CBSE solutions for English Communicative - Literature Reader Class 9 chapter 1.1 - How I Taught My Grandmother to Read [Latest edition]

Write about the following memories or experiences. Share your views with the
class.

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?

1. When I was a girl of about twelve, I used to stay in a village in north Karnataka with my grandparents. Those days, the transport system was not very good, so we used to get the morning papers only in the afternoon. The weekly magazine used to come one day late. All of us would wait eagerly for the bus, which used to come with the papers, weekly magazines and the post.
2.  At that time, Triveni was a very popular writer in the Kannada language. She was a wonderful writer. Her style was easy to read and very convincing. Her stories usually dealt with complex psychological problems in the lives of ordinary people and were always very interesting. Unfortunately, for Kannada literature, she died very young. Even now, after forty years, people continue to appreciate her novels.
3. One of her novels, called Kashi Yatre, was appearing as a serial in the Kannada weekly Karmaveera then. It is the story of an old lady and her ardent desire to go to Kashi or Varanasi. Most Hindus believe that going to Kashi and worshipping Lord Vishweshwara is the ultimate punya. This old lady also believed in this, andher struggle to go there was described in that novel. In the story, there was also a young orphan girl who falls in love but there is no money for the wedding. In the end, the old lady gives away all her savings without going to Kashi. She says, 'The happiness of this orphan girl is more important than worshipping Lord Vishweshwara at Kashi.
4. 'My grandmother, Krishtakka, never went to school. So, she could not read. Every Wednesday, the magazine would come and I would read the next episode of the
   story to her. During that time, she would forget all her work and listen with the greatest concentration. Later, she could repeat the entire text by heart. My  grandmother too never went to Kashi so she identified herself with the novel's protagonist. More than anybody else, she was the one most interested in knowing
   what happened next in the story and used to insist that I read the serial out to her.   
5.  After hearing what happened next in Kashi Yatre, she would join her friends at thetemple courtyard, where we children would also gather to play hide and seek. Shewould discuss the latest episode with her friends. At that time, I never understoodwhy there was so much of debate about the story.
6. Once I went for a wedding with my cousins to the neighbouring village. In thosedays, a wedding was a great event. We children enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.
   We would eat and play endlessly, savouring the freedom because all the elders were busy. I went for a couple of days but ended up staying there for a week.
7. When I came back to my village, I saw my grandmother in tears. I was surprised,for I had never seen her cry even in the most difficult of situations. What had happened? I was worried.
8. 'Avva, is everything fine? Are you alright?'
9. I used to call her Avva, which means mother in the Kannada spoken in north Karnataka.
10. She nodded but did not reply. I did not understand and forgot about it. In the night,  after dinner, we were sleeping in the open terrace of the house. It was a summer night and there was a full moon. Avva came and sat next to me. Her affectionate hands touched my forehead. I realized she wanted to speak. I asked her, 'What is  the matter?'
11. When I was a young girl I lost my mother. There was nobody to look after and guide me. My father was a busy man. He got married again. In those days, people never considered education essential for girls, so I never went to school. I got married very young and had children. I became very busy. Later I had grandchildren and always felt so much happiness in cooking and feeding all of you. At times I used to regret not going to school, so I made sure that my children and grandchildren studied well ...'
12. I could not understand why my sixty-two-year-old grandmother was telling me, a twelve-year-old, the story of her life in the middle of the night. One thing I knew, I loved her immensely and there had to be some reason why she was talking to me. I looked at her face. It was unhappy and her eyes were filled with tears. She
    was a good-looking lady who was almost always smiling. Even today, I cannot forget the worried expression on her face. I leaned forward and held her hand.
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 picture that accompanies the story of Kashi Yatre and I could not understand anything that was written. Many times, I rubbed my hands over the pages wishing to understand what was written. But I knew it was not possible. If only I was educated enough... I waited eagerly for you to return. I felt you would come early and read for me. I even thought of going to the village and asking you to read for me. I could have asked somebody in this village but I was too embarrassed to do so. I felt so very dependent and helpless. We are well-off, but what use is money when I cannot be independent?'
15. I did not know what to answer. Avva continued.
16. 'I have decided I want to learn the Kannada alphabet from tomorrow onwards. I will work very hard. I will keep Saraswati Pooja day during Dassara as the deadline.
    That day I should be able to read a novel on my own. I want to be independent.'
17. I saw the determination on her face. Yet I 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 have so much work in the
    kitchen...'
19. Childishly I made fun of the old lady. But she just smiled.
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 next day onwards, I started my tuition. Avva was a wonderful student. The amount of homework she did was amazing. She would read, repeat, write and recite. I was her only teacher and she was my first student. Little did I know then that one day I would become a teacher in Computer Science and teach hundreds of students.
22. The Dassara festival came as usual. Secretly, I bought Kashi Yatre which had been published as a novel by that time. My grandmother called me to the pooja place and made me sit down on a stool. She gifted me a frock. Then she did
    something unusual. She bent down and touched my feet. I was surprised and taken aback. Elders never touched the feet of youngsters. We have always touched the feet of God, elders and teachers. We considered that as a mark of
    respect. It is a great tradition but today the reverse had happened. It was not correct.
23. She said, "I am touching the feet of a teacher, not
    my granddaughter; a teacher who taught me so well, with so much of affection that I can read any 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. I did return namaskara to her by touching her feet and gave my gift to my first student. She opened it and read the title Kashi Yatre by Triveni and the publisher's
    name immediately .
25. I knew, then, that my student had passed with flying colours.

