he stayed for about two months. His left side was paralysed. After that, he was sent home and put in a wheelchair. His dog, Duke remained sitting beside him for the whole time. Duke was very sensible and came to know about the difficulty of his master. It was difficult for Charles Hooper to resume his work in the company in that condition. So he became depressed. His wife was much worried about him. She had to go to her office. During the whole day, he was alone with his dog Duke. After some days, Chuck started moving with the help of his dog. They continued this practice for more time. At last, the day came when Chuck improved considerably with the dog’s help. He started going to his company and resumed his work as usual. But, as ill-luck would have it, one day, the dog got wounded very badly in an accident. He was taken to the hospital, but could not be saved.

Detailed Summary of the Lesson

1. Charles Hooper, nicknamed Chuck was a very popular zonal salesman in a chemical company. His broad and real smile used to make his extremely competitive nature more attractive. He was six feet in height and he used to play in the football team of his university. At present, he was considered to be a very strict salesman of his company.

2. All was going well until he had a severe accident when he was driving home one autumn evening. He was immediately taken to the hospital. He suffered from subdural hemorrhage (heavy bleeding) in the motor section of his brain. It completely paralysed his left side.

3. One of his district managers took his wife Marcy to the hospital. She noticed that her husband was unable to speak. He could breathe, see and his vision was double. Marcy thought of Duke as he was alone at home. She requested her neighbour to put Duke in the kennel.

4. Hooper had to remain with the patients of critical condition in the hospital for a month. After the fifth week, some employees of his company came there and suggested to him that he should take one month’s leave. They also said that they would create a job that could be done while sitting at a place in the office.

5. After six weeks, the hospital put him in a wheelchair. There was an attendant, who used to move his paralysed affected arm and leg movements. That activity was followed by a bath, exercises, and a wheeled –walker. In spite of all these activities, Chuck did not improve much.

6. After staying for about two months in the hospital, Chuck was discharged in March. Some time passed in the excitement of the homecoming, but, after that, he went down in a state of depression. At the hospital, he was not alone; there were other injured persons. But now, each morning Mary had to go out of the house and after that, he had to face loneliness in the house. 

7. Finally, Duke was brought home from his kennel.

When Duke was to be brought in the house, Chuck wanted to stand up. So he was made to stand up. Duke’s nails had grown much in the four months of his confinement. When he saw Chuck, he stood quivering vigorously, and then he released a deep cry, spun his long-nailed paws, and sprang up to three meters in height. He was like a twenty-three kg powerful missile of joy just ready to hit his master. It made Chuck stagger to maintain his balance.

8. Those who were the eyewitnesses said that the dog had understood at once Chuck’s physical condition and never jumped on him afterwards. From that time, he sat at a place round the clock near his master’s bed.

9. Even Duke’s presence near his bed did not improve Huck’s state of mind. The muscles which used to be so strong started losing grip on the bones.

 Marcy would secretly cry as she watched her husband’s smile fade away. He would stare fixedly for hours together at the ceiling, then out of the window, and then at his dog, Duke.

 While doing so, hard linings would emerge on his face and stay there continuously. 

10. The whole day would pass in boringly as he and Duke would stare at each other in silence. Finally, the dog could not bear it. He would spring to his feet, quivering (shaking) in impatience.

11.  “Ya-ruff”

12. “Lie-down. Duke!”

13. Then Duke would move in a proud manner to the bed, put his pointed nose under Chuck’s elbow and lift it. After that, he would nudge (push gently), needle (tease) and snort (release breath noisily).

14. “Go run around the house. Duke.”

15. But Duke was not ready to leave the place. He would keep on watching as if it wanted to motivate Chuck to walk and talk with him. After one hour, he would come over to the bed again and bark and push him. The dog didn’t leave the bedside of Chuck and kept sitting there.

One evening, Chuck hooked the leash onto duke’s collar to make him still. But he created a lightning effect in Duke. He stood up at once and readied himself anticipating (hoping) something good. What was to follow next was difficult to explain for Chuck.

