his grandmother gave him the nickname of "kunjappa", a name that stuck to him in family circles. she taught him arithmetic, mythology, classical indian music and sanskrit. according to laxman, the family mostly conversed in english, and grammatical errors on the part of narayan and his siblings were frowned upon. while living with his grandmother, narayan studied at a succession of schools in madras, including the lutheran mission school in purasawalkam, c.r.c. high school, and the christian college high school. narayan was an avid reader, and his early literary diet included dickens, wodehouse, arthur conan doyle and thomas hardy. when he was twelve years old, narayan participated in a pro-independence march, for which he was reprimanded by his uncle; the family was apolitical and considered all governments wicked.