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"How I Taught My Grandmother to Read" opens Unit 1 of Kaveri, the new NCERT English textbook for Class 9, and the same unit pairs it with "Bharat Our Land", a poem by Subramania Bharati. Both are in the NCERT Unit 1 chapter PDF. Here is the story, what the two texts share, and how to score on them.
What happens in How I Taught My Grandmother to Read?
Sudha Murty tells it, looking back to when she was about twelve and living with her grandparents in a village in north Karnataka. It moves in five steps.
She listens. Every Wednesday a Kannada weekly, Karmaveera, arrives with the next part of Triveni's serial novel Kashi Yatre. The narrator reads it aloud to her grandmother, Krishtakka, who never went to school.
She is stranded. The narrator goes to a wedding in a nearby village and stays a week. The magazine comes, Krishtakka opens it, and the page means nothing to her. She is too embarrassed to ask anyone else to read it.
She decides. Back home, the narrator finds her in tears. That night Krishtakka explains that she lost her mother young and was married early, and that she now wants to learn the Kannada alphabet. She sets herself a deadline: Saraswati Puja during Dassara.
She studies. The granddaughter laughs at first, then becomes her teacher, and Krishtakka practises every day.
She reads. On the puja day she touches her granddaughter's feet, saying she is honouring a teacher, not a grandchild. The narrator's gift is the novel itself, and Krishtakka reads its title on her own.
What are the themes of the story and the poem?
The story is about literacy as independence. Krishtakka's family is comfortable, yet she feels helpless waiting for someone to read to her. Money cannot fix that; learning can.
It is also about determination at any age, respect for a teacher whatever their age, and a quiet point about girls' education: she missed school because, in her childhood, people did not think girls needed it. A box in the same NCERT chapter names the bodies that run India's adult education programme under the Ministry of Education. Our explainer on how India's literacy rate is calculated shows what the numbers behind that concern mean.
"Bharat Our Land" is an ode: a poem of praise. Bharati celebrates the Himalayas, the Ganga, the Upanishads, warriors, sages, music and the Buddha's teaching, and keeps returning to the idea that India has no equal. Look for hyperbole (deliberate exaggeration) and allusion (naming a famous person or text without explaining it), since the chapter's own activities focus on both.
How do they connect? The grandmother fights to read literature in her own language; the poet takes pride in the land, faith and learning of his heritage. Both treat knowledge as something worth honouring.
How is Kaveri tested in the CBSE Class 9 English exam?
According to the CBSE Class IX English curriculum for 2026-27, Language through Literature carries 30 marks out of an 80-mark written paper, with 20 more for internal assessment. For R1 that 30 breaks down like this:
two extract-based questions (one prose or drama, one poetry, each a choice of two) worth 5 marks each;
five short answers out of six, 40-50 words, 2 marks each;
one 120-150 word answer that goes beyond or across the texts, 5 marks;
one 120-150 word answer on theme, plot or character, 5 marks.
So this one unit could supply an extract, a short answer and a long answer in the same paper.
How should you answer a 5-mark question on this chapter?
Practice question (our own): *How does Krishtakka show that independence matters more to her than comfort?* Plan in four moves.
Claim (1 sentence). She is well-off, but she feels dependent because she cannot read.
Evidence 1. She cannot follow Kashi Yatre while her granddaughter is away and is too shy to ask others.
Evidence 2. She sets a deadline, studies daily and reads the novel's title at Dassara.
Close. End on what reading gives her: freedom to enjoy the story alone.
Three more to practise:
Why does the grandmother touch the narrator's feet, and why does the narrator find it unusual? (short answer)
Which images in "Bharat Our Land" show natural beauty, and which show learning or faith? (short answer)
Compare the pride Krishtakka feels in reading Kannada with the pride the poet feels in his land. (across-the-texts, 5 marks)
For the poetry extract, practise naming a device and its effect in one line. Our guide to writing a poem appreciation gives a simple method, and the grammar section of the same paper tests modals, which our modals guide with examples covers.
If science or maths is also on your list this week, Fermi's AI tutor can work out what you already know and build a plan for the session, so you start with a clear next step.
