The Portrait of a Lady: Khushwant Singh

About Author:

Khushwant Singh was an Indian author, lawyer, and politician. He was born on 2^nd Feb 1915 in Punjab. Khushwant Singh was educated in Modern School, New Delhi, St. Stephen's College, and graduated from Government College, Lahore. He studied at King's College London and was awarded an LL.B. from University of London.  He was called to the bar at the London Inner Temple.  

As a writer, he was best known for his secularism, humor, sarcasm and an abiding love of poetry. His famous work ‘Train to Pakistan’ was published in 1956. Between 1980 and 1986 he served as Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India.

Khushwant Singh was awarded the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan in 1974 and 2007 respectively. He passed away on 20 March 2014.

Introduction :

The Portrait of a Lady is a short story written by Khushwant Singh in an autobiographical tone. In this story write talks about his grandmother’s life. His grandmother was an old lady. The writer tells us the story of his childhood that he had spent with his grandmother. The writer has explained his relationship with his grandmother over the years. He thinks about her daily activities and how she grew as a character over time. He mentions her appearance, which assists in creating a mental impression of her in the reader’s mind.

Different stages of the story

The presented story describes three stages of the author’s friendship with his grandmother. First in childhood when his parent went to city and left him with his grandmother. She used to get up in the morning to prepare him for school. Secondly when writer’s parent settled in city and writer went to city with his grandmother. This was a turning point in their friendship as the writer traveled to an English school in a motor bus. Finally when writer decided to go to abroad for further studies. She went drop him at the railway station and silently kissed the writer’s forehead. The author went abroad assuming that this was the last physical contact between them.

The Portrait of a Lady Summary in English

The writer recalls his Grandmother as short and fat and slightly bent. Her hairs were silver in color and were scattered untidily on her wrinkled face. She used to walk around the whole house in white clothes. She kept her one hand resting on her waist and the other hand was telling the beads of her rosary.

The writer thinks of her as not very pretty but constantly beautiful all the time. He compares her calm face with the winter landscape. During their lengthy stay in the village, Grandmother woke him up from the bed in the early morning, plastered his wooden slate, organized his breakfast, and sent him to the school. The temple was connected to the school. She sat inside and studied the sacred texts while the children learned the alphabet.

On their way back to the home she used to give the stale chapattis to the street dogs. A turning point in their beautiful relationship arrived when they went to live in a city. Despite the fact that they shared a room, their relationship started to grow apart. Now, the writer used to go to the city school on a school bus and studied subjects like English, Physics, mathematics and many more subjects that his grandmother could not understand at all.

His grandmother could no longer go to school with him to send him. She felt upset that there was no teaching about God and scriptures at the city school. Instead, he was given music lessons, but she said nothing. She thought music was dreadful. It was just good for prostitutes and beggars, according to her. It was not intended for gentlemen.

When the writer went to a university, he got a separate room in his house. The common link of the relationship between the grandson and the grandmother was broken now. Grandmother rarely talked to anyone in the house now. The writer’s grandmother quietly accepted her loneliness. She was constantly occupied with her spinning wheel and reciting prayers and she hardly ever spoke to anyone. She took a break in the afternoon. Her daily routine consisted of breaking bread into pieces and giving it to the birds. The birds would perch on her legs, head, and even her shoulders.

When the writer was leaving on a trip abroad for his further studies, his grandmother did not get disturbed at all. Rather she went to the railway station to say goodbye. She didn’t say anything and merely kissed his forehead. Seeing her grandmother at this old age, the writer was thinking that it might be his last meeting with his grandmother. But when he came back home after a duration of 5 years, his grandmother was there to welcome him back and he saw her celebrate his return.

The next morning after the return of his grandson she got ill. Although the doctor told them that it was a slight fever and would go away very soon, still she could foresee that her time to leave this world was near. She did not want to waste her time talking to anyone. Her fingers were busy reciting the storey of the beads on her rosary.

She went to her bed praying and telling the beads till her lips stopped moving and the rosary fell down from her lifeless hand. Her body was discovered on the floor, wrapped in a red shawl after she died. To grieve her death, thousands of sparrows flew in and sat dispersed around her body. All the sparrows flew away without making any noise when the dead body of the old lady was carried away for the last rites.

Question 1:

The author’s grandmother was a religious person. What are the different ways in which we come to know this?
Answer:
The author’s grandmother was a deeply religious lady. We come to know this through the different ways of her behavior. She visited the temple every morning and read scriptures. At home she always mumbled inaudible prayer and kept telling the beads of rosary. She would repeat prayers in a sing-song manner while getting the writer ready for school. She hoped that he would learn it by heart. She didn’t like English school as there was no teaching of God and scriptures. Even while spinning at her spinning-wheel she would recite prayers. Perhaps it was only once that she forgot to say her prayers. It was on the evening prior to her death when she felt over excited while celebrating the arrival of her grandson with songs and beatings of drum. She continued praying and telling beads of her rosary till her last breath.

1. The three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he left the country to study abroad. 

Answer:

The three phases of the relationship of the author with his grandmother before leaving the country to study abroad are:

(i) Early childhood – His grandmother helped author in getting ready and went to the village school with him.

(ii) Boyhood – He shared a room with his grandmother when he studied at the city school. She was not able to help him in his studies.

(iii) Early youth – The link of their friendship snapped when he was provided a separate room at the university.

2. Three reasons why the author’s grandmother was disturbed when he started going to the city school.

Answer:

The three reasons why the grandmother of the author was disturbed when he went to the city school are:

1. She did not like Western learning and Science.

2. She was hurt when she came to know that there were no scriptures and teachings of God there.

3. She did not like music and thought that it was not for gentlefolk and decent people. In her opinion, it was the monopoly of beggars and prostitutes.

3. Three ways in which the author’s grandmother spent her days after he grew up. 

Answer:

Three ways how the grandmother of the author spent her days after he grew up are:

1. She accepted the loneliness and lived unaccompanied in the room.

2. She would recite prayers while sitting at the spinning wheel.

3. She fed the sparrows for half an hour every afternoon.

4. The odd way in which the author’s grandmother behaved just before she died. 

Answer:

The grandmother of the author did not speak to them before her death. The night before she died, she did not pray. She laid peacefully in her bed praying and telling beads and ignored the protests of her family members.

5. The way in which the sparrows expressed their sorrow when the author’s grandmother died.

Answer:

The dead body of the author’s grandmother was surrounded by thousands of sparrows with silence. They did not notice the bread crumbs thrown by the author’s mother to feed them. They quietly flew away once the corpse of the grandmother was carried away. Hence, this way the sparrows expressed their sorrow when the author’s grandmother died.