Class -XI (Hornbill) - Chap- 1 "The Portrait of a Lady" by Khushwant Singh
Hornbill Book Chapter 1 - The Portrait of a Lady
by Khushwant Singh
About the Author
The Portrait of a Lady- Summary
The chapter ‘The Portrait of a Lady’ is the story of the author and his grandmother. The grandmother was an old woman with a wrinkled face. The author had always seen her like this, for the past twenty years. She appeared to be so old that he could not imagine her being ‘young and pretty’, someone who had a husband. She was short, fat and slightly bent. The author had seen his grandfather’s portrait- an old man with a turban and a long white beard covering his chest. To the author, his grandfather didn’t seem like a man who could have a wife and children, but someone who could have lots of grandchildren. His grandmother used to move around the house in ‘Spotless White’ with her one hand resting on her waist and her other hand counting the beads of her rosary.
In the initial days, the author and his grandmother had a good relationship. She used to wake him up and get him ready for school. She used to pack the things required by him for the day and walked him to school everyday. She used to visit the temple that was attached to the school. She had a routine of reading the scriptures. The author along with other children sat on the verandah singing alphabets and morning prayers. They both used to come back home together with stray dogs roaming around them as his grandmother would carry the stale chapattis to feed them.
Soon, the parents of the author who went to the city to settle in and called them. As they reached the city, his relationship with his grandmother took a turn. Though they shared the room, there bond grew apart. He started going to an English medium school, she no longer accompanied him to his school, and there were no longer stray dogs who roamed around them while walking back home. She, however, used to ask him about his day and what he had learned. She didn’t understand anything as everything was in another language which she could not understand. She didn’t approve of the new syllabus that he was studying because she thought that they did not teach him about God and the scriptures. They saw less of each other.
As the days passed, he grew older and soon went to the university. He had his own room and this made their relationship sour. She stopped talking to everyone and spent her whole day sitting at her spinning wheel, reciting prayers and moving beads of the rosary with one hand. However, she loved feeding sparrows in the verandah at dawn. Breaking bread into pieces and feeding it to the birds was her daily routine. The birds would sit on her legs, her head, some even on the shoulders.
Soon, the author decided to go abroad for further studies. She came to the railway station to leave him off. She was not sentimental, continuously recited her prayers, her mind lost in the prayers, and she kissed him on the forehead. After five years, as he returnedhome, she was there, came to pick him at the station, was still the same as she had been five years ago. She clasped him within her arms and didn’t say a word. She still used to feed her sparrows.
One day, she didn’t recite her prayers but instead collected the women of the neighbourhood, got a drum and started singing. The next morning, she was ill with mild fever. The doctor said that there was nothing to worry about but she was sure that her end was near.
She didn’t want to waste her time talking to anyone in the family anymore but spend her last hours in reciting her prayers laying on the bed. She died and so her body lay on the bed, lifeless. As they prepared for her funeral, they saw all the sparrows sitting in the verandah around her, mourning her death.
The Portrait of a Lady- TEXT AND WORD MEANING
My grandmother, like everybody’s grandmother, was an old woman. She had been old and wrinkled for the twenty years that I had known her. People said that she had once been young and pretty and had even had a husband, but that was hard to believe. My grandfather’s portrait hung above the mantelpiece in the drawing-room. He wore a big turban and loose-fitting clothes. His long, white beard covered the best part of his chest and he looked at least a hundred years old. He did not look the sort of person who would have a wife or children. He looked as if he could only have lots and lots of grandchildren. As for my grandmother being young and pretty, the thought was almost revolting. She often told us of the games she used to play as a child. That seemed quite absurd and undignified on her part and we treated it like the fables of the Prophets she used to tell us.
My grandmother and I were good friends. My parents left me with her when they went to live in the city and we were constantly together. She used to wake me up in the morning and get me ready for school. She said her morning prayer in a monotonous sing-song while she bathed and dressed me in the hope that I would listen and get to know it by heart; I listened because I loved her voice but never bothered to learn it. Then she would fetch my wooden slate which she had already washed and plastered with yellow chalk, a tiny earthen ink-pot and a red pen, tie them all in a bundle and hand it to me.
After a breakfast of a thick, stale chapatti with a little butter and sugar spread on it, we went to school. She carried several stale chapattis with her for the village dogs.
My grandmother always went to school with me because the school was attached to the temple. The priest taught us the alphabet and morning prayer. While the children sat in rows on either side of the verandah singing the alphabet or the prayer in a chorus, my grandmother sat inside reading the scriptures. When we had both finished, we would walk back together. This time the village dogs would meet us at the temple door. They followed us to our home growling and fighting with each other for the chapattis we threw to them. When my parents were comfortably settled in the city, they sent for us.
