The Portrait of a Lady
By Khushwant Singh
About
the Author
Khushwant Singh, one of the best -known Indian
writers of all times, was born in 1915 in Hadali (now in Pakistan). He was
educated at the Government College, Lahore and at King's College, Cambridge
University, and the Inner Temple in London. He practiced law at the Lahore High
Court for several years before joining the Indian Ministry of External Affairs
in 1947. He began a distinguished career as a journalist with the All India
Radio in 1951. Since then he has been founder-editor of Yojana (1951-1953), editor
of the Illustrated weekly of India (1979-1980), chief editor
of New Delhi (1979-1980), and editor of the Hindustan
times (1980-1983). His Saturday column "With Malice towards One
and All" in the Hindustan times is by far one of the most
popular columns of the day.
Khushwant Singh was a member of the Rajya Sabha
(upper house of the Indian Parliament) from 1980 to 1986. Among other honors,
he was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1974 by the President of India (he returned
the decoration in 1984 in protest against the Union Government's siege of the
Golden Temple in Amritsar).
Singh died of natural causes on 20 March 2014
at his Delhi-based residence, at the age of 99. During his lifetime, Khushwant
Singh was keen on burial because he believed that with a burial you give back
to the earth what you have taken.
Introduction
The Portrait of a Lady gives us a picture of human
relationship in a joint family. It is a realistic account of how the
grandparents give all their time, attention and love to the grandchildren. The
author’s description about his grandmother is deeply moving with a touch of
humour and poetry in it.
Characters
1. Narrator
2. Grandmother
Summary
The author's grandmother was an old woman. Her
face was a criss-cross of wrinkles. She was fat, short and slightly bent. Her
silvery white hair used to spread out on her wrinkled face. She hobbled about the
house in spotless white clothes with one hand resting on her waist to balance
her stoop and the other telling the beads of her rosary. Her lips constantly
moved in silent prayer. For twenty years the author had seen no change in her
looks and behavour. She was an extremely religious person. He finds it
difficult to conceptualise that once she too was young and pretty like other
women. The stories about her childhood games were like fairy tales to
him.
The narrator and his grandmother were good
friends. His parents had left him with her in the village. They were always
together there. She used to wake him up in the morning, get him ready for the
school, plaster his wooden slate with yellow chalk, prepare his breakfast and
accompany him to the school. They fed street dogs with stale chapaties on their
way to school which was a great fun for them. She helped him in his lessons also.
The turning point came in their relationship
when the narrator came to city to stay with his parents. In city he joined an
English School. Now she could not go with him to the school. In spite of her
immense interest in his studies, she could not help him in his lessons as he
was learning English, laws of gravity, Archimedes’ principle and many more such
things which she could not understand and this made her distressed. Another
thing which disquieted her much was that the kids were not learning about God
and scriptures in the school instead they were given music lessons. To her music
was not meant for gentlefolk. It was meant for beggars and prostitutes only.
She was dismayed and withdrew herself to some level.
After finishing school the narrator went to
university. He was given a separate room. The common link of their friendship was
snapped. His grandmother confined herself to a self-imposed reclusiveness. She
spent most of her time in reciting prayers and by sitting beside her spinning
wheel. She rarely talked to anyone. The only diversion for her was in the
afternoon when she relaxed for a while to feed the sparrows. In village she
used to feed street dogs, here in city she fed the sparrows and they too became
very friendly with her. Feeding the sparrows was the happiest half hour of the
day for her.
After completing his university education, he
decided to go abroad for higher studies. His grandmother came to see him off at
the railway station. She was quite calm, busy in telling the beads of her
rosary and reciting prayers as ever. When he came back after five years he
found her more and more religious and more and more self-possessed. She spent
even more time in prayers and spinning the wheel. Feeding the birds was her
only happy pursuit. But just the day before her death for the first time she
broke this routine and abandoned her prayers. That day she sang the songs of
the home coming warriors with the women of neighborhood to celebrate her
grandson’s return from abroad.
Next morning she was taken ill. The doctor said
it was a mild fever and would go but she took it differently. She declared her
end was near. She did not want to waste any more time talking to anybody. She
lay peacefully in bed praying and telling the beads till her lips stopped
moving and rosary fell from her lifeless fingers.
