How I Taught My Grandmother to Read Class 9: Summary and Q&A

How I Taught My Grandmother to Read is the first chapter of the Class 9 English book, a warm story by Sudha Murty. This guide gives you the full summary from beginning to end, the characters, themes, the grammar and vocabulary points, the companion poem Bharat Our Land, and board-style questions with answers.

Summary: the village and Kashi Yatre

The narrator is a twelve-year-old girl living with her grandparents in a remote village in north Karnataka. Transport was slow, so the bus brought the morning paper in the afternoon and weekly magazines a day late. The bus also brought the post, so its arrival was a big event: it was the village's link to the outside world.

A popular writer of the time was Triveni, known for an easy style and stories about the psychological problems of ordinary people. Her novel Kashi Yatre was serialised in the weekly magazine Karmaveera. It is about an old lady who longs to visit Kashi (Varanasi) to earn punya. She meets a young orphan girl who has no money for her wedding, and gives away all her savings to the girl, believing that human happiness matters more than religious rituals. The narrator's grandmother, Krishtakka, had never been to school, but she identified deeply with this old lady. The narrator read each episode aloud to her.

Summary: the regret and the decision

The narrator went away for a week to attend a wedding. While she was gone, the new episode of Kashi Yatre arrived, and Krishtakka could not read it. She even rubbed her hands over the pages, as if the words might somehow come to her. Though she was well-off, she felt helpless and dependent.

When the narrator returned, she found her grandmother in tears. Krishtakka told her story: she lost her mother young and had no one to guide her; her father was busy and remarried; and girls' education was not thought essential then. She spent her life caring for her family and made sure her children and grandchildren studied well, but she always regretted not being able to read.

At sixty-two, she decided to learn the Kannada alphabet and asked her granddaughter to teach her. She set a deadline: Saraswati Puja day during Dassara, by which she wanted to read a novel on her own. The narrator laughed at first, pointing to her grey hair and wrinkled hands. Krishtakka stayed firm: with determination and a good cause, any obstacle can be overcome, and there is no age bar for learning. She became a dedicated student, reading, writing and reciting, and did an 'amazing' amount of homework.

Summary: the reversal of roles

On Saraswati Puja day, Krishtakka bent and touched her granddaughter's feet. Elders do not touch the feet of the young, but she explained that she was touching the feet of her teacher, not her granddaughter. The narrator touched her grandmother's feet in return and gifted her a copy of Kashi Yatre. Krishtakka at once read the title and the publisher's name. She had passed her test with flying colours.

Characters and themes

Characters

• The narrator: a twelve-year-old girl who reads to her grandmother and becomes her teacher; at first amused, then a patient guide.
• Krishtakka: the sixty-two-year-old grandmother; loving, honest about her regret, determined and humble enough to honour her young teacher.

Themes

• Literacy and independence: being unable to read made a well-off woman feel dependent; learning set her free.
• No age bar for learning: determination matters more than age.
• Respect for the teacher: respect for a teacher goes beyond age and family hierarchy.
• Human kindness over ritual: the theme of Kashi Yatre, which mirrors Krishtakka's own values.
• Girls' education: her childhood shows the cost of not educating girls.

Language study: grammar and vocabulary

Past perfect tense shows an action completed before another past action: had + past participle. The earlier action takes the past perfect; the later one takes the simple past. Example: By the time I reached the party, everyone had finished eating.

Binomials are two words joined by a conjunction in a fixed order, like hide and seek or part and parcel (an essential part of something).

The poem: Bharat Our Land

This ode by Subramania Bharati celebrates India's natural beauty and spiritual heritage. It praises the 'mighty Himavant' (the Himalayas) and the 'generous Ganga', saying such features have no equal on earth. It also honours the 'sacred Upanishads', 'Brahma-knowledge' and the teachings of the Buddha. The tone is proud and reverent.

Literary devices

• Allusion: indirect references to the Upanishads and the Buddha.
• Hyperbole: exaggeration such as 'there's no equal anywhere on earth'.
• Refrain: the repeated line 'she's peerless, let's praise her!' gives a chant-like rhythm.
• Hyphens in the first stanza create pauses so the reader can admire each feature.

Board-style questions and answers

1. Why did the villagers wait eagerly for the bus? It brought the morning papers, weekly magazines and the post, the village's main links to the outside world.

2. What is the central idea of Kashi Yatre? An old woman longs to visit Kashi but gives her savings to help an orphan girl marry, showing that human happiness matters more than religious rituals.

3. Why was Krishtakka in tears when the narrator returned? She could not read the latest episode of her favourite serial while the narrator was away, and she felt helpless and dependent.

4. Why had Krishtakka never learnt to read? She lost her mother young and had no one to guide her, her father was busy and remarried, and girls' education was not considered essential then.

5. What was the grandmother's view on learning? With determination for a good cause, any obstacle can be overcome, and there is no age bar for learning.

6. Why did the grandmother touch the narrator's feet? As a mark of respect for her teacher, following the scripture that a teacher should be respected regardless of age or gender.

7. Complete with the past perfect: By the time the bus arrived, the narrator ___ (wait) for an hour. had waited. The waiting happened before the arrival.

8. What does the Ganga suggest in Bharat Our Land, and what is 'hoary antiquity'? The Ganga suggests purity and generosity. Hoary antiquity means India's ancient history, stretching back to time immemorial.

When you are ready to practise more answers, study this chapter with Joy.