That was a turning-point in our friendship. Although we shared the same room, my grandmother no longer came to school with me. I used to go to an English school in a motor bus. There were no dogs in the streets and she took to feeding sparrows in the courtyard of our city house.
As the years rolled by we saw less of each other. For some time she continued to wake me up and get me ready for school. When I came back she would ask me what the teacher had taught me. I would tell her English words and little things of western science and learning, the law of gravity, Archimedes’ Principle, the world being round, etc. This made her unhappy. She could not help me with my lessons. She did not believe in the things they taught at the English school and was distressed that there was no teaching about God and the scriptures. One day I announced that we were being given music lessons. She was very disturbed. To her music had lewd associations. It was the monopoly of harlots and beggars and not meant for gentlefolk. She said nothing but her silence meant disapproval. She rarely talked to me about that.
When I went up to University, I was given a room of my own. The common link of friendship was snapped. My grandmother accepted her seclusion with resignation. She rarely left her spinning-wheel to talk to anyone. From sunrise to sunset she sat by her wheel spinning and reciting prayers. Only in the afternoon she relaxed for a while to feed the sparrows. While she sat in the verandah breaking the bread into little bits, hundreds of little birds collected round her creating a veritable bedlam of chirrupings. Some came and perched on her legs, others on her shoulders. Some even sat on her head. She smiled but never shooed them away. It used to be the happiest half-hour of the day for her.
When I decided to go abroad for further studies, I was sure my grandmother would be upset. I would be away for five years, and at her age one could never tell. But my grandmother could. She was not even sentimental. She came to leave me at the railway station but did not talk or show any emotion. Her lips moved in prayer, her mind was lost in prayer. Her fingers were busy telling the beads of her rosary. Silently she kissed my forehead, and when I left I cherished the moist imprint as perhaps the last sign of physical contact between us. But that was not so. After five years I came back home and was met by her at the station. She did not look a day older. She still had no time for words, and while she clasped me in her arms I could hear her reciting her prayers. Even on the first day of my arrival, her happiest moments were with her sparrows whom she fed longer and with frivolous rebukes.
He noticed on the first day of his arrival that only sparrows would make her happy.
In the evening a change came over her. She did not pray. She collected the women of the neighbourhood, got an old drum and started to sing. For several hours she thumped the sagging skins of the dilapidated drum and sang of the home-coming of warriors. We had to persuade her to stop to avoid overstraining. That was the first time since I had known her that she did not pray. The next morning she was taken ill. It was a mild fever and the doctor told us that it would go. But my grandmother thought differently. She told us that her end was near. She said that, since only a few hours before the close of the last chapter of her life she had omitted to pray, she was not going to waste any more time talking to us.
We protested. But she ignored our protests. She lay peacefully in bed praying and telling her beads. Even before we could suspect, her lips stopped moving and the rosary fell from her lifeless fingers. A peaceful pallor spread on her face and we knew that she was dead.
We lifted her off the bed and, as is customary, laid her on the ground and covered her with a red shroud. After a few hours of mourning we left her alone to make arrangements for her funeral. In the evening we went to her room with a crude stretcher to take her to be cremated. The sun was setting and had lit her room and verandah with a blaze of golden light. We stopped half-way in the courtyard.
All over the verandah and in her room right up to where she lay dead and stiff wrapped in the red shroud, thousands of sparrows sat scattered on the floor. There was no chirruping. We felt sorry for the birds and my mother fetched some bread for them. She broke it into little crumbs, the way my grandmother used to, and threw it to them. The sparrows took no notice of the bread. When we carried my grandmother’s corpse off, they flew away quietly. Next morning the sweeper swept the bread crumbs into the dustbin.
The Portrait of a Lady- Text Book Questions and Answers
1. Mention the three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he left the country to study abroad.
Ans: The three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he left the country to study abroad are as follows:
1. First Phase: The period of his early childhood where he used to live with her in the village. His grandmother used to wake him up and get him ready for school. They both would walk to school together and come back home together. They had a good friendship with each other.
2. Second Phase: In this phase, the author and his grandmother shifted to the city as the author’s parents settled well in the city. Although they shared the same room, this was the turning point of their friendship. Now, they saw less of each other.
3. Third Phase: When the author went to the university, he was given a room of his own. This made their friendship bond weaker as the common link between them ‘the same room’ snapped. She became quieter and private and kept the spinning wheel all day long. She would feed the sparrows once a day and this was the only thing that made her happy now.
2. Mention three reasons why the author’s grandmother was disturbed when he started going to the city school.
Ans: When the author used to live in the village with her, they both had a good friendship. She used to wake him up, got him ready and would also accompany him to school. All this changed when they moved to the city. The grandmother was disturbed for the following reason:
1. She no longer could help him in his lessons. As he started going to the English medium school, this became a barrier for her.
