How I Taught My Grandmother to Read
by Sudha Murty
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As a girl of about twelve, the narrator (Sudha Murty) stays with her grandparents in a village in north Karnataka. Her grandmother Krishtakka, who never went to school and cannot read, is deeply devoted to a serial story called 'Kashi Yatre' by the popular Kannada writer Triveni, which the narrator reads out to her every week. When the narrator goes away to a wedding for a week, the magazine arrives but the grandmother cannot read it herself and feels helpless and dependent. On the narrator's return she finds her grandmother in tears. The grandmother, aged sixty-two, resolves to learn the Kannada alphabet, setting Saraswati Puja day during Dassara as her deadline. The narrator becomes her teacher and the grandmother works harder than any student. On the festival day the grandmother reads on her own, and in a moving reversal touches her granddaughter's feet as a mark of respect for a teacher, showing that for a determined learner there is no age bar.
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The story is a true incident from the childhood of the writer Sudha Murty. It shows the value of education, the dignity of independence, and the beautiful bond between a granddaughter and her grandmother. It also teaches that learning has no age limit and that a good teacher deserves respect regardless of age or gender.
The weekly ritual of Kashi Yatre
In the village, papers and magazines arrive late. Triveni is a much-loved Kannada writer whose story 'Kashi Yatre' appears as a serial in the weekly Karmaveera. It is about an old lady longing to go to Kashi who finally gives away all her savings for an orphan girl's wedding instead. The narrator's grandmother, Krishtakka, cannot read but listens with great concentration every Wednesday as the narrator reads the next episode, identifying herself completely with the story's heroine.
The grandmother's helplessness
When the narrator goes to a neighbouring village for a wedding and stays away for a week, the magazine arrives as usual but the grandmother cannot read it. She rubs her hands over the pages wishing she could understand them, and feels ashamed to ask others. On her return the narrator finds her grandmother crying, something she had never seen before. The grandmother explains her lifelong regret at never going to school and her painful sense of dependence despite the family being well-off.
A determined student at sixty-two
The grandmother decides to learn the Kannada alphabet, fixing Saraswati Puja day during Dassara as her deadline. The narrator laughingly teases her about her age, but the grandmother replies that 'for a good cause if you are determined, you can overcome any obstacle' and that for learning there is no age bar. She becomes a wonderful, hardworking student, reading, repeating, writing and reciting, while the twelve-year-old narrator becomes her first-ever teacher.
The teacher is honoured
On Dassara, the grandmother calls the narrator to the puja place, gives her a gift of frock material, and then does something unusual, she bends down and touches her granddaughter's feet, saying she is honouring a teacher, not her granddaughter. She reads the title 'Kashi Yatre by Triveni' immediately, proving she has passed with flying colours. The narrator returns the namaskara, and the story ends celebrating respect for teachers and the triumph of determination.