Class 11 English (Hornbill Book)

Class notes Grade 11

PROSE 1

The Portrait of a Lady

By Khuswant Singh
THEME:

In The Portrait of a Lady by Khushwant Singh we have the theme of innocence, friendship, love, connection,
kindness, selflessness, respect and acceptance. The story portrays a grandson's perception of his grandmother
and how their bond of love undergoes changes. The story puts light on the need of companionship and
friendship felt by our elders. It also shows how love and emotion is experienced not only by human beings but
animals and birds too.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.

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. Describe the grandmother in your own words.

Ans. The grandmother was a deeply religious woman. She was also kind hearted. She was not pretty to look
at, yet she was beautiful. She was graceful and dignified in her bearing. She had perfect control over her
emotions. She used to feed the dogs and birds.
Q2. How were the narrator and the grandmother good friends in the village?
Ans. Grandmother woke him up every morning and got him ready for school. She would bathe and dress him
up. She gave him breakfast, got him his slate, ink-pot and accompanied him to school. While he learnt at
school, grandmother used to read the scriptures in the temple. When the school was over, they would walk
back home together and feed the village dogs on the way.
Q3. What was the turning point in their friendship?
Ans. Their arrival in the city was the turning point in the friendship of the author and the grandmother. She
no longer accompanied him to school as he used to go by bus. She could not help him in his studies. They
saw less of each other. The common link of friendship was snapped and the distance grew.
Q4. Why was the author’s grandmother unhappy with the city education?
Ans. The grandmother did not like the teaching at English school in the city. She was sad that they did not
teach anything about God and the religious scriptures. Nor was she interested in science. She hated music
lessons given in the school.
Q5. Why did the grandmother hate music?
Ans. Grandmother considered that music was indecent and was meant only for harlots and beggars. It was
not meant for gentle folk or school children from respectable families.
Q6. Draw a comparison between village school education and city school education.
Ans. In the city school English and Science were taught. Music was also one of the subjects. There was no
teaching about God and scriptures. The village school was attached to a temple. The priest himself acted as
the teacher and taught the children the alphabet and the prayer.
Q7. What used to be the happiest moments of the day for the grandmother?
Ans. The happiest moment of the day for grandmother was the time when she would feed the sparrows. In
the afternoon, she sat in the verandah breaking the bread into little bits. Hundreds of sparrows collected
around her. Some came and perched on her legs, others on her shoulders. Some even sat on her head. She
smiled but never shooed them away. This used to be happiest moment of the day for her.
Q8. What was “the last sign” of physical contact between the author and the grandmother?
Ans. When the author was going abroad for further studies, his grandmother came to see him off at the
railway station. She kissed his forehead silently. That was the last sign of physical contact between the

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Class 11 English (Hornbill Book)
Class notes Grade 11

author and the grandmother as he thought that at her age one could never tell whether he would find her
alive after five years.
Q9. How did the grandmother celebrate the homecoming of her grandson?
Ans. Grandmother was overjoyed at the homecoming of her grandson. She collected the women of
neighbourhood, beat the drum and sang for hours about the homecoming of warriors. She even forgot to
pray.
Q10. Why did the grandmother stop talking before her death?
Ans. The old lady was taken ill. She had a mild fever. The doctor told her that she would be alright soon. But
the grandmother declared that her end was
near. She forgot to pray the last evening. She was not going to waste any more time talking to them.
Q11. What could have been the cause of grandmother’s falling ill?
Ans. When the author came back from abroad after five years, grandmother collected the women from the
neighbourhood. She kept singing and thumping a drum for several hours. This overstrained her body and she
fell ill.
Q12. How did the sparrows mourn the death of grandmother?
Ans. Hundreds of sparrows gathered around grandmother’s dead body. They did not chirrup and touch the
breadcrumbs thrown to them. They seemed to mourn her death in silence and flew away when her body
was taken away for cremation.
Q13. How can you say that the grandmother was a kind- hearted woman?
Ans. Grandmother was a kind-hearted woman. When she lived in the village, she used to feed dogs. When
she came to the city, there were no dogs in the streets. So she took to feeding sparrows in the courtyard.
Q14. The grandmother has been portrayed as a very religious lady. What details in the story create that
impression?
Ans. Her lips were always moving in silent prayer. Her one hand was always telling the beads of her rosary.
She also read scriptures at the village temple. When she knew her end was near, she lay peacefully in bed
praying and telling her beads till death.

