CBSE Class 11 English The Portrait Of A Lady Khushwant Singh Worksheet

Summary

The story is written in first person and is in biographical mode. It is a perception of Khushwant Singh of his grandmother through his own eyes. Khushwant Singh recalls his grandmother as an eternally old person. She was an extremely religious person. It was difficult for him to believe that once she too was young and pretty like other women. The stories about her childhood games were like fairy tales to him. She was short, fat and slightly stooped in stature. Her silvery white hair used to scatter on her wrinkled face. Khushwant Singh remembers her hobbling around the house in spotless white clothes with one hand resting on her waist to balance her stoop and the other busy in telling the beads of her rosary. Her lips constantly moved in inaudible prayers.
Possibly she was not beautiful in worldly sense but she looked extremely beautiful with the peacefulness, serenity and the contentment her countenance displayed.
Khushwant’s relationship with his grandmother went through several changes when he was a small boy. In the first stage Khushwant lived in a village with her as his parents were looking for the opportunity to settle down in the city. In village grandmother took care of all the needs of the child. She was quite active and agile. She woke him up in the morning, got him ready for the school, plastered his wooden slate, prepared his breakfast, and escorted him to the school. They fed street dogs with stale chapattis on their way to school which was a great fun for them. She helped him in his lessons also .It was her domain and she was the queen of her kingdom. In this period she was the sole unchallenged guardian, mentor, and creator of the child Khushwant. The turning point came in their relationship when they came to city to stay with Khushwant’s parents.
In city Khushwant joined an English School and started to go to school in a motor bus. Here the role of his grandmother in his bringing up was curtailed a little bit. Now she could not accompany him to the school. Despite taking lot of interest in his studies she could not help him in his lessons because he was learning English, law of gravity, Archimedes’ principle and many more such things which she could not understand and this made her unhappy. She found herself at loss. One more thing which disturbed her a lot was that the kids were not learning about God and scriptures in the school instead they were given music lessons which was not an honourable thing in her opinion. To her music was not meant for gentlefolk. It was meant for beggars and prostitutes only. She highly disapproved this and as she could not change it she was dismayed and withdrew herself to some extent. Perhaps she had realized that in the makeover of the child her role was finished and this very thought saddened her most.
After finishing school Khushwant went to university. He was given a separate room. The common link of their friendship was snapped. His grandmother confined herself to a selfimposed seclusion. She spent most of her time in reciting prayers and by sitting beside her spinning wheel. She rarely talked to anyone. The only recreation for her was in the afternoon when she relaxed for a while to feed the sparrows. A kind hearted person, in village she used to feed street dogs, here in city she focused on birds and they too became very friendly with her.
This was the phase when she found herself totally isolated and aloof but she braved this isolation with grace and dignity.
Khushwant’s grandmother was a strong person. Whatever she went through in her heart she always restrained herself from demonstrating her emotions.He recalls that when he went abroad for further studies his grandmother was there to see him off on railway station quite calm busy telling the beads of her rosary and reciting prayers as always. When he came back after five years he found her more and more religious and more and more self-contained. She spent still more time in prayers and spinning the wheel. Feeding the birds was her only happy pastime. But just the day before her death for the first time she broke this routine and gave up her prayers.
That day she sang the songs of the home coming of the warriors on a withered drum along with the ladies of neighbourhood in order to celebrate her grandson’s return from abroad. Next morning she got ill. Although the doctor said it was a mild fever and would go away she could foresee that her end was near. She was upset that she omitted her prayers just before the final departure from the world. 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. To mourn her death thousands of sparrows flew in and sat scattered around her body in utter silence. They even ignored the breadcrumbs thrown for them by Khushwant’s mother. They only flew away after the corpse was carried away for last rites.

Short-Answer Questions:

Question. How did Khushwant Singh portray his grandfather in the lesson?
Answer: Khushwant Singh describes his grandfather as he was painted in the portrait wearing a big turban and loose-fitting clothes, a long white beard covering the best part of his chest and looking at least a hundred years old.

Question. Describe ‘the happiest half-hour of the day’ for the grandmother.
Answer: For Khushwant Singh’s grandmother there was none other pastime and happy activity than that of feeding the sparrows in the afternoon for half an hour. The sparrows could be seen perched on her legs, shoulders and even on her head but were never shooed away by her.

Long –Answer Questions:

Question. ‘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. --------The sparrows took no notice of the bread. When we carried my grandmother’s corpse off, they flew away quietly.’
Animals do recognize and value a relationship established with human beings. Write an article pertaining to the above sentence keeping in mind the relationship established by Khushwant Singh’s Grandmother with animals.
Answer: Animals are said to have no brains but they do have hearts for they feel and it is out of feeling, concern or love for human being that they let themselves domesticated. But do they recognize relationships too?
At least I believe that they do. Numerous examples can be stated to prove the same. The relationship between Khushwant Singh’s grandmother and the dogs and the sparrows can be just one of them. The need is to revere this lovely bond of emotional attachment with the animals in one way or the other. And it is but evident that the animals and birds are more compassionate, more affectionate and more dependable than most of the human beings.

Question. Compare and contrast the routine of the grandmother in the village with that of it in the city.
Answer: 
-Accompanying the writer to the school, helping in study
-Prayers at the temple
-Feeding dogs
-Frustrated at the subjects taught in English school
-Resolved to prayers
-Feeding sparrows

Question. Khushwant Singh’s grandmother was emotionally attached to him. Support the statement with help of instances from the story ‘The Portrait of A Lady’.
Answer:
-The grandmother’s attachment with Khushwant Singh
-Her feelings when she could not help the writer
-Her prayers for the writer’s safe journey
-Happiness expressed at the writer’s arrival
-Continuous chanting of prayers

The Portrait of a Lady

Khushwant Singh In this story, the author draws a pen portrait of his grandmother. He beautifully unfolds his relationship with her, while describing her appearance and daily activities.

