When we think of teachers, we usually picture adults standing in front of a classroom full of children. But what happens when the roles are reversed? What happens when a twelve-year-old girl becomes the teacher, and her sixty-two-year-old grandmother becomes the student?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the beautiful premise of “How I Taught My Grandmother to Read,”<\/strong> one of the most celebrated short stories by the iconic Indian author, philanthropist, and educator Sudha Murty<\/strong>. Originally written in Kannada and later translated into English, this touching, semi-autobiographical tale explores the deep bond between grandparents and grandchildren, the value of literacy, and the reality that learning knows no age limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The story takes place in a remote village in Karnataka, India. In a time before television and the internet, the village’s primary source of entertainment was the weekly arrival of a magazine called Karmaveera<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inside this magazine was a serialized novel titled Kashi Yatre<\/strong>, written by the popular author Triveni. The novel followed an elderly woman who desperately wanted to go on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Kashi (Varanasi) but ultimately sacrificed all her savings to help an orphaned village girl get married.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The narrator’s grandmother, Krishtakka<\/strong>, was deeply invested in the story. Because she had never been to school and could not read, her twelve-year-old granddaughter (Sudha) would read the weekly chapters aloud to her. Krishtakka would listen with absolute fascination, often memorizing the plot lines and discussing them with her neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The peaceful routine was shattered when the young narrator left the village for a week to attend a wedding. While she was away, the latest issue of Karmaveera<\/em> arrived containing the highly anticipated programmatic climax of Kashi Yatre<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the narrator returned, she found her grandmother crying on the terrace. For a woman who was usually strong, resilient, and independent, seeing her in tears was a shock. Krishtakka confessed her deep sense of helplessness. While her granddaughter was away, she had opened the magazine, rubbed her fingers over the pages, and stared at the pictures, completely unable to decipher the words. For the first time in her life, her illiteracy made her feel trapped and dependent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of wallowing in regret, Krishtakka made a monumental decision. At sixty-two years old, she looked at her young granddaughter and said, “I will learn the Kannada alphabet.”<\/em> She set a strict deadline for herself: Dussehra<\/strong> (the festival of Vijayadashami), a festival traditionally celebrated as an auspicious day to begin any form of education or new learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The twelve-year-old granddaughter took her role as a Guru<\/em> (teacher) incredibly seriously. The terrace became their classroom, and Krishtakka turned out to be an exemplary student. She copied the alphabet, practiced reading out loud, and did her homework with an intensity that rivaled any schoolchild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the festival of Dussehra finally arrived, Krishtakka led her granddaughter to the terrace. In an unexpected turn, the sixty-two-year-old grandmother bent down and touched the feet of the twelve-year-old girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In traditional Indian culture, elders never touch the feet of youngsters. Shocked and uncomfortable, the narrator protested. But Krishtakka explained her reasoning beautifully:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I am not touching the feet of my granddaughter. I am touching the feet of my teacher, who taught me to read so patiently and gave me my independence.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Krishtakka then presented her granddaughter with a gift of frock material and, right then and there, opened the magazine to read the title Kashi Yatre<\/em> and the author’s name aloud, completely unassisted. She had passed her test with flying colors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “How I Taught My Grandmother to Read” remains a staple in school curriculums and literature anthologies worldwide because it reminds us of the quiet, transformative power of empathy and education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When we think of teachers, we usually picture adults standing in front of a classroom full of children. But what happens when the roles are reversed? What happens when a twelve-year-old girl becomes the teacher, and her sixty-two-year-old grandmother becomes the student? This is the beautiful premise of “How I Taught My Grandmother to Read,” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[512,510,508,511,509],"class_list":["post-515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-cbse-english-class-9","tag-inspirational-stories","tag-kashi-yatre-summary","tag-short-story-analysis","tag-sudha-murty-books"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":517,"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515\/revisions\/517"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Plot: A Weekly Ritual and an Unexpected Crisis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Turning Point<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Terrace Classroom: Learning at 62<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"For a teacher, there is no greater joy than seeing a student succeed through sheer willpower and dedication.\"\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nThe Ultimate Gift of Respect<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Key Takeaways from Sudha Murty’s Classic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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