Portrait of a Lady

Khushwant Singh

About the author:

- Born 1915

- Prominent Indian: Anglican novelist, editor and journalist

- Weekly column: 'With Malice Towards One and All'

- Trenchant secularist, loves poetry, distinct style and sense of humour

-  Padma Bhushan (1974)

- Honest Man of the Year (2000)

- Punjab Rattan Award (2006)

- Padma Vibhushan (2007)

- Sahitya Academy Fellowship Award (2010)

Chapter Vocabulary:

Points to note:

• The deconstruction of the title of the chapter
• The grandmother's physical appearance, outer vs. inner beauty
• The grandmother-grandson relationship in the village
• Difference between village and city school
• The grandmother's spirituality
• The grandmother's kindness towards animals

Title: The author, Khushwant Singh, describes his grandmother, painting a word-portrait for the reader. To him, with her pious, kind, understanding and caring persona, she is the true embodiment of the term, ‘lady’. According to the author, the grandmother may not have been pretty, but her inner beauty shone through her persona making her beautiful.

Grandson and grandmother: The grandson and his grandmother shared a close bond. Initially, the grandson stayed with his grandmother in the village. She took care of his daily needs and even accompanied him to school. She was pious and religious and hoped to pass on her faith to Khushwant as well.

Khushwant describes her as beautiful like the winter landscape in the mountains, serene and content. She might old and wrinkled but her spiritual aura, simplicity, calmness and general contentment with her life made her beautiful to Khushwant’s eyes.

When the grandson and grandmother moved to the city, they stayed in separate rooms and the grandmother no longer accompanied him to school. The distance grew further when she came to know that he was taught music, science and English in his school. She did not trust these subjects and was distressed that there was no teaching about God or scriptures.

Although the generation gap widened in the city, they still loved one another. She silently lent him support when he went to study abroad. Her death left a void in Khushwant even though he felt blessed for having had her as a part of his life.

The village school vs. the city school: The village school was attached to a temple and the grandmother-grandson duo would walk to reach it. The teacher was a priest and prayers were taught along with the alphabet. Rote learning, wooden slates lathered with yellow chalk, ink pots and ink pens were used to facilitate learning.

In the city school, the grandson travelled by a motor bus. The grandson learnt English, Science and Music. There was no teaching of God or the scriptures.

Prayers/Grandmother’s spirituality: The grandmother’s spiritual nature and devotion to the Almighty defines her personality. She prays daily and almost constantly. She wishes to pass on the same devotion into her grandson. The only day she did not pray was the day her grandson returned from abroad and the very next morning, she fell ill. She prayed from then up to the point of her death passing away with the same spiritual calmness on her face that she had possessed when alive.

The animals:  The grandmother was a kind woman who often fed stray animals on her way back from the village school. In the city, there were no stray dogs but she spent some time every day feeding the sparrows on the verandah. These sparrows came to her even on the day she passed away and sat silently near her body. They took no notice of the food offered by Khushwant’s mother and flew away after a while. It was evident that they came to bid her a final good bye.

With them flying off and later, with the sweeping away of the bread crumbs, the poet indicates that with time, the pain of the loss would also be swept away and only sweet remembrance shall linger.

 

QUESTION BANK:

Short Answer Questions:

Q.1. Did you like the story? Why or why not?

Q.2. What do you think is a pen-portrait? Has Khushwant Singh been successful at drawing such a portrait in this chapter? Discuss with reference to the text.

Q.3. Despite her physical appearance, the grandmother has been called beautiful. Why?

Q.4. The narrator and his grandmother were good friends. Discuss with examples from the text.

Q.5. Physical distance does not dim the emotional connect. Comment based on the story read.

Q.6. What differences does the story bring out between the village school and the city school?

Q.7. The grandmother loved animals. We see this at two points of the story. Which are these points?

Q.8. How did the move to the city prove to be the turning point of the grandmother-grandson relationship?

Q.9. Feeding the sparrows was the happiest hour of the day for her. Highlight at least two traits that this statement brings out about the personality of the grandmother.

Q.10. Why do you think the grandmother was not upset when the narrator left to study abroad for five years?

Q.11. Discuss the spiritual and/or religious nature of the grandmother as evident in the story.

Q.12. She sang of the homecoming of the warriors. What was the grandmother singing about?

Q.13. Prayer can be a source of personal fortitude. Comment interspersing your opinion with the one highlighted in the text.

Q.14. When the grandmother was carried away to the cremation ground, the sparrows flew away and the bread crumbs were later swept into the dustbin. Do you think these lines are important? Why or why not?

Q.15. How was the grandmother a lady despite being unfamiliar with modern education?

Long answer questions:

Q.16. Justify the title of the chapter. Had you been given the choice to alter this title, what name would you give to the story?

Q.17. Write a letter as the grandmother to your grandson on the eve of his return from abroad.

Q.18. The grandmother is a silent voice in the story. However, her actions reveal her personality. Draw a character sketch for the grandmother using examples from the text.

Q.19. Based on this story, what do you think is Khushwant Singh’s attitude towards religion?

Q.20. Being alone can be loneliness or solitude. Which one was it for the grandmother after she moved to the city? What incidents/words from the chapter helped you form your opinion?