The Portrayed of a Lady
The Portrayed of a Lady
The Portrayed of a Lady
-Khushwant Singh
The Portrayed of a Lady
TEXTUAL QUESTION-ANSWERS
Understanding the Text
Q.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 were as follows:
First, the author’s relationship with his grandmother during their village life was very intimate. The grandmother took full care of him. She woke him up in the morning, bathed him, helped in preparing his lesson, provided him with food, and went to school with him.
Second, during their city life, they shared the same room but the grandmother did not take him to school as the author frequented school on bus. In this phase, their relationship began to come down.
When the author got to university, the third phase of their relationship began. In this phase, the author got a room for his own and their relationship became more remote.
Q.2. Mention the reasons why the author’s grandmother was disturbed when he started going to the city school.
Ans: When the author started going to the city school, his grandmother felt disturbed for the following reasons:
First, during their city life, the grandmother of the author could not accompany him to school as he went to school by bus. Their attachment came down and the grandmother felt disturbed.
Second, in the city school, the author began to learn English words and new subjects like western science and the grandmother could no longer help the author in his studies as she used to do during their village life.
Thirdly, in the school curriculum, there was no place for teaching about God and scripture. Instead, the school provided music lessons to the students. The grandmother believed that only harlots and beggars were interested in music..
For all these reasons, it disturbed the grandmother when the author started going to the city school.
Q.3. Mention three ways in which the author’s grandmother spent her days after he grew up.
Ans: Three ways in which the author’s grandmother spent her days after the author grew up were as:
First, the grandmother spent most of her time spinning the wheel.
Second, she kept reciting the prayers from the scripture and kept telling the beads of rosary.
Third, in the afternoon she spent some time feeding the sparrows. It was her happiest moment of the day.
Q.4. Mention the odd way in which the author’s grandmother behaved just before she died.
Ans: The author’s grandmother, just before her death, behaved in the following ways:
A fever caught the author’s grandmother. A doctor was called in, but the grandmother said that her end was near. Despite everyone’s protest, she said that her illness was due to the omission of her prayer on the previous day. So she lay peacefully in bed praying and telling her beads without wasting a moment. Moments after, the rosary fell from her hand and her lips stopped moving. A peaceful pallor spread across her face and she was dead.
Q.4. The way in which the sparrows expressed their sorrow when the author’s grandmother died.
Ans: When the grandmother of the author died, her dead body was laid on the ground and covered with a red shroud. All went for the arrangement of her funeral. In the evening, when the author and others entered her room to take her body for cremation, they saw that thousands of sparrows were sitting on the floor. There was no chirruping. All felt sorry for the birds and the author’s mother fetched some bread for the birds. She broke the bread into pieces and threw them to the birds as the grandmother used to do. But the sparrows took no notice of them. When her dead body was taken away for cremation, the sparrows flew away quietly.
Thus the sparrows expressed their sorrow when the author’s grandmother died.
The Portrayed of a Lady
ADDITIONAL QUESTION-ANSWERS
Q.1. What was the author’s grandmother’s view on music lessons in school?
Ans: One day the author announced that the students were given music lessons in the city school, and then the grandmother felt very disturbed. She thought of music to have been lewd association with the harlots and the beggars and not meant for the gentlefolk.
Q.2. What did the author’s grandmother do on the previous day of her death?
Ans: On the previous day of her death, the author’s grandmother did not pray. She collected the women of the neighborhood, got an old drum, and started to sing. For several hours she thumbed the sagging skins of the dilapidated drum. The author had to persuade her to stop to avoid overstraining.
The Portrayed of a Lady
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