16. He asked his wife, Marcy to help him stand up to his feet. Duke jumped forward while Chuck struggled for balance. He took the leash in his left hand and tried to grip it with his paralysed fingers. Then he bent forward and Marcy supported him by the elbow. First, he moved his right leg out in front. 

17. He had to drag his left foot forward along

 with the right. But it could not be called a step.

Duke felt that the leash was suddenly loosened, so he pulled and made it tight. It made Chuck somewhat swayed, but he saved himself from falling with the help of his right leg. After that, he straightened himself and struggled to keep standing three times, but fell exhausted into the wheelchair.

18. The next day, the dog came running and stood near Chuck’s healthy side. He pushed his nose under the elbow and raised his head up. Hooper’s healthy arm reached to grab the leash. As Hooper stood up, the dog walked up to the end of the leash and pulled it steadily. He took four steps on that day.

19. Hooper learned to balance himself against the pull without Marcy by leaning against the pull. On Wednesday, he took five steps, and on Thursday six steps. On Friday, he could not take more than two and felt exhaustion. But both of them could reach the front porch in two weeks.

20. The neighbours would daily see Chuck progressing with the help of the dog in front of the house. They saw the dog pull the leash tight and then stand and wait. Hooper would drag himself near the dog. After that, the dog would move forward to the end of the leash and wait again. Both of them used to set their new targets and touched them.

21. One day, Marcy told Hooper’s doctor about what the dog was doing for her husband. Then, the doctor prescribed a course of physiotherapy with weights, pulleys and whirlpool baths (special bath in which water moves in a circular current) and also walking with Duke every day on a limited slow level.

22. It was a routine scene for the neighbours to see them walk on the same pattern. On June 1, news spread that Duke and Hooper had reached the crossing. It was very far away from there.

23. Very soon, Duke started moving out with Hooper twice a day and they kept lengthening the targets also. It was one road at one time.

24. On January 4, Hooper succeeded in taking a big leap. He walked for 200 meters from the clinic to the local branch office of his company. That office was also under him and the staff was amazed by the visit. Hooper Chuck told Gordon Duke, the manager, that he should tell him about the progress of the work till then so that he could start working. The manager kept watching him quite amazed. He continued saying that he would work for an hour every day. He would use an empty desk lying in the warehouse and he needed a dictating machine for that purpose.

25. When the company came to know about it, there arose some problems. When an employee struggles so much to make his comeback in his company, it would be difficult to say that he would not be able to handle his job. It would be difficult also for Chuck because he was unable to move around in the field as a salesman. Another difficulty for the company was that he would work for only one hour daily.

26. After March 1, Hooper did not need any physiotherapy. He depended on on Duke, who pulled him along the street faster and faster making him more balanced in walking.

He also started walking after dark. He would stumble and fall. After that time, Duke would keep standing still like a rock and watch his master struggling to stand up.

27. For thirteen months, Hooper worked full days and then he was promoted to regional manager and more than four states came under him.

28. In March 1956, Chuck, Marcy and Duke shifted the house. The area in which Hooper bought a house did not know the story of Duke and his master. They knew only that their new neighbor walked with the help of the dog.

29. On the evening of October 12, 1957,  Hooper had some guests in the house. Over some low voices, Chuck heard the screech of brakes outside. He looked for Duke as if feeling some intuition.

30. The people carried the big dog inside the house. Marcy understood at once the critical condition of the dog. 

“Phone the Vet,” she said, “Tell him, I’m bringing Duke.” 

The people present there jumped to lift the dog. But she herself lifted the big dog, put him into the car and at once drove to the hospital of the animals.

31. Duke was kept under the effect of drugs until 11 o’clock the next morning. But he was badly injured.

32.-33. After some weeks, the chemical company’s headquarters sent some words that seemed to be a tribute to Duke.

“…therefore, to advance our objectives step by step, Charles Hooper is appointed Assistant National Sales Manager.”

Word-meanings:

1. Grin: to give a wide smile or a wide smile 

2. Hard-charging: one who works or performs with too much energy 

3. Twilight: the dim light at the time of sunset

4. Subdural hemorrhage: very much bleeding in the brain 

5. Kennel: a small house for a dog 
6. Hit a new low: to become depressed again 

7. Confinement: imprisonment 

8. Quivering: trembling/shaking

 9. Bellow: a deep sounded cry 

10. Launch: to start, to make the public know about a new product, to send something like an airship, weapon in the sky/space, etc.

