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A PORTRAIT OF A LADY BY – KHUSWANT SINGH |
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SUMMARY |
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AUTOBIOGRAPHY The
Portrait Of A lady is an auto biography by Khushwant Singh. It is a
perception of Khushwant Singh of his grandmother through his own eyes.
Khushwant Singh recalls his grandmother as an eternally old person. She was
an extremely religious person. It was difficult for him to believe that once
she too was young and pretty like other women. The
stories about her childhood games were like fairy tales to him. APPEARANCE OF GRANDMOTHER She was short, fat and slightly stooped in
stature. Her silvery white hair used to scatter on her wrinkled face.
Khushwant Singh remembers her hobbling around the house in spotless white
clothes with one hand resting on her waist to balance her stoop and the other
busy in telling the beads of her rosary. RELIGIOUS AND KIND HEARTED Her lips
constantly moved in inaudible prayers. Possibly she was not beautiful in
worldly sense but she looked extremely beautiful with the peacefulness,
serenity and the contentment her countenance displayed. LIFE IN VILLAGE Khushwant’s
relationship with his grandmother went through several changes when he was a
small boy. In the first stage Khushwant lived in a village with her as his
parents were looking for the opportunity to settle down in the city. In
village grandmother took care of all the needs of the child. She was quite
active and agile. She woke him up in the morning, got him ready for the
school, plastered his wooden slate, prepared his breakfast, and escorted him
to the school. They fed street dogs with stale chapattis on their way to
school which was a great fun for them. She helped him in his lessons also .It
was her domain and she was the queen of her kingdom. In this period she was
the sole unchallenged guardian, mentor, and creator of the child Khushwant. TURNING POINT IN RELATION The
turning point came in their relationship when they came to city to stay with
Khushwant’s parents. In city Khushwant joined an English School and started
to go to school in a motor bus. Here the role of his grandmother in his
bringing up was curtailed a little bit. Now she could not accompany him to
the school. Despite taking lot of interest in his studies she could not help
him in his lessons because he was learning English, law of gravity,
Archimedes’ principle and many more such things which she could not
understand and this made her unhappy. She found herself at loss. One more
thing which disturbed her a lot was that the kids were not learning about God
and scriptures in the school instead they were given music lessons which was
not an honorable thing in her opinion. To her music was not meant for
gentlefolk. It was meant for beggars and prostitutes only. She highly disapproved
this and as she could not change it she was dismayed and withdrew herself to
some extent. Perhaps she had realized that in the makeover of the child her
role was finished and this very thought saddened her most. After
finishing school Khushwant went to university. He was given a separate room.
The common link of their friendship was snapped. His grandmother confined
herself to a self-imposed seclusion. She spent most of her time in reciting
prayers and by sitting beside her spinning wheel. She rarely talked to
anyone. The only recreation for her was in the afternoon when she relaxed for
a while to feed the sparrows. A kind hearted person, in village she used to
feed street dogs, here in city she focused on birds and they too became very
friendly with her. This was the phase when she found herself totally isolated
and aloof but she braved this isolation with grace and dignity. Khushwant’s grandmother was a
strong character. Whatever she went through in her heart she always
restrained herself from demonstrating her emotions. He recalls that when he
went abroad for further studies his grandmother was there to see him off on
railway station quite calm busy telling the beads of her rosary and reciting
prayers as always. When he came back after five years he found her more and
more religious and more and more self-contained. She spent still more time in
prayers and spinning the wheel. PASSTIME IN CITY Feeding the birds was her only
happy pastime. But just the day before her death for the first time she broke
this routine and gave up her prayers. That day she sang the songs of the home
coming of the warriors on a withered drum along with the ladies of
neighbourhood in order to celebrate her grandson’s return from abroad. Next
morning she got ill. Although the doctor said it was a mild fever and would
go away she could foresee that her end was near. She was upset that she
omitted her prayers just before the final departure from the world. She did
not want to waste any more time talking to anybody. She lay peacefully in bed
praying and telling the beads till her lips stopped moving and rosary fell
from her lifeless fingers. RESULT OF LOVE AND AFFECTION To mourn her death thousands of sparrows
flew in and sat scattered around her body in utter silence. They even ignored
the breadcrumbs thrown for them by Khushwant’s mother. They only flew away
after the corpse was carried away for last rites. |
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CBSE
LATEST INFORMATION |
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WEBSITES TO HELP YOU |
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HORNBILL- ENGLISH XI |
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7-
ADVENTURE |
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8-
SILK ROAD |
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9-
A PHOTOGRAPH |
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10-
THE LABURNAM TOP |
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12-
CHILDHOOD |
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13-
FATHER TO SON |
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SNAPSHOTS-ENGLISH XI |
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WRITING SKILLS |
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6-
CREATIVE WRITTING |
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GRAMMAR-ENGLISH XI |
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BLOGS TO
SUPPORT PEOPLE |
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SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS |
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Q1.
How did Khushwant Singh portray his grandfather in the lesson? Ans: Khushwant Singh describes his
grandfather as he was painted in the portrait wearing a big turban and
loose-fitting clothes, a long white beard covering the best part of his chest
and looking at least a hundred years old. Q2.
Describe ‘the happiest half-hour of the day’ for the grandmother. Ans: For Khushwant Singh’s
grandmother there was none other pastime and happy activity than that of
feeding the sparrows in the afternoon for half an hour. The sparrows could be
seen perched on her legs, shoulders and even on her head but were never
shooed away by her. |
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Monday 16 December 2013
SUMMARY- THE PROTRAIT OF A LADY BY KHUSHWANT SINGH
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