-By Khushwant Singh

The Portrait of a Lady’ is written in first person and is in the biographical

mode. In this story, the writer gives a detailed account of his Grandmother
with whom he had a long association. Khushwant Singh recalls his
Grandmother as short, fat and slightly bent. Her silver hair was scattered
untidily on her wrinkled face. She hobbled around the house in white clothes
with one hand resting on her waist and the other telling the beads of her
rosary. Khushwant Singh remembers her as not very pretty but always
beautiful. He compares her serene face to that of a winter landscape, During
their long stay in the village, Grandmother woke him up in the morning,
plastered his wooden slate, prepared his breakfast, and escorted him to school.
While he studied alphabets, she read the scriptures in the temple attached to
the school. On their way back home she fed stale chapattis to stray dogs. The
turning point in their relationship came when they went to live in the city.
Now, the author went to a city school in a motor bus and studied English, law
of gravity, Archimedes’ principle and many more things which she could not
understand at all.

Grandmother could no longer accompany him to school nor help him in his
studies. She was upset that there was no teaching of God and scriptures at city
school. Instead he was given music lesson which, according to her, was not
meant for gentlefolk. But she said nothing.

When Khushwant Singh went to a university, he was given a separate room.

The common link of their friendship was snapped. Grandmother rarely talked
to anyone now. She spent most of her time sitting beside her spinning wheel,
reciting prayers, and feeding the sparrows in the afternoon. When the author
left for abroad, Grandmother did not get disturbed. Rather, she saw him off at
the railway station. Seeing her old age, the narrator thought that it was his last
meeting with her. But, contrary to his thinking, when he returned after a span
of five years, Grandmother was there to receive him. She celebrated the
occasion by singing songs of the home coming of warriors on an old
dilapidated drum, along with the ladies of the neighbourhood.

Next morning she got ill. Although the doctor said it was a mild fever and
would go away soon, she could foresee that her end was near. She did not want
to waste time talking to anyone. She lay peacefully in bed praying and telling
the beads till her lips stopped moving and the rosary fell from her lifeless
fingers. To mourn her death thousands of sparrows flew in and sat scattered
around her body. There was no chirruping and when Khushwant Singh’s
mother threw breadcrumbs to the sparrows, they took no notice of the bread.
They flew away quietly when the dead body of Grandmother was carried away
for last rites.

Summary of the Chapter

In this story, narrator is portraying the character of his grandmother. When narrator was a
small kid, he observes his grandmother as a terribly old lady with wrinkles on her face. It
was difficult of narrator to believe his grandmother was a young and beautiful lady once
upon a time as said by people around him. She was fat and bent.

Narrator when he was a kid was staying with his grandmother as his parents went to live in
the city. Narrator explains her as not pretty but beautiful by her grace. He explains her
beauty as winters in landscape in the mountains. Then he explains his friendly relationship
with his grandmother. His grandmother used to took her to the school. She herself used to
study sculptures in the nearby temples till his school runs.
When his parents were well settled in the city, they sent for him and his grandmother to the
city. In the city the narrator and his grandmother shared the same room but now she was
not there to drop him to the school. She used to ask him about his syllabus and was not
happy about it. He was studying modern science and English. She was unhappy because
he was not taught about god and spirituality. She was also unhappy about his music
classes as she found it not good for gentlemen.

After school when narrator went to University, he got his own room to study. So the
grandmother felt alone but she accepted it and get used to with it. She spent these days by
feeding small birds in verandah. This was used to be her best time spent in whole day. The
narrator went abroad for further study. Grandmother was unhappy but she did not show any
emotions and came to see off him at station. The narrator was not sure whether he would
be able to see her after five years when he comeback because of his age.
But after five years he came, he was welcomed by her on stationary. In an evening she
called nearby women and started singing songs with playing and old drum instead of
praying. One day she fell ill and she told that her end is near. She died peacefully. She was
cremated in a funeral. She was missed by even the sparrows that she used to feed.

By Shirley Toulson

The poem, ‘A photograph’, contrasts the eternal state of nature and the
transitory state of human beings. The poet describes a photograph that
captures interesting moments of her mother’s childhood when she went for a
sea holiday with her two girl cousins. The poet draws a contrast between
nature, changing at a snail’s pace and the fast-changing human life.

The poet recollects how her mother laughed at the photograph and felt
disappointed at the loss of her childhood joys. The sea holiday was her
mother’s past at that time, while her mother’s laughter is the poet’s past now.
With great difficulty and at different periods of time, both reconcile with their
respective losses and the pain involved in recollecting the past. For the poet,
the death of her mother brings great sadness and an acute sense of loss. The
painful ‘silence’ of the situation leaves her with no words to express her grief.
Thus, the ‘silence silences’ her.

The three stanzas of the poem depict three different stages of life i.e. early
adolescence (girlhood).adulthood and death.

