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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