Appearance of the grandmother

The author recalls his grandmother as a very old lady with a wrinkled face. She appeared so old that it was hard for him to believe that she had once been ‘young and pretty’. She was short, fat and a little stooped in appearance. The author remembers her moving about the house in ‘spotless white’, counting the beads of her rosary while her lips moved constantly in silent prayers. She was not ‘pretty’ in the traditional sense, yet her serenity made her ‘beautiful’.

Initial years of togetherness:

Life in the village In the initial years of his life, the author lived with his grandmother in the village, sharing a good friendship. His grandmother used to wake him up in the morning and get him ready for the school. She would hand over to him the things he required in the school. After having thick, stale chappatis with butter and sugar for breakfast, they used to leave for school. The author's grandmother always accompanied him to school as it was attached to the temple. It was her habit to carry several stale chappatis for the village dogs, which they used to feed while returning from the school. The grandmother used to sit inside the temple reading holy books while the narrator learnt alphabets and prayers in the school.

Turning point of their friendship: Life in the city

The ‘turning-point’ of their friendship came when they moved to the city to stay with the author’s parents. Though they shared the same room, his grandmother no longer accompanied him to the school since the author started going in a bus. As years rolled by, they ‘saw less of each other’. Meanwhile, as there were no dogs in the streets, she took to feeding the sparrows. Unlike the village school, the author was not taught about God and the scriptures which troubled his grandmother. She did not believe in what was being taught at his school and was unhappy as she could not help him with his lessons. Moreover, she was disturbed at the idea of music lessons being given at school as she considered music to be unsuitable for gentlefolk. Her disapproval was conspicuous in her silence.

The grandmother combats her loneliness by feeding the sparrows

When the author started going to the university he was given a room of his own. It resulted in a further gap between them. She accepted her loneliness and rarely spoke to anyone. All day long, she sat spinning the wheel and reciting her prayers. She relaxed for a short time, only in the afternoon, to feed the sparrows who came in large numbers. The bond and level of comfort they shared with her is evident in the fact that they perched even on her legs and head. She used to be at her happiest-self while feeding the sparrows.

Author leaves for higher studies
The author decided to go abroad for further studies. He was sure that his grandmother would be upset at his departure. On the contrary, she came to the railway station to see him off but did not show any emotion. She was absorbed in her prayers, telling the beads of her rosary. She silently kissed the author's forehead, which the author considered to be (supposedly) the last sign of their physical contact.

Author’s homecoming
On his return after five years, the author did not find any change in his grandmother. She was as old as ever and remained absorbed in her prayers. Even that day, the happiest moment for her was feeding the sparrows. In the evening, for the first time ever, she did not pray. She collected several ladies of the neighbourhood and sang songs related to the home-coming of the warriors. She had to be persuaded to stop singing in order to avoid overstraining. However, the next day she was taken ill.

Grandmother's death
Though diagnosed with a mild fever by the doctor, grandmother knew that her end was near. She decided to spend the last few hours of her life reciting prayers and telling her beads. Soon, her lips stopped moving and she died.

A silent tribute by the sparrows
The family went to make arrangements for the grandmother’s funeral. As they came with a stretcher, they stopped mid-way to find thousands of sparrows scattered around her dead body. The sparrows mourned the death of the grandmother in utter silence. They ignored the bread crumbs thrown at them by the author’s mother and flew away silently after the body was carried away for cremation. The bread-crumbs were swept away the next morning.

THEME
The fact that generation gap is not an unsurpassable gulf is characterised by the fact that a wave of nostalgia overpowers us when we think of the simple and serene days of our childhood spent with parents and grandparents. We might grow up and grow apart but the morals and principles instilled in us by the older generation refuse to die. As we grow up, various tasks and interests attract our attention leaving us with little time to realize that we might be the only interest of someone in our family. We end up being so busy that those silent steps the old ones take to retreat from our lives are rarely noticed. The story by Khushwant Singh is an attempt to celebrate those childhood years spent with his grandmother when the simple pleasures of chanting of Gurubani and feeding the dogs kept the duo busy. There might not be anything dramatic in their routine but the way she took care of the smallest of his needs and worked for his education shows the depth of their relationship. But, as is true of every good thing, this bonding had to face the test of time when the writer’s parents took both of them to the city, throwing them out of their humble abode into a city which took the attention of the child and drove them a little apart every passing day. 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’s life even though he felt blessed for having had her as a part of his life.

LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTION

Question. Describe the three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he left the country to study abroad.
Answer: The first phase was the period of the author’s early childhood. During this phase, he used to live with his grandmother in the village. The grandmother used to take care of him from waking him up and getting him ready to accompanying him to the school. Both shared a good friendship with each other.
The second phase was the time when the author and the grandmother moved to the city to live with author’s parents. In city the narrator joined an English school and started to go to school in a motor bus. Despite taking lot of interest in his studies she could not help him in his lessons. Here the role of his grandmother in his bringing up was curtailed a little bit. This was a turning-point in their friendship because now they ‘saw less of each other’.
The third phase was the time the author joined university. He was given a room of his own and the common link of their friendship was snapped. The grandmother turns to the spinning- wheel and reciting prayers all day long. She rarely talked to anyone. The only recreation for her was in the afternoon when she relaxed for a while to feed the sparrows. She accepts her seclusion with silence.