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?