2. There were no teachings about God and the scriptures.
3. Mention three ways in which the author’s grandmother spent her days after he grew up.
Ans: His grandmother changed a lot since he grew up. She would spend her day at the spinning wheel, chanting prayers and feeding sparrows.
4. Mention the odd way in which the author’s grandmother behaved just before she died.
Ans: She didn’t pray the evening before dying. She collected the women from the neighbourhood and started singing homecoming of the warriors with the help of the drum. The next morning when she fell ill, she said her end was near. She started praying peacefully while laying on her bed. She refused to talk to anyone during her last hours.
5. Mention the way in which the sparrows expressed their sorrow when the author’s grandmother died.
Ans: The grandmother used to feed the sparrows in her verandah each day. She developed a special relationship with them. When she died, thousands of sparrows expressed their sorrow by sitting in a scattered way around her in the verandah. They didn’t chirrup and there was complete silence. The author’s mother tried to feed them by breaking the bread and throwing it in front of them. But they didn’t eat anything. When the family carried grandmother’s corpse, they all flew away quietly.
6. The author’s grandmother was a religious person. What are the different ways in which we come to know this?
Ans: When she lived in the village with the author, she used to sing prayers in a monotonous sound while getting him ready each morning. She used to walk the author to his school and then visit the temple attached to the school everyday. She would sit and read scriptures. Later when they moved to the city, she would carry the beads of the rosary with her all the time. She would continuously chant her prayers and her hand remained busy in telling the beads. When the author went to study at the university, she went into seclusion and spent her whole day in chanting prayers.
7. Describe the changing relationship between the author and his grandmother. Did their feelings for each other change?
Ans: In the early days, they both shared a good bond. She would get him ready for school, accompany him and would come back with him later in the day. She would help him with his studies and would teach him prayers by singing in a monotonous tone every morning. When they moved to the city, their relationship was strained. He started going to an English medium school. She would no longer accompany him to the school or could not help him with the lessons. She didn’t like his new school as they never taught him about God or scriptures. Later, when he started taking music lessons, she disapproved of it as she thought that music was only for beggars or harlots. She stopped talking to him afterwards and would spend her day alone while chanting prayers.
When the author went to university and then abroad, their bond weakened. She would spin the wheel the whole day and chant her prayers. She accepted the seclusion.
No, their feelings for each other didn’t change but during the time, a distance developed between them.
8. Would you agree that the author’s grandmother was a person strong in character? If yes, give instances that show this.
Ans: Yes, the grandmother was a strong person in character. The instances to show this are as follows:
1. She had her own thoughts about schools and their teachings. She considered learning scriptures a better thing than studying science or English.
2. She didn’t like music as according to her, music was for low-level people.
3. When the author went to the university, in seclusion, she would spin the wheel, chant prayers, tell beads and feed bread crumbs to the sparrows.
4. When she sang the homecoming of the warriors for hours and didn’t stop even when her family tried a million times.
5. During her last time, she didn’t want to waste any time talking to anyone so she lay silently on her bed and chanted her prayers till she died.
9. Which language do you think the author and his grandmother used while talking to each other?
Ans: The author and his grandmother used to talk to each other in their mother tongue. As the author belongs to Punjab state, they would talk in Punjabi language.
The Portrait of a Lady- Grammar exercises
I. Notice the following uses of the word “tell” in the text.
1. Her fingers were busy telling the beads of her rosary.
2. I would tell her English words and little things of Western science and learning.
3. At her age one could never tell.
4. She told us that her end was near.
Given below are four different senses of the word ‘tell’. Match the meanings to the uses listed above.
1. Make something known to someone in spoken or written words
2. Count while reciting
3. Be sure
4. Give information to somebody
Ans:
1. I would tell her English words and little things of Western science and learning.
2. Her fingers were busy telling the beads of her rosary.
3. At her age one could never tell.
4. She told us that her end was near.
II. Notice the different senses of the word ‘take’.
1. to take to something: to begin to do something as a habit
2. to take ill: to suddenly become ill
Locate these phrases in the text and notice the way they are used.
Ans: These phrases have been used in the story as follows:
1. “… she took to feeding sparrows in the courtyard of our city house”
She would feed sparrows daily in the verandah. She made this her habit when they moved to the city.
2. “The next morning she was taken ill”
This phrase refers to the fact that the author’s grandmother was suddenly ill.
III. The word ‘hobble’ means to walk with difficulty because the legs and feet are in bad condition. Tick the words in the box below that also refer to a manner of walking.
| haggle | shuffle | stride | ride | waddle |
wriggle | paddle | swagger | trudge | slog |
Ans: The words which also refers to a manner of walking are: shuffle, stride, waddle, swagger, trudge, and slog.
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