How I Taught My Grandmother to Read and other Stories Read online

  Gowramma described Lord Krishna as a tall, handsome person with a dark complexion, a mischievous smile and a kind heart. Later when I saw the Mahabharata on TV, the actor who was playing Krishna’s role was exactly how she had described. Whereas when I saw the Ramayana on TV, the actor looked very different from what I had imagined Lord Rama to be like. The storyteller influences your imagination of what the characters in the story look like.

  Gowramma would pick up many stories from Katha Sarithsagara, literally meaning the ocean of stories, and recreate the scenes for me. For us, time would stop and we would be immersed in the story until the peon of the school would come and harshly tell us, ‘Time is up. Except you two, only the school ghost is here. You may not be scared of the ghost but I am. Kindly vacate the room.’

  Then Gowramma and I would get up and depart with a heavy heart.

  This went on till I was in class seven. Then I joined another school. For a few days I missed Gowramma, but soon I forgot her in my new activities. Once in a while, I met her at the marketplace and she would affectionately ask about my studies.

  At home, whenever I got lost in a storybook, I would be teased as Gowramma’s only true student. My mother would tell me sadly, ‘Poor Gowramma, she is so beautiful, so good-natured but luck is not on her side. Her husband has left her because she cannot bear a child. He has married another woman. That woman has produced children but in no other way is she a match to Gowramma.’ Then I would understand the reason behind the sadness in Gowramma’s eyes.

  Time flew by as swift and light as straw. I did my engineering, got married, had children and later became the Chairperson of Infosys Foundation. I toured the length and breadth of the country, met many celebrities and many poor people. My life became public.

  I was often invited to colleges and universities to deliver lectures. Once, I went to a university to deliver a lecture. After it was over, students gathered to ask some questions. Though it was getting late for my next programme, since I love talking to students, I remained there answering their questions. I feel students are like my young friends, brighter than me but with less experience.

  Students also ask me a lot of questions about my young days, so that they can relate to my life.

  One bright girl in the crowd asked me a question which left me dazed. It was a very difficult question. ‘When you are faced with some difficulty, how do you solve it? Do you avoid it?’

  I did not know how to answer her and was tempted to ignore her, but my heart would not let me do that. She was a girl of twenty, bright and simple, direct and bold with no hesitation or shyness. When she saw me looking at her blankly, she repeated the same question. Somehow, looking at her, I felt I was looking at myself when I was twenty years old.

  In a fraction of a second an answer came to my mind. ‘Children, in answer to this question, I will tell you a story. It is a story from the Ramayana. In the battlefield at Lanka, during the battle between Rama, Lakshmana and Ravana, Lakshmana became unconscious. He needed the medicine plant Sanjeevini to revive. Sanjeevini was only available in the Dhrona mountains. These mountains were huge and far away. The only person who could do this job was Hanumana. Hanumana flew to Dhrona mountains, but alas, he was unable to recognize which was the Sanjeevini plant. Time was running short. The only way out was to take the entire mountain along with the plants to Rama. The mountain was huge, how could he lift it? But Hanumana had the gift to increase his body size. He became higher than the mountain, till it was like a pebble for him. Then he put the mountain on his palm and flew back to Lanka. The rest of the story, all of you know.’

  The girl was impatient and restless.

  She said, ‘I asked you a different question but you told me an old story which everyone knows.’

  I smiled at her and said, ‘Have patience. I have not yet completed my answer. When you come across difficulties, you have to grow bigger than the problem. You have that capacity within you, but you are not aware of it. If you become bigger, difficulties will look smaller than you, and you can solve them easily. If you become smaller than the difficulties, they will look like mountains and crush you. This is the theory I have followed in life.’

  The students were pleased with my answer and there was a lot of applause. I stopped them in the middle of the clapping, with moist eyes and a heavy voice, ‘The credit for this answer should go to my teacher, Gowramma. When I was young, she taught me this lesson. She used to tell me many ancient stories which are priceless in their wisdom. To understand them we need great storytellers like Gowramma. It was she who taught me to love stories when I was young.’

  The function got over and I returned to Bangalore. As usual I became busier than ever. I forgot about the whole thing.

  One day there was a letter. My secretary came up to me and said, ‘Madam, it seems to be from somebody who knows you well. Probably this is a personal letter, so I did not read it.’ She placed the letter in front of me and left. I was wondering who it could be from. It was written in a shaky handwriting. I looked closely at the name at the bottom and was surprised. It was from Gowramma.

  It said, ‘I think you know my husband left me long back and everyone used to make fun of me and call me a “barren woman”. Everyone looked down on me and called me story teacher rather than Sanskrit teacher. Sometimes people used to tell me that instead of telling stories to children, I should make money by giving private tuition classes. I did not, because I believed in my work. I was always humiliated because I could not bear any children. You know my husband married a second time and had his own children. These children got into bad habits and brought shame and debt to him. He used to come and cry at my doorstep. At that time I helped him with my savings . . .’

  I could not understand why Gowramma had written this personal story to me. I was aware of her situation. But why had she written it all to me now? But patience is one quality I have acquired along with my grey hair. It told me to complete reading the letter.

  ‘Today, my husband brought me the newspaper and showed it to me. He said that you mentioned my name in public and contributed your success to my storytelling. For a minute I froze. I am not your biological mother but you behaved as if you were my child. People have children, but they fight and bring disgrace and shame to their parents. My husband felt ashamed about his own children, whereas I felt proud about my child whom I taught selflessly and who listened wholeheartedly. You made me proud. Now I don’t have any complaint with God.’

  Tears welled up in my eyes and fell on the letter mingling with the ink. I was unable to read further.

  Who Is Great?

  Whenever I teach my class, I make sure that everyone participates in the question-answer session. I normally teach for forty minutes and the last twenty minutes I keep open for debates, questions and answers. This way, students learn to express their opinions in front of others and the teacher also understands how much the students have learnt. Many times I have learnt a lot from my students during these sessions. Sometimes their questions are so difficult I am not able to answer. Then I tell them that I will refer to my books and answer the next day.

  Frequently, after the class I tell a story which leads to debates. Once, I made a statement, ‘Many a times there is no perfect solution for a given problem. No solution is also a solution. Everything depends upon how you look at it. We make judgements on others depending upon what we think of them.’

  My students immediately objected to this statement. ‘Convince us,’ they said.

  ‘Okay, I will tell you a simple story. This happened many centuries back. There was a beautiful girl called Rathnaprabha who was rich and bright. She completed her studies and asked her teacher, “What shall I pay you as gurudakshina?”’

  ‘Her teacher replied, “Your father has already paid me. You don’t have to worry.”

  ‘Rathnaprabha insisted and the teacher was upset. He said to himself, “I want to test the courage of this girl. Let me put a difficult condition which she will not be ab