How I Taught My Grandmother to Read
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 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. She says, ‘The happiness of this orphan girl is more important than worshipping Lord Vishweshwara at Kashi.’ 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 this 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, and she identified herself with the novel’s protagonist. So 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.
After hearing what happened next in Kashi Yatre, she would join her friends at the temple courtyard where we children would also gather to play hide and seek. She would discuss the latest episode with her friends. At that time, I never understood why there was so much of debate about the story. Once I went for a wedding with my cousins to the neighbouring village. In those days, 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. 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 situations. What had happened? I was worried. “Avva, is everything all right? Are you okay?”
I used to call her Avva, which means mother in the Kannada spoken in north Karnataka.
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 our 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 realised she
wanted to speak. I asked her,
“What is the matter?”
‘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 and 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...’
Bharat Our Land
The mighty Himavant is ours-
there’s no equal anywhere on earth.
The generous Ganga is ours-
which other river can match her grace?
The sacred Upanishads are ours-
what scriptures else to name with them?
This sunny golden land is ours-
she’s peerless, let’s praise her!
Gallant warriors have lived here,
many a sage has sanctified this land.
The divinest music has been heard here,
and here all auspicious things are found.
Here Brahma-knowledge has taken root,
and the Buddha preached his dhamma here.
Of hoary antiquity is Bharat,
she’s peerless, let’s praise her! …
Subramania Bharati