In the evening thousands of sparrows flew in to
mourn her death and sat scattered around her body in complete silence. They
even disregarded the breadcrumbs thrown to them by the narrator’s mother. When they carried her dead body outside, the
sparrows flew away quietly.
Short Answer Type Questions
Q1.
Describe the grandmother in your own words.
Ans. The grandmother was a
deeply religious woman. She was also kind hearted. She was not pretty to look
at, yet she was beautiful. She was graceful and dignified in her bearing. She
had perfect control over her emotions. She used to feed the dogs and birds.
Q2. How
were the narrator and the grandmother good friends in the village?
Ans. Grandmother woke him up
every morning and got him ready for school. She would bathe and dress him up. She
gave him breakfast, got him his slate, ink-pot and accompanied him to school. While
he learnt at school, grandmother used to read the scriptures in the temple.
When the school was over, they would walk back home together and feed the
village dogs on the way.
Q3. What
was the turning point in their friendship?
Ans. Their arrival in the
city was the turning point in the friendship of the author and the grandmother.
She no longer accompanied him to school as he used to go by bus. She could not
help him in his studies. They saw less of each other. The common link of
friendship was snapped and the distance grew.
Q4. Why
was the author’s grandmother unhappy with the city education?
Ans. The grandmother did
not like the teaching at English school in the city. She was sad that
they did not teach anything about God and the religious scriptures. Nor was she
interested in science. She hated music lessons given in the school.
Q5. Why
did the grandmother hate music?
Ans. Grandmother considered
that music was indecent and was meant only for harlots and beggars. It was not
meant for gentle folk or school children from respectable families.
Q6. Draw
a comparison between village school education and city school education.
Ans. In the city school
English and Science were taught. Music was also one of the subjects. There was
no teaching about God and scriptures. The village school was attached to a
temple. The priest himself acted as the teacher and taught the children the alphabet
and the prayer.
Q7. What
used to be the happiest moments of the day for the grandmother?
Ans. The happiest moment of
the day for grandmother was the time when she would feed the sparrows. In the
afternoon, she sat in the verandah breaking the bread into little bits.
Hundreds of sparrows collected around her. Some came and perched on her legs,
others on her shoulders. Some even sat on her head. She smiled but never shooed
them away. This used to be happiest moment of the day for her.
Q8. What
was “the last sign” of physical contact between the author and the grandmother?
Ans. When the author was
going abroad for further studies, his grandmother came to see him off at the
railway station. She kissed his forehead silently. That was the last sign of
physical contact between the author and the grandmother as he thought that at
her age one could never tell whether he would find her alive after five years.
Q9. How
did the grandmother celebrate the homecoming of her grandson?
Ans. Grandmother was
overjoyed at the homecoming of her grandson. She collected the women of
neighbourhood, beat the drum and sang for hours about the homecoming of
warriors. She even forgot to pray.
Q10. Why
did the grandmother stop talking before her death?
Ans. The old lady was taken
ill. She had a mild fever. The doctor told her that she would be alright soon.
But the grandmother declared that her end was near. She forgot to pray the last
evening. She was not going to waste any more time talking to them.
Q11. What
could have been the cause of grandmother’s falling ill?
Ans. When the author came
back from abroad after five years, grandmother collected the women from the
neighbourhood. She kept singing and thumping a drum for several hours. This
overstrained her body and she fell ill.
Q12. How
did the sparrows mourn the death of grandmother?
Ans. Hundreds of sparrows gathered around
grandmother’s dead body. They did not chirrup and touch the breadcrumbs thrown
to them. They seemed to mourn her death in silence and flew away when her body
was taken away for cremation.
Q13. How
can you say that the grandmother was a kind- hearted woman?
Ans. Grandmother was a
kind-hearted woman. When she lived in the village, she used to feed dogs. When
she came to the city, there were no dogs in the streets. So she took to feeding
sparrows in the courtyard.
Q14. The
grandmother has been portrayed as a very religious lady. What details in the story
create that impression?
Ans. Her lips were always
moving in silent prayer. Her one hand was always telling the beads of her
rosary. She also read scriptures at the village temple. When she knew her end
was near, she lay peacefully in bed praying and telling her beads till death.
Long Answer Type Questions
Q1. Describe
the narrator’s grandmother as a very religious and kind-hearted woman.