We’re Not afraid to Die—If We Can All Be Together

Summary
by Gordon Cook and Alan East

The story, ‘We’re Not afraid to Die-if We Can All Be Together’ is a story of
extreme courage and skill exhibited by Gordon Cook, his family and crewmen
in a war with water and waves for survival. In July 197 6, the narrator, his wife
Mary, son Jonathan and daughter Suzanne set sail from Plymouth, England to
duplicate the round-the world voyage made 200 years earlier by Captain
James Cook. They took the voyage in their professionally built ship, the
Wavewalker, accompanied by two experienced sailors – Larry Vigil, an
American and Herb Seigler, a Swiss, to tackle one of the world’s roughest
seas – the Southern Indian Ocean.

The first part of the journey, that is, about 105,000 kilometres up to Cape
Town passed off very, pleasantly. On the second day out of Cape Town, -they
began to encounter strong gales. Gales did not worry the narrator. But the
size of the waves was alarming – up to 15 metres, as high as the main mast.
On 25th December, the writer’s ship was in the southern Indian Ocean, 3500
kilometres to the east of Cape Town. The family celebrated their new year on
board the ship.

At dawn on January 2, the waves were gigantic. Unfriendly weather and

gigantic waves compelled the sailors to slow their speed, drop storm jib and
take other precautions. The danger was so obvious that the sailors completed
life-raft drill, attached lifelines and life jackets.

Suddenly at 6 pm, a tremendous explosion shook the Wavewalker and the

author was thrown overboard. The ship was about to capsize when another
gigantic wave hit it tossing it upright once again. The author was thrown back
onto the deck, his head and ribs smashing against the walls. In spite of his
injuries, the narrator took charge of the situation. Somehow he found the
wheel, lined up the stem for the next wave and hung on till Mary appeared
and took charge of the wheel. Larry and Herb started pumping out water like
madmen. The whole starboard side bulged inwards. The narrator managed to
cover canvas across the gaps to prevent water from entering the ship. Then
came more problems. Their hand pumps stopped working and electric pumps
short-circuited. Fortunately, the narrator found a spare electric pump under
the chartroom that worked. The entire night was spent in pumping, steering,
repairing and sending radio signals. The narrator checked charts and
calculated that He Amsterdam, a French scientific base was their only hope.

Sue and Jon were injured but they said that they were not afraid to die if they
could all be together. Sue’s head was swollen and she had a deep injury. The
narrator became more determined seeing his children’s courage. Finally, they
reached lie Amsterdam, a volcanic island where they were welcomed by 28
inhabitants. Thus, the collective strength and never failing optimism of the
sailors made it possible for them to come out of the jaws of death. Though
Jonathan and Suzanne did not do anything to save Wavewalker but their
courage, forbearance, faith and optimism gave extra strength and persistence
to the narrator and his team. The bravery of the strong-willed children is
noteworthy in the story.

By A. R. Williams

Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues’ gives an insight into the mystery
surrounding the life and death of Tutankhamun, the last teenage ruler of the
powerful Pharaoh dynasty that had ruled Egypt for centuries. He was the last
of his family’s line, and his funeral brought an end to this powerful dynasty.
Not much is known about his family. Tut’s father or grandfather, Amenhotep III
was a powerful pharaoh who ruled for about four decades during the
dynasty’s golden age.

His son, Amenhotep IV shocked the country by attacking Amun, a major God,
smashing his images and closing all his temples. He changed his name to
Akhenaten and promoted the worship of Aten or the sun disk. After his death,
a mysterious ruler, Smenkhkare appeared briefly and exited with hardly a
trace. When Tut took over, he changed his name from Tutankhaten to
Tutankhamun and restored the old ways. However, Tut ruled for nine years
and then died mysteriously and unexpectedly. In order to unravel the mystery
of his death, King Tut’s mummy was scanned after a thousand years, thus
opening new perceptions regarding the cause of his death. In 1922, his tomb
was discovered by Howard Carter who used all kinds of means to remove
Tut’s mummy from the coffin. The ritual resins had hardened, thereby
cementing Tut to the bottom of his solid gold coffin.

Carter finally had to chisel the mummy away having no other option. Every
major joint was severed. In 1968 an anatomy professor X-rayed the mummy
and revealed that Tut’s breastbone and front ribs were missing. Such a
revelation would not have been possible without technological precision. This
fact gives us a clue that Tut, in all likelihood did not die a natural death. Tut’s
mummy was scanned in 2005 under the supervision of Zahi Hawass,
Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. The Computed
Tomography Scan couldn’t solve the mysterious death of Tut but gave us
clues for sure.
The lesson also provides a comprehensive awareness of ancient Egyptian
culture. The ancient Egyptians believed that there was life after death. That is
why the Pharaohs were buried with the tremendous amount of wealth
including things of daily use so that they could use them in their life after
death. It was also believed that gold would guarantee their resurrection.