English class 11

The Portrait of
a Lady

1
29-03-2024 2
29-03-2024 3
The Portrait of a Lady

About the Story:

In the story 'The Portrait of a Lady', Khushwant Singh

presents a portrait of his grandmother. She is seen as a very
religious (धार्मिक) and down-to-earth lady who believes in
values (र्िद्ाांत) . The author traces (र्िशाि) his relationship
with her in the story.
The Portrait of a Lady

About the Author:

Khushwant Singh is one of the most celebrated (मशहूर)

authors of India. Apart from being a writer, he has been a
lawyer, a public relations officer (जििांपकि अर्धकारी) ,
and the editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India. Two of
his most famous novels are Train to Pakistan (1956) and I
Shall Not Hear the Nightingale (1961).
The Portrait of a Lady

MY grandmother, like everybody’s grandmother, was an old woman. She had

been old and wrinkled (झुरी) 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.

Photo – normally of the

Portrait
face only
Mantelpiece Shelf
The Portrait of a Lady

He wore a big turban (पगडी) and loose-fitting clothes. His long,

white beard (दाढी) covered the best part of his chest and he
looked at least a hundred years old. He did not look the sort
(प्रकार) of person who would have a wife or children. He looked
as if he could only have lots and lots of grandchildren.
The Portrait of a Lady

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.

Absurd Unreasonable, Silly

Unbelieving,
The thought was almost Undignified Disrespectful,
Difficult to believe Ungraceful
revolting
Fables Short moral story
Saint, Representative of
Prophet
God.
The Portrait of a Lady

She had always been short and fat and slightly bent. Her
face was a criss-cross of wrinkles running from
everywhere to everywhere. No, we were certain she had
always been as we had known her. Old, so terribly old
that she could not have grown older, and had stayed at
the same age for twenty years.

Slightly A bit, Somewhat

Criss-cross Full of, So many
Certain Sure
The Portrait of a Lady

She could never have been pretty; but she was always beautiful. She hobbled
(लांगडािा) about the house in spotless white with one hand resting on her waist to
balance her stoop (झुकाव) and the other telling the beads of her rosary (माला) .

Walked awkwardly,
Hobbled
Staggered
Stoop Bend, Kneel
Beads Small pieces
A string of beads,
Rosary
Maalaa in Hindi
 The Portrait of a Lady
Her silver locks were scattered untidily over her pale , puckered face, and
her lips constantly moved in inaudible prayer. Yes, she was beautiful. She
was like the winter landscape in the mountains, an expanse of pure white
serenity breathing peace and contentment . My grandmother and I were
good friends. Landscape Terrain, Scenery

Silver locks White hair An expanse of pure White and calm looks of
white serenity a person
Scattered Spread
Serenity Calmness
Not organized, Not combed and
Untidily Contentment Satisfaction
tied
Pale Yellow
Puckered Wrinkled, With Folds
Constantly Continuously
Inaudible That cannot be heard
The Portrait of a Lady
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.

Monotonous Not varying, Uniform

Sing-song Like a song
Get to know Understand, Memorise
Never botherred Never cared, Ignored
Learn Memorise
The Portrait of a Lady

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 (old and not
fresh) 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.

Earthen Made of clay

Tie Fasten
The Portrait of a Lady

My grandmother always went to school with me

because the school was attached to the temple.
The priest taught (to give somebody lessons)
us the alphabet and the morning prayer.
The Portrait of a Lady

While the children sat in rows ( horizontally)

on either side of the verandah singing the

alphabet or the prayer in a chorus my

grandmother sat inside reading the scriptures

(Religious books).

Chorus Together
The Portrait of a Lady

When we had both finished (done), we would

walk back together (with each other). This time
the village dogs would meet us at the temple
door. They followed (to move behind) us to
our home growling (a long, low sound, like
the threatening sound made by a dog) and
fighting (लडाई) with each other for the chapattis
we threw to them.
The Portrait of a Lady

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.
The Portrait of a Lady

I used to go to an English school in a motor bus.

There were no dogs in the streets (roads), and
she took to feeding sparrows in the courtyard of
our city house.

Sparrow Type of bird

Took to Started
Courtyard Open space in a house
The Portrait of a Lady

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.

Rolled by Passed, Went ahead

The Portrait of a Lady

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.
The Portrait of a Lady

She did not believe in the things they taught at the

English school and was distressed (upset) that there
was no teaching about God and the scriptures
(religious books). One day I announced that we were
being given music lessons. She was very disturbed.
The Portrait of a Lady

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 after that.

Lewd Indecent, Vulgar,

Monopoly Exclusively, Only for
Not good people,
Harlots
Vagabonds
Gentlefolks Good people
The Portrait of a Lady

When I went up to University, I was given a room of

my own. The common link of friendship was snapped
(broken). My grandmother accepted her seclusion
with resignation (That means Grandma took her
loneliness in peace and accepted her fate (भाग्य)
without being emotional). She rarely (not often) left
her spinning-wheel to talk to anyone.
Seclusion Loneliness
Defeat, Without
Resignation
objection
The Portrait of a Lady

From sunrise to sunset, she sat by her wheel spinning and

reciting prayers. Only in the afternoon she relaxed for a
while (कुछ पल के र्लए) to feed the sparrows. While (जब
तक) she sat in the verandah breaking the bread into little
bits (The pieces), hundreds of little birds collected round
her creating a veritable bedlam of chirruping’s.