Ans. The writer's
grandmother was a very religious and kind-hearted woman. She is a God-fearing
woman and feels delight in reading scriptures. In the temple she has the habit
of reading the scripture till her grandson remains in the school. In the house
she was always busy in telling the beads of her rosary. Her lips always moved
in silent prayer. When she used to bathe her grandson, she would say her
prayers in a singsong manner so that the author would learn them by heart. She
kept on praying and telling the beads of her rosary till her last breath.
She always treated her grandson with love and
affection. She used to feed the village dogs with stale chapattis. When she
moved to the city, she took delight in feeding the sparrows. They would perch
on her legs, shoulders and head but she never shooed them away. Her joy knew no
bounds, when her grandson returned from abroad. She was a woman of noble
nature, kind and tender heart.
Q2. Write
a character sketch of the author’s grandmother
Ans. The author’s
grandmother was an affectionate and caring lady. She had boundless love for her
grandson. When they lived in the village, she would wake him up in the morning
and get him ready for school. She accompanied him to school. While the author
sang alphabet with other children, she sat inside the temple reading
scriptures. They would walk back home after the school.
The grandmother was kind and benevolent. In the
village she used to feed dogs. When she came to the city, there were no dogs in
the streets. So she took to feeding the sparrows. In the afternoon, she would
sit in the verandah, breaking the bread into small bits. Hundreds of sparrows
would collect round her. Some even sat on her head. She smiled but never shoo’d
them away.
The grandmother was a religious lady. Her lips
were always moving in silent prayer. Her one hand was always telling the beads
of her rosary. When she was in the village, she went to the temple to read
scriptures. When her end was near, she lay in bed praying and telling her beads
till death stole upon her.
The
grandmother was a strong woman. When the friendship between her and the author
was snapped and they saw less of each other, she bore all this ungrudgingly.
Even when the author decided to go abroad for further studies, she did not show
any feeling.
Q3. How
did the grandmother receive the author when he returned from abroad?
Ans. When the author went
abroad for higher studies, the grandmother went to the railway station to see
him off. The author thought that it would be his last meeting with her. But he
was wrong in his supposition. When he returned after five years, she came to the
railway station to receive him. She celebrated his home-coming in a grand way.
In the evening she collected the women of the
neighbourhood, got an old drum and started singing. She went on doing this for
several hours and overstrained her. The next morning she was taken ill and she
knew that her end was near. But she went on praying and telling her beads. Then
her lips stopped moving and the rosary fell from her lifeless fingers. A
peaceful pallor spread on her face and she was dead.
Q4. The
grandmother herself was not formally educated but was serious about the
author’s education. How does the text support this?
Ans. Although the
grandmother had no proper schooling and was not formally educated but she was
serious about the author’s education. The author’s parents had shifted to the
city. He lived in the village with his grandmother. She would wake him up in
the morning and get him ready for school. She would accompany him to the school
and back. When the author’s parents were well- settled in the city they called
them also. The author was sent to an English school.
Now his grandmother could not come to school
with him. She continued to wake him up and get him ready for school. When he
came back she would ask him what the teacher had taught him. She could not help
him with his lesson. She was distressed that there was no teaching about God
and the scriptures. She was disturbed when she was told that they were being
given music lessons at school, but she said nothing. Later, she did not get
sentimental when the author decided to go abroad for further studies. Actually,
she did not want to stand in the way of the author’s education.
Q5.
Gradually the author and the grandmother saw less of each other and their
friendship was broken. Was the distancing in the relationship deliberate or due
to the demand of the situation?
Ans. Gradually, the author
and his grandmother saw less of each other and their friendship was broken.
This distancing was due to the demand of situation, not deliberate. When they
came to the city, the author was sent to an English school. His grandmother no longer
came to school with him as he used to go in a motor bus. Nor could she help him
with his lessons because she did not know the things they taught at the English
school. In fact, she was not happy with the things taught at school. For
instance, she was shocked to learn that they were given music lessons at
school.
According to her music was the monopoly of
harlots and beggars and not meant for gentle folk. Consequently, there was a
communication gap between them. They rarely spoke to each other, though they
shared the same room. Then the author went to a university. He was given a
separate room of his own. When the author went for higher studies for a period
of five years, the distance increased all the more. Thus, the common link of
relationship between them was snapped.