How I Taught My Grandmother to Read Summary Class 9 English

Summary

• The writer was twelve years old and she used to stay with her grandparents in north Karnataka. Since there were very few diversions, the entire family would eagerly wait for a weekly magazine called Karamveera. This magazine was publishing famous writer Triveni’s novel, ‘Kashi Yatre’ as a serial. 
• The novel dealt with the protagonist’s struggle to visit Kashi. Since grandmother believed in Kashi-Yatra as a pilgrimage, she could identify with the trials and tribulations of the main characters. 
• Every Wednesday, the writer would read the next episode of the story to her. The grandmother would not only listen with great attention but also memorize it by heart. Later she would discuss it with friends in the temple courtyard.

• One day the writer had to go to the neighbouring village for a cousin’s wedding and stayed back there for a week. When she returned, she was surprised to see her grandmother in tears. At night, the grandmother narrated how her past life, feeding and bringing up children, kept her busy, sparing no time for education of any kind.
• Moreover, education for girls was not considered as important in those days. Without the granddaughter, she had a tough time trying to decipher and guess the next episode of ‘Kashi Yatre’. 
• She felt very desperate and helpless, mutely gazing at the pictures, unable to read a single word. This incident fanned the grandmother’s desire to learn the Kannada alphabet and she vowed to learn it by Dussehra. The granddaughter’s pleas, her mockery of the grandmother’s age, all fell on deaf ears. No wonder, the grandmother proved to be an ideal student.

• In no time, she could read, repeat and write Kannada. The writer presented her with a copy of the novel ‘Kashi Yatre’ as a token of appreciation and grandmother touched the feet of her granddaughter, her teacher, as a befitting tribute.