NCERT Solutions for Class 9th English Chapter 1 How I Taught My Grandmother to Read (prose) — Reflect and Respond

Book page 1–2 Updated on2026-09-08

Q1.

I. Complete the given word web. (Centre of the web: “Why is it important to learn how to read and write?” — four empty boxes are joined to it.)

Answer

Four reasons, one for each box. Notice that the story itself supplies every one of them.

Box	Reason	What it means in practice
1	Independence	You can read a letter, a bus board, a bank form or a medicine label without asking anyone. This is exactly Krishtakka’s reason: “I want to be independent.”
2	Access to knowledge	Books, newspapers, magazines and now the internet are all locked behind print. The grandmother could hear Kashi Yatre only when someone else was free to read it to her.
3	Self-respect and confidence	Illiteracy is felt as shame: she “could have asked somebody in this village but I was too embarrassed to do so. I felt very dependent and helpless.”
4	Livelihood and safety	Jobs, contracts, digital payments and government schemes all need reading. A person who cannot read a document can be cheated with it.

Why the story makes the point better than a slogan: Krishtakka is not poor. “We are well-off, but what use is money when I cannot be independent?” By removing poverty from the picture, Sudha Murty shows that literacy is not only an economic need — it is a form of dignity.

Q2.

II. Read the questions given below and share your answers with your classmates and teacher. 1. Which language(s) do your grandparents or elderly relatives speak?

Answer

This asks about your own family, so answer from it. A good answer names the language, says where it is spoken, and mentions any second language your grandparents picked up later and why.

Sample answer: My grandparents speak Awadhi at home and standard Hindi with visitors. My grandmother grew up in a village near Barabanki, where Awadhi is the everyday speech, so her proverbs and songs are all in it. My grandfather learnt some English at work in the railways, and he still uses railway words — “platform”, “signal” — in the middle of Hindi sentences. I understand Awadhi completely but reply in Hindi, which my grandmother teases me about.

Tip: Mention the words you cannot translate. Every family language has one — like Avva in this story, which means “mother” in the Kannada of north Karnataka but is used here for a grandmother.

Q3.

II. 2. How do they spend their time? How do you spend time with them?

Answer

Answer in two halves, as the question is in two halves: their day, and the part of it you share.

Sample answer: My grandfather walks to the park at six, reads the newspaper cover to cover, and spends the afternoon with his radio. My grandmother cooks, keeps the terrace garden and watches a serial at eight. I spend the evening hour with them — I read out the sports page for my grandfather because the print is small for him now, and I help my grandmother water the pots. On Sundays we play carrom, and she wins more often than anyone believes.

What makes this a good answer: it is specific. “They watch TV and I talk to them” tells the reader nothing. One named activity, one named time of day and one small habit make a person visible.

Q4.

II. 3. What is your favourite experience with them?

Answer

Choose one incident, not a general feeling, and tell it with a beginning, a turn and an ending.

Sample answer: During last year’s power cut my grandmother took us to the terrace and told us the story of the flood in her village in 1978 — how her father carried the family’s brass vessels to the roof and how they ate parched rice for four days. She remembered the name of every neighbour. I had known her only as the person who cooks; that night I understood that she had lived a whole life before I existed. It is my favourite memory because it changed how I see her, not just how I feel about her.

Q5.

II. 4. What is something that the elderly in your family cannot do easily but enjoy watching you do?

Answer

Name the thing, then say why they enjoy watching — usually because it was once theirs, or because it is new and they are curious about it.

Sample answer: My grandfather cannot climb the stairs to the terrace any more because of his knee, but he sits at the window and watches me fly a kite from there every Makar Sankranti. He calls out instructions the whole time — loosen the string, let it drift left — because he was the best kite-flier in his lane as a boy. My grandmother cannot use a smartphone easily, but she loves watching me video-call my cousin in Pune; she waves at the screen and asks him to turn the camera towards the window.

Why this question is placed here: it prepares you for the story. Krishtakka too must watch a twelve-year-old do something she cannot — read — and the story begins at the moment she refuses to go on merely watching.

Q6.

III. Read the following passage. Match the highlighted words with their meanings given in the box below. Box: 1. excitedly 2. believable 3. people living in one particular area 4. discussion 5. a part of a story 6. focus 7. main character 8. directed The casting for the (i) protagonist of our school’s annual play was done after a lot of (ii) debate as many good actors had auditioned for the role. We had decided to present an (iii) episode from an inspirational story. It was a life story of a group of children who worked with the (iv) community to spread literacy. Every day, we reached school early to practise with (v) concentration. We waited (vi) eagerly for the final presentation. All of us played our roles in a very (vii) convincing manner as our theatre teacher had (viii) guided us well.

Answer

Highlighted word	Meaning	The clue in the sentence
(i) protagonist	7. main character	“many good actors had auditioned for the role” — one role everyone wants means the leading one.
(ii) debate	4. discussion	The casting was done “after a lot of” it — an argument that took time before a decision.
(iii) episode	5. a part of a story	“an episode from an inspirational story” — a part taken out of a whole.
(iv) community	3. people living in one particular area	The children “worked with” it to spread literacy — a local body of people, not an individual.
(v) concentration	6. focus	“reached school early to practise with” it — undivided attention.
(vi) eagerly	1. excitedly	“We waited eagerly for the final presentation” — waiting with keen anticipation.
(vii) convincing	2. believable	“played our roles in a very convincing manner” — the audience believed them.
(viii) guided	8. directed	Done by “our theatre teacher” — the person who directs a play.

Did you know? Three of these words come back inside the story itself. Triveni’s style is called “very convincing”, the narrator listens with “the greatest concentration”, and the grandmother waits “eagerly” for the next episode. The passage is a deliberate warm-up for the vocabulary of the text.

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