CBSE Book Class 9 English Fiction How I taught

Fiction

UNIT-1

1.  Write about the following memories or experiences. Share your views with the class.

i) A memorable holiday spent with your grandmother

ii) A story told by your grandmother

iii) The things you admire the most about your grandmother

iv) The difference between your mother and your grandmother

2.  Have you ever been on a trip to any place in India, where you didn't know the  language  spoken  locally?  How  did  you  feel?  How  did  you  manage  to  communicate?

3.  Now read the text

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. One of her novels, called Kashi Yatre, was appearing as a serial in the Kannada  weekly Karmaveerathen. It is the story of an old lady and her  ardentdesire 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.'

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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, savouringthe freedom because all the elders  were busy. I went for a couple of days but ended up staying there for a week.

7. 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.

8. 'Avva, is everything all right? Are you ok?'

9. I used to call her  Avva, which means mother in the Kannada spoken in north  Karnataka.

10. 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 the house. It was a summer  night and there was a full moon. Avvacame and sat next to me. Her affectionate  hands touched my forehead. I realized she wanted to speak. I asked her, 'What is  the matter?'

11. '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 ...'

12. I could not understand why my sixty-two-year-old grandmother was telling me, a  twelve-year-old, the story of her life in the middle of the night. But I knew I loved her  immensely and there had to be some reason why she was talking to me. I looked  at her face. It was unhappy and her eyes were filled with tears. She was a goodlooking lady who was usually always smiling. Even today, I cannot forget the  worried expression on her face. I leaned forward and held her hand.

13. 'Avva,don't cry. What is the matter? Can I help you in any way?'

Please refer to the link below - CBSE Class 9 English Fiction How I taught