The Portrait of a Lady

- Khushwant Singh

Introduction
The Portrait of a Lady is the story of the author. He describes his relationship with his grandmother
over the years. He pens down her daily activities and how she evolved as a character as time passed by.
He explains her appearance which helps create an image in the reader’s mind.

Summary
The chapter ‘The Portrait of a Lady’ is the story of the author and his grandmother. The
grandmother was an old woman with a wrinkled face. The author had always seen her like this, for the past
twenty years. She appeared to be so old that he could not imagine her being ‘young and pretty, someone
who had a husband. She was short, fat, and slightly bent. The author had seen his grandfather’s portrait-
an old man with a turban and a long white beard covering his chest. To the author, his grandfather didn’t
seem like a man who could have a wife and children, but someone who could have lots of grandchildren.
His grandmother used to move around the house in ‘Spotless White’ with her one hand resting on her waist
and her other hand counting the beads of her rosary.

In the initial days, the author and his grandmother had a good relationship. She used to wake him
up and get him ready for school. She used to pack the things required by him for the day and walked him to
school every day. She used to visit the temple that was attached to the school. She had a routine of reading
the scriptures. The author along with other children sat on the verandah singing alphabets and morning
prayers. They both used to come back home together with stray dogs roaming around them as his
grandmother would carry the stale chapatis to feed them.

Soon, the parents of the author who went to the city to settle in and called them. As they reached
the city, his relationship with his grandmother took a turn. Though they shared the room, their bond grew
apart. He started going to an English medium school, she no longer accompanied him to his school, and
there were no longer stray dogs who roamed around them while walking back home. She, however, used to
ask him about his day and what he had learned. She didn’t understand anything as everything was in
another language which she could not understand. She didn’t approve of the new syllabus that he was
studying because she thought that they did not teach him about God and the scriptures. They saw less of
each other.

As the days passed, he grew older and soon went to the university. He had his own room and this
made their relationship sour. She stopped talking to everyone and spent her whole day sitting at her
spinning wheel, reciting prayers and moving beads of the rosary with one hand. However, she loved
feeding sparrows in the verandah at dawn. Breaking bread into pieces and feeding it to the birds was her
daily routine. The birds would sit on her legs, her head, some even on the shoulders.

Soon, the author decided to go abroad for further studies. She came to the railway station to leave
him off. She was not sentimental, continuously recited her prayers, her mind lost in the prayers, and she
kissed him on the forehead. After five years, as he returned home, she was there, came to pick him up at
the station, was still the same as she had been five years ago. She clasped him within her arms and didn’t
say a word. She still used to feed her sparrows.

One day, she didn’t recite her prayers but instead collected the women of the neighbourhood, got a
drum and started singing. The next morning, she was ill with a mild fever. The doctor said that there was
nothing to worry about but she was sure that her end was near.
 She didn’t want to waste her time talking to anyone in the family anymore but spent her last hours
reciting her prayers laying on the bed. She died and so her body lay on the bed, lifeless. As they prepared
for her funeral, they saw all the sparrows sitting in the verandah around her, mourning her death.

Word Meaning

1. Mantelpiece- a structure of wood, marble, or stone above and around a fireplace.

2. Absurd – Illogical
3. Undignified- disrespectful
4. Prophets- saints
5. Hobbled – walked in an awkward way
6. Puckered – a face contract into wrinkles
7. Locks- hair
8. Stale- no longer fresh and pleasant to eat; hard, musty, or dry.
9. Lewd Association – Indecent or Obscene
10. Harlots – Prostitutes
11. Veritable – use to describe something which is very interesting or unusual
12. Bedlam – confusion
13. Chirrupings – the noise of a small bird
14. Perched – alight or rest on something
15. Shooed – make a person or animal go away by shouting or saying ‘shoo’
16. Clasped – hold tightly
17. Frivolous – not having any serious purpose, light-hearted
18. Rebuke – disapproval of something or someone
19. frivolous rebukes – light hearted scoldings
20. Dilapidated – in a state of despair or ruin

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

The three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he left the country to
study abroad are as follows:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.
 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:

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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.

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.
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.

9. Which language do you think the author and his grandmother used while talking to each other?

The author and his grandmother used to talk to each other in their mother tongue. As the author
belongs to Punjab state, they would talk in Punjabi language.