Veritable Real ,Virtual,

Uproar, Confusion, Lot
Bedlam
of noise
Chirrupings Sound of little birds
The Portrait of a Lady

Some came and perched (sit) on her legs, others

on her shoulders. Some even sat on her head.
She smiled but never shooed (drive away)
them away. It used to be the happiest half-hour
of the day for her.
The Portrait of a Lady

When I decided to go abroad (foreign) 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 (emotional).
The Portrait of a Lady

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.
The Portrait of a Lady

Silently (quietly) she kissed my forehead

(माथा), and when I left, I cherished the moist
imprint (sticky print) as perhaps (maybe) the
last sign (Final signal) 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.
The Portrait of a Lady

She did not look a day older. She still had no

time for words, and while she clasped me in
her arms (Taken in arms), I could hear her
reciting her prayers.
The Portrait of a Lady

Even on the first day of my arrival, her

happiest moments were with her sparrows
whom she fed longer and with frivolous
rebukes .

Superficial, Light
Frivolous
minded
Rebukes Scold, Reprimand
The Portrait of a Lady

In the evening, a change came over her. She did not

pray. She collected the women of the
neighbourhood (people living close to the house),
got an old drum and started to sing.
The Portrait of a Lady

For several hours she thumped (hit) the sagging

skins of the dilapidated drum (old loose skin of the
drum) and sang of the home-coming of warriors
(योद्ा की). We had to persuade (convince) her to
stop to avoid overstraining (To overdo).
The Portrait of a Lady

That was the first time since I had known her that
she did not pray. The next morning, she was taken
ill (not well). It was a mild fever and the doctor
told us that it would go. But my grandmother
thought differently ( in a changed manner).
The Portrait of a Lady

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 (miss out) to
pray, she was not going to waste any more time
talking to us.
The Portrait of a Lady

We protested (raise objections). But she ignored

our protests (objections) . She lay peacefully
(without disturbance) in bed praying and telling
her beads. Even before we could suspect (doubt),
her lips stopped moving and the rosary fell from her
lifeless fingers (without life fingers). A peaceful
pallor spread on her face (calm yellowish face )and
we knew that she was dead.
The Portrait of a Lady

We lifted her off (raise ) the bed and, as is

customary (rituals ), laid her on the ground (kept
on the floor) and covered her with a red shroud
(लाल कफि). After a few hours of mourning
(sorrowing), we left her alone to make
arrangements for her funeral.( to arrange things for
last rites)
The Portrait of a Lady

In the evening we went to her room with a

crude stretcher (not strong stretcher) to
take her to be cremated (last rites). The sun
was setting and had lit (with light)her room
and verandah with a blaze of golden light
(flames with light) . We stopped half-way in
the courtyard (आां गि).
The Portrait of a Lady

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 Portrait of a Lady

We felt sorry for the birds and my mother

fetched (taken out) some bread for them. She
broke it into little crumbs (small pieces), the
way my grandmother used to, and threw it to
them. The sparrows took no notice (not cared)
of the bread.
The Portrait of a Lady

When we carried my grandmother’s corpse off

(dead body taken out ), they flew away quietly.
Next morning the sweeper (cleaning person)
swept (taken out )
the breadcrumbs into the dustbin.
The Portrait of a Lady
NCERT QUESTION ANSWER
Mention
1. The three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he left
the country to study abroad.

Answer

The first phase 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.
The Portrait of a Lady

In the second phase, the author and his grandmother shifted to the
city as the author’s parents settled well in the city. They shared the
same room, but this was the turning point of their friendship. They
saw less of each other.
In the 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.
The Portrait of a Lady

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

Answer

When the author used to live in the village with his grandmother, they both had
a good friendship. She used to wake him up, got him ready, and would also go
with him to school. All this changed when they moved to the city. The
grandmother was disturbed for the following reason:
The Portrait of a Lady

First, She no longer could help the author in his lessons. As he started
going to the English medium school, this became a barrier for her.
Second, There were no teachings about God and the scriptures.
Third, She didn’t like him taking the music lessons. According to her, music
was only for beggars and harlots.
The Portrait of a Lady

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

Answer
The three ways in which the author’s grandmother spent her days
after he grew up are:
First, She lived alone in her room as she had accepted her loneliness
quietly.
Second, She sat at her spinning wheel reciting prayers.
Third, In the afternoon, she would feed the sparrows for half an hour.
The Portrait of a Lady

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

Answer The author's Grandmother didn’t pray the evening before

dying. She collected the women from the neighborhood
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.
The Portrait of a Lady

5. The way in which the sparrows expressed their sorrow when the author’s
grandmother died.
Answer The grandmother used to feed the sparrows in her verandah each
day. She created 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 dead
body, they all flew away quietly.
The Portrait of a Lady

1.How did the narrator’s grandfather appear in the portrait?