LONG ANSWERS
1. Mention the three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he left the country
to study abroad.
Ans: The three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he left the country to study
abroad are as follows:
I. First Phase: The 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.
II. Second Phase: In this phase, the author and his grandmother shifted to the city as the author’s parents
settled well in the city. Although they shared the same room, this was the turning point of their friendship.
Now, they saw less of each other.
III. 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 now.
2. Mention three reasons why the author’s grandmother was disturbed when he started going to the city
school.
Ans: When the author used to live in the village with her, they both had a good friendship. She used to wake
him up, got him ready and would also accompany him to school. All this changed when they moved to the
city. The grandmother was disturbed for the following reason:

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Class notes Grade 11

1. She no longer could help him in his lessons. As he started going to the English medium school, this became
a barrier for her.
2. There were no teachings about God and the scriptures.
3. She didn’t like him taking the music lessons. According to her, music was only for beggars and harlots.
3. Mention three ways in which the author’s grandmother spent her days after he grew up.
Ans: His grandmother changed a lot since he grew up. She would spend her day at the spinning wheel,
chanting prayers and feeding sparrows.
4. Mention the odd way in which the author’s grandmother behaved just before she died.
Ans: She didn’t pray the evening before dying. She collected the women from the neighbourhood 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.
5. Mention the way in which the sparrows expressed their sorrow when the author’s grandmother died.
Ans: The grandmother used to feed the sparrows in her verandah each day. She developed 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 corpse, they all flew away quietly.
6. The author’s grandmother was a religious person. What are the different ways in which we come to
know this?
Ans: When she lived in the village with the author, she used to sing prayers in a monotonous sound while
getting him ready each morning. She used to walk the author to his school and then visit the temple
attached to the school everyday. She would sit and read scriptures. Later when they moved to the city, she
would carry the beads of the rosary with her all the time. She would continuously chant her prayers and her
hand remained busy in telling the beads. When the author went to study at the university, she went into
seclusion and spent her whole day in chanting prayers.
7. Describe the changing relationship between the author and his grandmother. Did their feelings for each
other change?
Ans: In the early days, they both shared a good bond. She would get him ready for school, accompany him
and would come back with him later in the day. She would help him with his studies and would teach him
prayers by singing in a monotonous tone every morning. When they moved to the city, their relationship was
strained. He started going to an English medium school. She would no longer accompany him to the school
or could not help him with the lessons. She didn’t like his new school as they never taught him about God or
scriptures. Later, when he started taking music lessons, she disapproved of it as she thought that music was
only for beggars or harlots. She stopped talking to him afterwards and would spend her day alone while
chanting prayers.When the author went to university and then abroad, their bond weakened. She would
spin the wheel the whole day and chant her prayers. She accepted the seclusion.No, their feelings for each
other didn’t change but during the time, a distance developed between them.
8. Would you agree that the author’s grandmother was a person strong in character? If yes, give instances
that show this.
Ans: Yes, the grandmother was a strong person in character. The instances to show this are as follows:
1. She had her own thoughts about schools and their teachings. She considered learning scriptures a better
thing than studying science or English.
2. She didn’t like music as according to her, music was for low-level people.
3. When the author went to the university, in seclusion, she would spin the wheel, chant prayers, tell beads
and feed bread crumbs to the sparrows.
4. When she sang the homecoming of the warriors for hours and didn’t stop even when her family tried a
million times.

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Class notes Grade 11

5. During her last time, she didn’t want to waste any time talking to anyone so she lay silently on her bed and
chanted her prayers till she died.
QUESTIONS FOR PRACTICE:
1. What image of the grandmother emerges from ‘The Portrait of a Lady’? Draw a character sketch
of Khushwant Singh’s grandmother as portrayed by him in the lesson ‘The Portrait of a Lady’?
2. ‘When people are pious, kind hearted and God fearing, even nature mourns their death’. Justify
this statement with reference to The Portrait of a Lady’.
3. The ‘Portrait’ generally means a painting, a drawing or a photograph but here it implies a
representation or impression of someone in language. Write a pen picture of your grandparents
describing the qualities of them, which you admire, appreciate the most.
4. “My grandmother accepted her seclusion with resignation”. These lines are taken from
Khushwant singh’s ‘The Portrait of a Lady’ but this is a universally accepted fact that older
member of the family have to accept seclusion one or the other day. Comment

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