About the Author
Sudha Murty was born in 1950 in Shiggaon in North Karnataka. A prolific writer in Kannada, she has written seven novels, four technical books, three travelogues and two collections of short stories. Her previous English book 'Wise and Otherwise' has
been translated into thirteen Indian languages. Her stories deal with common lives and human values such as charity, kindness and self-realisation. As a sensitive writer, she writes about the suffering of the people. The main characters in all her
books are highly educated, non compromising, highly principled women.

Now that you have enjoyed reading the story, answer the following question by choosing the correct option.
 The grandmother could relate to the central character of the story 'Kashi Yatre' as  __________.

Why did the women at the temple discuss the latest episode of ‘Kashi Yatre’?

Now that you have enjoyed reading the story, answer the following question by choosing the correct option
The granddaughter found her grandmother in tears on her return as _____

Now that you have enjoyed reading the story, answer the following question by choosing the correct option
Why did the grandmother touch her granddaughter's feet?

Answer the following question briefly.
What made Triveni a popular writer?

Answer the following question briefly.
Why did the grandmother depend on her granddaughter to know the story?

Answer the following question briefly.
Pick out two sentences showing that the grandmother was desperate to know what happened next in the story.

Answer the following question briefly
Could the grandmother succeed in accomplishing her desire to read? How?

Answer the following question briefly
Which of the following traits are relevant to the character of the narrator's grandmother?
(i) determined
(ii) selfish
(iii) emotional
(iv)mean
Give reasons for your choice.

Here are some direct quotations from the story. Identify the speaker and write what each quotation suggests about the speaker. You can use the adjectives given in the box and may also add your own.

The teacher will read out the story of a young girl about a special day.

One day our teacher announced that there was a surprise awaiting us the next day. We were asked to get whatever little pocket money we could.
The next day our teacher said, 'Today is Grandparents' Day' and you will be meeting many grandparents who do not live with their families. Yes, we were going to an Old Age Home! On the way we bought a nice big cake, chart paper and balloons. We entered an old, big building. Later we were taken into a hall and were allowed to decorate it.
We blew balloons and hung them around the hall. We cut out chart paper, wrote quotes, drew pictures and stuck them on the wall. Then came in all the grey–haired sweethearts, some alone, some couples, some in groups ans settled down.
It was time to welcome them. Robert, who was a good speaker, greeted them and told them that we had come along to make their day a little special. We gathered in front and started singing songs for them. Most of the people were single grandparents whose spouses had expired. The other few were couples; many of them were smiling and singing along too. But there were a few who sat without any expression. While some of us sang the others sat beside them and spoke to them.
Two of us cut the cake into several pieces to be distributed. We were informed by the caretaker that there were diabetic people amongst them and they couldn't have sweets. He said they could have fruit instead the non-diabetics and fruit to those who were diabetic. Many of them missed their grand children. One of them told me that her son was in the U.S. and as he found it difficult to look after her, he had left her at this Home.
While returning home we realized that our grandparents are lonely and insecure. They spend their second childhood in their old age homes. Most of those living in old age homes do not complain. It is left to us to decide how happy their old age can be. We do not need any special day to make them feel their worth. If you have never told them how much you love them, say it before it's too late.

