‘How I Taught My Grandmother to Read’ is a collection of 25 short stories written by Sudha Murty. This book takes the reader through Sudha Murty’s childhood which is all about the little joys in life.
The story talks about Sudha’s growing years with her grandparents. Sudha is around twelve-years old when her grandparents start receiving a copy of a weekly-magazine called ‘Karmaveera’. The magazine contains a story by an acclaimed author called Triveni. Sudha’s grandmother, fondly called as ‘Avva’, loves the works of Triveni, but being an illiterate stops her from reading the magazine on her own. Sudha takes up the task of reading the story aloud for her grandmother. It so happens once that Avva receives a copy of the magazine when Sudha is away attending a wedding. Avva feels sad as she is unable to know the plot for the week. She takes this up as a challenge and decides to learn reading. Once Sudha gets home, she sees an upset and a tearful Avva asking her to teach her to read. Sudha is taken aback by her Avva’s sorrow and agrees to teach her. Avva’s determination helps her learn reading in a short span of time. Eventually Avva transforms into a confident and independent reader.
The story tells the reader that learning has no age and inspiration can come in any form. With values in every story, this book is a must-read for both, adults and children!
This article was originally published in TheTeacher.in magazine in the month of November, 2018.