Class 9 English · Original EZT practice
How I Taught My Grandmother to Read (Class 9 English Chapter 1): Avva's deadline
When Sudha Murty was a girl of about twelve, living with her grandparents in a village in north Karnataka, her grandmother Krishtakka never missed an episode of Kashi Yatre - the serialized novel the girl read aloud to her every Wednesday. Krishtakka had never been to school and could not read. One day she announced a decision: she would learn the Kannada alphabet, with Saraswati Puja day during Dassara as her deadline. This page gives a summary, themes and practice questions. (Note: this is original practice, not a textbook exercise key.)
6 original worked examples, 6 fresh self-check questions and 4 mixed questions, with explained answers. These are not copied textbook exercises, an official chapter index or a full answer key. No affiliation with NCERT is claimed.
Official sources for topic and edition context, checked 23 October 2026:
1. Summary - Kashi Yatre and the Wednesday readings
In the narrator's village, the morning paper arrived only in the afternoon and the weekly magazine a day late, yet everyone waited eagerly for the bus that brought them. The popular Kannada writer Triveni's novel Kashi Yatre - the story of an old lady who gives up her savings, and her dream of Kashi, for an orphan girl's wedding - was appearing as a serial in the weekly Karmaveera, and the twelve-year-old narrator read each episode to her grandmother, who would forget all her work and listen.
2. Summary - the decision and the deadline
When the narrator is away, Krishtakka cannot read the next episode - too embarrassed to ask anyone in the village, she feels dependent and helpless, and cries. She then declares that she has decided to learn the Kannada alphabet from the next day, keeping Saraswati Puja day during Dassara as the deadline: that day she should be able to read a novel on her own. She wants to be independent.
3. Summary - the student, the teacher and the theme
Avva turns out to be a wonderful student - the amount of homework she does is amazing - and the twelve-year-old becomes her teacher. Her motto carries the story's theme: 'For a good cause if you are determined, you can overcome any obstacle... For learning there is no age bar.' The story celebrates literacy, determination, respect between generations, and the dignity of independence.
4. Character study - Avva and her young teacher
Krishtakka is sixty-two, grey-haired, hard-working in the kitchen, and utterly determined - she answers her granddaughter's laughter with a smile and a promise. The narrator is childish enough to laugh, but loving enough to teach: their roles reverse, and the respect between them deepens as student and teacher.
Choose, solve, check, then try a fresh question.
Before calculating, read the method prompt and name the condition that makes it useful. Write your own attempt. Open the steps only when you need them, and use the check to catch a wrong sign, unit or interpretation. Finish with the fresh question before reading its answer.
Set up Kashi Yatre
Choose the method: A story inside the story.
EZT practice question
What is the story of Kashi Yatre, and why does it matter to the grandmother?
Show the worked solution
- Triveni's novel tells of an old lady whose ardent desire is to go to Kashi and worship Lord Vishweshwara.
- She finally gives all her savings for a young orphan girl's wedding, saying the girl's happiness matters more than Kashi.
- Krishtakka identifies with her deeply - both are elderly women whose dearest wishes depend on others.
Answer: It tells of an old lady who longs to worship Lord Vishweshwara at Kashi but finally gives all her savings for an orphan girl's wedding - and Krishtakka identifies with her, because both are elderly women whose dearest wish depends on others.
Check: Kashi Yatre appeared as a serial in the Kannada weekly Karmaveera - the Wednesday episodes frame the whole story.
Watch for this: Do not confuse Triveni (the novel's author) with Sudha Murty (the story's author).
Now try it yourself
How did news and magazines reach the village?
Check your answer
By bus - the morning paper came only in the afternoon and the weekly magazine a day late, yet everyone waited eagerly.
The delay explains why a missed episode could not simply be re-read.
Explain why Avva cries
Choose the method: Dependent and helpless.
EZT practice question
Why does Krishtakka cry when the narrator is away, and what does she realize?
Show the worked solution
- Karmaveera arrives as usual, but no one can read the next episode to her.
- She is too embarrassed to ask anyone in the village, feeling dependent and helpless.
- She realizes: 'We are well-off, but what use is money when I cannot be independent?'
Answer: Unable to read the next episode herself and too embarrassed to ask anyone, she feels dependent and helpless - and realizes that without reading, even a well-off person is not independent.
Check: Her tears are not about the story alone - they are about what not being able to read costs her.
Watch for this: Do not say she cries because the serial ended - it continued; she simply could not read it.
Now try it yourself
Why does Krishtakka say 'what use is money when I cannot be independent'?
Check your answer
Her family is well-off, yet without the ability to read she must depend on a child for the thing she loves most - self-reliance, not wealth, is real independence.
That sentence turns her sadness into a decision.
Fix the decision's details
Choose the method: Alphabet, Dassara, novel.
EZT practice question
What decision does Krishtakka announce, and what deadline does she set?
Show the worked solution
- She decides to learn the Kannada alphabet from the next day onwards.