(b) List any three feelings of the old people in this story.

1. _____________________________
2. _____________________________
3. _____________________________

(c) Complete the following :

1. We can make our grandparents happy by ________________
2. We can avoid constructing more and more Old Age Homes by___________

After having read the story, you realise the anguish of the illiterate adults. You want to make your friends aware of it and contribute something in bringing about a change in the lives of the illiterate adults. Deliver a speech in the morning assembly at your school about the Importance of Adult Education and ways to implement it.
Read the following to make your speech effective:
The introduction of a speech is like the nose of an airplane. The nose sets the course and leads the plane off in a specific direction. A good introduction sets the direction of your speech by

• getting the attention of your audience
• introducing your topic
• stating your central idea or purpose
• briefly identifying the main points
• making your audience eager to hear what you have to say

You are the grandmother. How did you feel when your granddaughter gave you the novel ‘Kashi Yatre’ ? Write your feelings in your diary.
To make your diary entry interesting, read the following information about what is a diary entry.
A diary entry is a purely personal piece of writing. The writer expresses his/her thoughts and feelings. Reactions to incidents are generally poured out in a diary. Hence expressions that are emotionally charged are used.

                       For example – When you are happy about something, you could start like this
                       8th July 20xx, Wednesday             8 pm
                       Today I am very happy as ………………………..

Here is a story about Swami and his grandmother. After reading the excerpt, change it into a conversation between Swami and his Grandmother.
After the night meal with his head on his granny’s lap, nestling close to her, Swaminathan felt very snug and safe in the faint atmosphere of cardamom and cloves. ‘Oh, Granny !’ he cried ecstatically. ‘You don’t know what a great fellow Rajam is.’ He told her the story of the first enmity between Rajam and Mani and the subsequent friendship.

‘You know, he has a real police dress,’ said Swaminathan. ‘Is it? What does he want a police dress for?’ asked Granny.

‘His father is the Police Superintendent. He is the master of every policeman here.’ Granny was impressed. She said that it must be a tremendous office indeed. She then recounted the days when her husband, Swaminathan’s grandfather, was a powerful sub-magistrate, in which office he made the police force tremble before him and the fiercest dacoits of the place flee. Swaminathan waited impatiently for her to finish the story. But she went on, rambled, confused, mixed up various incidents that took place at different times. ‘That will do, Granny,’ he said ungraciously. ‘Let me tell you something about Rajam. Do you know how many marks he gets in arithmetic?’

‘He gets all the marks, does he, child?’ asked Granny.
‘No silly. He gets ninety marks out of one hundred.’
‘Good. But you must also try and get marks like him…. You know, Swami, your grandfather used to frighten the examiners with his answers sometimes. When he answered a question, he did it in a tenth of the time that others took to do it. And then, his answers would be so powerful that his teachers would give him two hundred marks sometimes.

‘Oh, enough, Granny ! You go on bothering about old unnecessary stories. Won’t you listen to Rajam?’
‘Yes, dear, yes.’
‘Granny, when Rajam was a small boy, he killed a tiger.’
Swaminathan started the story enthusiastically : Rajam’s father was camping in a forest. He had his son with him. Two tigers came upon them suddenly, one knocking down the father from behind. The other began chasing Rajam, who took shelter behind a bush and shot it dead with his gun.

‘Granny, are you asleep?’ Swaminathan asked at the end of the story.
Now read the dialogue and complete the conversation:
Swarni: You don’t know what a great fellow Raj am is! In the beginning I could not get along with him but now he is my good friend. And you know, he has a real police dress.
Grandmother: Is it? What does he want a police dress for?
Swarni: His father is the Police Super­intendent. He is the master of every policeman here.
Grandmother: I think, it must be a tremendous office. Do you know, your grandfather was a powerful sub­magistrate and the Police Force trembled before him? Even the fiercest dacoits of the place fled.
Swarni: That will do, Granny. It’s so boring. Let me tell you something about Raj am. Do you know how many marks he gets in arithmetic?
Grandmother: He gets all the marks, doesn’t he, child?