Answer His grandfather looked very old. He had a long white beard. His
clothes were loose fitting. He wore a big turban. He looked too
old to have a wife or children. He looked at least a hundred years
old. He could have only lots and lots of grandchildren.
The Portrait of a Lady

2.How long had the narrator known his grandmother—old and

wrinkled? What did people say? How did the narrator react?

Answer:

The narrator had known his grandmother—old and wrinkled for the
last twenty years. She was terribly old.
People said that she had once been young and pretty.
They said that she even had a husband. The narrator found it hard
to believe.
The Portrait of a Lady

3.Which thought about the grandmother was often revolting and

for whom?
Answer:
The narrator’s grandmother was very old and wrinkled. She had
stayed at this stage for the last twenty years. People said that
once she was young and pretty. The author couldn’t even imagine
her being young. So, the thought was revolting to him.
The Portrait of a Lady

4.Explain: “As for my grandmother being young and pretty,

the thought was almost revolting”.

Answer

The narrator’s grandmother was terribly old. She could not

appear young and beautiful. Her face was a criss-cross of
wrinkles. She was short, fat and slightly bent. The very idea of
her being young and pretty did not appeal to the mind.
The Portrait of a Lady

5.The narrator’s grandmother ‘could never have been

pretty, but she was always beautiful’. Explain the
importance of the statement.

Answer

She was terribly old to appear pretty. Her face was a criss-
cross of wrinkles. She was short, fat and slightly bent. She
didn’t create any physical appeal or attraction. However, in
her spotless white dress and grey hair she was a picture of
serenity, peace, sobriety and beauty.
The Portrait of a Lady

6.The narrator’s grandmother looked like the ‘winter

landscape in the mountains’. Comment.

Answer:

The grandmother was always dressed in spotless white. She

had silvery hair. Her white locks spread untidily over her pale
and wrinkled face. She looked like an expanse of pure white
serenity. The stretch of snow over the mountains looks equally
white and peaceful. So her silvery locks and white dress made
her look like the winter landscape in the mountains.
The Portrait of a Lady
Question-Answer

1. “That was the turning point in our friendship”. What was the turning point?
When the author and grandmother shifted to the city to live with the author's
parents, that was the turning point in their friendship. Now his grandmother could
not go to school with him and help him in doing his homework.
The Portrait of a Lady

Question-Answer

2. How did the grandmother help her grandson in the morning before going to
school?
She woke him up in the morning and got him ready for school. She would fetch
his wooden slate which she had washed and plastered with yellow chalk, tiny
earthen ink-pot, and a red pen, tie them in a bundle and hand it over to him.
Before leaving for school, she used to give him stale chapattis in breakfast.
The Portrait of a Lady
Question-Answer
3. What were the grandmother’s views about learning music?
The grandmother thought that music had a lewd association. It was the monopoly of harlots
and beggars and not meant for gentlefolk. She stopped talking to her grandson as she did
not like music at all.

4. Describe the grandmother’s association with the sparrows.

In the afternoon the grandmother would feed the sparrows and they used to come and
perch on her legs, shoulders, and even on her head. She smiled but never shooed them
away. On her death, they also mourned as they took no notice of the bread thrown at them.
The Portrait of a Lady

Question-Answer

5. What did the grandmother do on the eve of the author’s return from
abroad?

Grandmother was really happy and wanted to do something special. She

collected the women of the neighborhood, got an old drum, and started to sing
homecoming of warriors. For several hours, she thumped the sagging skins of the
dilapidated drum.
The Portrait of a Lady
Long Question-Answer

1. ‘Everybody including the sparrows mourned over the grandmother’s death.

Discuss. (IMPORTANT)
Grandmother was a true animal lover who used to feed the sparrows in the city.
Sparrows became closer to the grandmother as she never shooed them away.
They used to sit on her shoulder, legs, and even head. When she died, all the
sparrows came to mourn and got scattered in grandmother’s room and verandah.
The author’s grandmother threw bread crumbs at them but they did not eat it.
They flew away after mourning when grandmother’s body was taken away.
The Portrait of a Lady
Long Question-Answer

2. What was the common link of friendship between the author and his
grandmother? How did the grandmother behave when their friendship was snapped?
The author and his grandmother were living together in the village. Both cared for each
other. And it was the common link of friendship between them. When they were in the
village, she used to help the author in every way. But when they went to the city, there
came a turning point. Now she could not go to school with the author and help him
with his lessons. She was disturbed to know about the teaching of music. After this, she
did not complain but became silent. When the author went to university, he was given
a room of his own and the common link of friendship was snapped.
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

60
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

61
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

62
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

63
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

64
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

65
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

66
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

67
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

68
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

69
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

70
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

71
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

72
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

73
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

74