11. Slacked: not very tight, became loose 

12. Rangy: having long and thin arms or legs 

13. Day in and day out: every day for a long time 

14. Stalked: here it meant to walk in an angry and proud manner 

15. Nudge: to push somebody gently, especially with your elbow 

16. Snort: to breathe out air noisily 

16. Reproachful: blaming, accusing 

17. Yap: bark 

18. Leash: Bridle restraint 

19. Shimmy: to dance or move in a way that shakes your back and shoulders 

20. Prance: to move with long steps being conscious of the fact that people are watching you. 

21. Taut: tight 

22. Jabbed: pushed 

23. Abreast: near, side by side with   

24. Surge out: to move quickly and forcefully in a direction 

25. Physiotherapy: under this treatment, the patient is given a massage and told to do some physical exercises 

26. Whirlpool bath: it is a bath in a tub or a big container in which water turns speedily like a whirlpool

27. gradual: slow

28. pattern: design/style

29. intersection: crossing

30. Jurisdiction: authority, the area in which a person is authorized to pass judgment

31. Gape: to open mouth in surprise

32. Stable: in balance

33. Suburb: an area where people live outside of the centre of the city

34. Rampageous: one who is violent and ready to cause much damage to life and property

35. Babble: the confused sound that comes when many people talk together at a low pitch of the sound

36. Stubbornness: the act of being stubborn, obstinate: one who is not ready to change his/her behavior or attitude

Instinctively: in a natural way

====================================

 Short-answer type Question & Answers

 

1.   Q1. Describe Charles Hooper’s personality.

Ans. Charles Hooper, nicknamed Chuck was a very popular zonal salesman in a chemical company. His broad and real smile used to make his extremely competitive nature more attractive. He was six feet in height and he used to play in the football team of his university. At present, he was considered to be a very strict salesman of his company.

Q2. How did Charles Hooper meet with an accident? What damage was caused to him?

 Ans. He had a severe accident when he was driving home one autumn evening. He was immediately taken to the hospital. He suffered from a subdural hemorrhage (heavy bleeding) in the motor section of his brain. It completely paralysed his left side.

Q3. Who informed Marcy about her husband’s accident? What did she do at once? What did she notice about her husband?

Ans. One of his district managers took his wife Marcy to the hospital. She noticed that her husband was unable to speak. He could breathe, see and his vision was double. Marcy thought of Duke as he was alone at home.

Q4. What did the employees of Hooper’s company suggest to him after the fifth week? What more did they say to him?

Ans. After the fifth week, some employees of his company came there and suggested to him that he should take one month’s leave. They also said that they would create a job that could be done while sitting at a place in the office.

Q5. How did Hooper’s attendant serve him at the hospital, when he was put in a wheelchair? Did Chuck improve?

Ans. After six weeks, the hospital put him in a wheelchair. There was an attendant, who used to move his paralysed affected arm and leg movements. That activity was followed by a bath, exercises, and wheeled –walker. In spite of all these activities, Chuck did not improve much.

Q6. Why did Hooper go down in depression after he was brought back home from the hospital?

Ans. Some time passed in the excitement of the homecoming, but, after that, he went down in a state of depression. At the hospital, he was not alone; there were other injured persons. But now, each morning Mary had to go out of the house and after that, he had to face loneliness in the house. 

Q7. Why did Marcy cry secretly?

Ans. Marcy would secretly cry as she watched her husband’s smile fade away. He would stare fixedly for hours together at the ceiling, then out of the window and then at his dog, Duke.

 While doing so, hard linings would emerge on his face and stay there continuously. 

Q8. Where did Charles get Duke from? How did his wife like it?

Q9. Who was Marcy/ What was her attitude towards Duke?

Q10. How was Hooper a favoured young man?

Q11. Why was Duke put in a kennel?

Q12. When Duke was brought from the kennel, how did he react to see his master?

Long-answer type Questions

Q1.How can you say that everything was going on well before Hooper’s accident?