- Her deadline: Saraswati Puja day during Dassara - the day of the goddess of learning.
- By that day she wants to read a novel on her own - 'I want to be independent.'
Answer: She decides to learn the Kannada alphabet from the next day, keeping Saraswati Puja day during Dassara as the deadline - by that day she wants to read a novel on her own and be independent.
Check: She is sixty-two when she sets the deadline - the goddess-of-learning day is chosen deliberately.
Watch for this: Do not soften the goal to 'recognize letters' - her stated target is reading a whole novel alone.
Now try it yourself
How does the narrator first react to the decision?
Check your answer
She laughs and childishly makes fun of her grandmother - grey hair, wrinkled hands, spectacles, so much kitchen work - but Avva just smiles.
The laughter sets up Avva's famous two-line answer.
Quote the two-line answer
Choose the method: Determined, no age bar.
EZT practice question
Quote Avva's response when her granddaughter laughs at her, and explain it.
Show the worked solution
- 'For a good cause if you are determined, you can overcome any obstacle.'
- 'I will work harder than anybody but I will do it.'
- 'For learning there is no age bar' - determination matters, not age, when the cause is good.
Answer: 'For a good cause if you are determined, you can overcome any obstacle. I will work harder than anybody but I will do it. For learning there is no age bar.' - determination, not age, decides what a person can learn.
Check: She says it with a smile - confidence without anger.
Watch for this: Do not treat the lines as boasting - the very next days of homework prove them.
Now try it yourself
What kind of student was Avva?
Check your answer
A wonderful, hard-working one - the amount of homework she did amazed her young teacher.
Her effort, not talent alone, keeps the deadline.
Track the role reversal
Choose the method: Reader becomes teacher.
EZT practice question
How do the roles of the narrator and her grandmother change through the story?
Show the worked solution
- At first the twelve-year-old reads to her grandmother every Wednesday - the child serves the elder.
- After the decision, the child becomes the teacher and the elder the student.
- Respect deepens both ways: Avva's humility in learning, the narrator's loyalty in teaching.
Answer: The twelve-year-old first reads aloud to her grandmother, then becomes her teacher while Avva becomes the student - and the respect between them deepens as the roles reverse.
Check: The title itself holds the reversal: 'How I Taught My Grandmother to Read.'
Watch for this: Do not call the narrator's early laughter cruel - it is childish, and she makes up for it as a devoted teacher.
Now try it yourself
Who is the author of the story, and what is Krishtakka called at home?
Check your answer
Sudha Murty; Krishtakka is called Avva - her grandmother, whom she taught to read as a twelve-year-old.
'Avva' keeps the story's affection inside its title roles.
State the central message
Choose the method: No age bar.
EZT practice question
What is the central message of How I Taught My Grandmother to Read?
Show the worked solution
- A sixty-two-year-old sets a deadline and learns the alphabet - learning has no age limit.
- With determination, even the hardest late start can be overcome.
- And a teacher, whatever their age - here twelve - earns true respect.
Answer: That learning has no age limit - with determination, even a sixty-two-year-old can master the alphabet and become independent; and that a teacher, whatever their age, earns true respect.
Check: The story also quietly celebrates literacy itself: reading is what makes Avva independent.
Watch for this: Do not shrink the message to 'respect your elders' - the story honours learning and teaching in both directions.
Now try it yourself
In one sentence, what does the story say about independence?
Check your answer
Real independence is self-reliance - Avva's money could not buy it, but her learning could.
Her own words - 'I want to be independent' - define it.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. Author of the story?
Show answer and reason
Sudha Murty.
A true story from her own childhood.
2. Grandmother's name and pet name?
Show answer and reason
Krishtakka, called Avva.
Sixty-two when she decides to learn.
3. The serial and its magazine?
Show answer and reason
Triveni's Kashi Yatre, in the weekly Karmaveera.
Read aloud every Wednesday.
4. The deadline?
Show answer and reason
Saraswati Puja day during Dassara.
To read a novel on her own.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Quote Avva's line about learning and age.
- Explain what the old lady in Kashi Yatre does with her savings.
- In one sentence, say why Avva's money could not make her independent.
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Questions about this practice page
- Who wrote How I Taught My Grandmother to Read?
- Sudha Murty. The story appears in Unit 1 of the NCERT Class 9 English textbook Kaveri.
- Who is Krishtakka in the story?
- Sudha Murty's grandmother, called Avva - a hard-working sixty-two-year-old who never went to school and decides to learn the Kannada alphabet so she can read on her own.
- What is Kashi Yatre?
- Triveni's Kannada novel, serialized in the weekly Karmaveera, about an old lady who gives up her savings - and her dream of visiting Kashi - for an orphan girl's wedding. Krishtakka follows every episode.
- What deadline does the grandmother set for learning to read?
- Saraswati Puja day during Dassara - by that day she wants to read a novel on her own and be independent.
- What is the moral of How I Taught My Grandmother to Read?
- For learning there is no age bar: determination can overcome any obstacle when the cause is good.