Fiction
F. 1 How I Taught My Grandmother To Read by Sudha Murty
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UNIT UNIT
Write about the following memories or experiences. Share your views with the class. i) ii) iii) iv) A memorable holiday spent with your grandmother A story told by your grandmother The things you admire the most about your grandmother The difference between your mother and your grandmother
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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? Now read the text 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 paper 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. 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. 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, and
CBSE
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ardent: showing strong feelings
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Fiction
her 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 was no money for the wedding. In the end, the old lady gives away all her savings without going to Kashi.