The document provides biographical information about author Khushwant Singh and summarizes his short story "Portrait of a Lady". It describes the author's close relationship with his grandmother in their village and how it changed after moving to the city. As the author gets older and moves abroad for further studies, his contact with his grandmother decreases. When he returns after five years, she celebrates but grows ill and passes away, with the sparrows she fed gathering around her body to mourn.

1. PORTRAIT
OF A LADY
KHUSHWANT SINGH
PRESENTATION MADE BY - ANJU YADAV, JIYA SHRIVASTAVA AND KESAR GOEL - PAREVARTAN SCHOOL

2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ป้ อนหัวเรื่อง
KHUSHWANT SINGH was an Indian author,
lawyer, diplomat, journalist and polictician.
 Khushwant Singh was educated in Modern
School, New Delhi, St. Stephen's College, and
graduated from Government College, Lahore.
He studied at King's College London and was
awarded LL.B. from University of London.
Singh was a member of Rajya Sabha. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in
1974 for service to his country. In 1984, he returned the award in protest
against the siege of the Golden Temple by the Indian Army. In 2007, the
Indian government awarded Khushwant Singh the Padma Vibhushan.

3. SHORT STORIES BY KHUSHWANT SINGH
The Portrait of a Lady
The Strain
Success Mantra
A Love Affair In London
The Wog
The Mark of Vishnu and Other Stories, (Short Story) 1950
The History of Sikhs, 1953
Train to Pakistan, (Novel) 1956
The Voice of God and Other Stories, (Short Story) 1957
I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale, (Novel) 1959
The Sikhs Today, 1959
The Fall of the Kingdom of the Punjab, 1962
A History of the Sikhs, 1963
BOOKSBY KHUSHWANT SINGH

4.  The chapter “Portrait of a Lady” gives us a picture of human relationships. It describes the depth of
love among family members; especially between grandparents and grandchildren. Grandparents
give all their time, love and attention to their granchildren. It is often heartbreaking to see them
grow older and weaker as the time flies. This chapter describes how with time, the relationships
are affected.
 The author describes his grandmother so old that he says she couldn’t get any much older. It was
difficult for him to believe that once she used to play games as a child. The thought of her once
being young amazed the author since he had always seen her grandmother as an old person.
 The chapter further focuses on the change in relationship between the author and grandmother.
They used to live in a village first, then moved to the city and then the author had to move abroad
for his further studies. These phase changes affected their relationship deeply.
 Grandmother was a very religious person and one could always see her murmuring prayers. At the
end of the story, the grandmother was taken ill and she died. Even during her last moments, she
chose to pray. Death has also been focused on meaningfully in this chapter.
GISTOF THE STORY

5. CHARACTER SKETCHOF NARRATOR
 Khushwant Singh, the narrator in the story,”The Portrait of a Lady” was a sensitive and observant
person. He cherished the memories of his association with his grandmother. He has beautifully
described the details about many episodes from his past life that were related to his grandmother.
His description of his grandmother’s old age, her movements, her religious beliefs, her association
with sparrows reflect his ability to describe the common things with sensitive delicacy.
 He has flawlessly described the differences between the village life and city life. It is clear that he
loved his grandmother deeply and with time thier relationship has been affected in many ways. He
described how his grandmother used to teach him scriptures, make breakfast and drop him
toschool in the village but when they moved to the city things completely changed. Now the author
studied English and Science and went to school on a motor bus. Grandmother hated music as it had
cheap associations.
 The author also felt emotional when he was leaving the country for his further studies. He was
worried if he will be able to see his grandmother again. When he returned after 5 years, the
grandmother welcomed him with thuds of drum and celebrated his homecoming with other women.
 The author then described his grandmother’s peaceful death which silenced everything. The birds
mourned around her dead body and then flew away.

6. CHARACTER SKETCHOF GRANDMOTHER
The author’s grandmother was a very old and gracious lady. She was greatly religious and noble at
heart. In the house, she always carried a rosary in one hand while the other hand rested on her
waist to balance herself. She kept telling the beads and prayed within her mouth silently. She used
to read holy books in the village temple as well.
She had no knowledge of English and Science but she was serious about her grandson’s education.
She used to help him with his lessons in the village. It pained her that there were no teachings of
God and holy scriptures in the city and she hated music.
She shared a great bond with the author and treated him with utmost affection. When the author
was sent abroad for studies, she didn’t object him and after five years she celebrated his
homecoming beating drums with other women. She was so overjoyed that she forgot to even pray
that evening.
She also shared a lovely bond with animals. In the village she used to feed the dogs on her way.
When she moved to the city, she befriended the sparrows and fed them crumbs of bread. We can
notice that the same feelings were reciprocated by the sparrows. When the grandmother died, the
sparrows gathered and mourned around her dead body. They even refused to eat the bread that
day and silently flew away.

7. THEMES
 Difference in the village and city’s lifestyle.
The story describes how the city’s educational pattern and transport is different from the
village and how the daily life routine f the author and grandmother has been affected by the
environment.
 Change is the law of life.
As described in the story, how the relationship between the grandmother and the author has
changed with time.
 Generation gap doesn’t matter when there is a strong bond of friendship.
Even though the grandmother was so older than the author, they still shared a great bond of
friendship and helped each other with daily chores being each other’s companion. They
were happy together.
 Importance of education.

8. MESSAGE
 We should give time to old people, they shouldn’t be left alone. They are
in the age when people are less active and thus, they need more love and
care.
 The story puts light on the friendship and companionship felt by our
elders.
 It also shows how the emotions are expressed and reciprocated not only
by human beings but also by animals. Animals share the same love and
care as humans do.
 We should accept things the way they are and make the best of out of
what we have.

9. SUMMARY
 INTRODUCTION OF AUTHOR’S GRANDMOTHER
The grandmother was and old and gracious lady. Her face was wrinkled all over. For
twenty years the author hadn’t seen any change in her looks or behaviour. People
had told him that the grandmother was young and pretty and even had a husband
once but the author could’t believe it. The thought was almost revolting for him. The
grandmother had always been short and fat and slightly bent. Her face was a criss-
cross of wrinkles running from everywhere to everywhere.The author described her
so terribly old that she couldn’t have grown older and had stayed the same age for
twenty years. She hobbled around the house in spotless white with one hand resting
on her waist to balance her stoop and the other telling the beads of her rosary. Her
silver locks were scattered untidily over her pale, puckered face, her lips constantly
moved in inaudible prayer. She was like a winter landscape in the
mountains, an expanse of pure white serenity breathing peace and
contentment.

10. SUMMARY
 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE AUTHOR AND GRANDMOTHER
AND THEIR LIFE IN VILLAGE
The author and grandmother were good friends. They lived together as
his parents had moved to the city. The grandmother used to wake him in
the morning and get him ready for school. She bathed and dressed him
singing her morning prayer in monotonous sing-song. She would fetch
his wooden slate which she had already washed and plastered with
yellow chalk and tie all his stationary in a bundle. After breakfast she
would drop him to school and feed stale chapattis to the village dogs.
The school was attached to a temple where the grandmother would sit
and read scriptures. They used to walk back home together and the
village dogs followed them to the home as well. They were very close to
each other and spent maximum time together.

11. SUMMARY
 TURNING-POINT
When the author’s parents had comfortably settled in the city, the author and
grandmother were asked to move to the city too. Even though they shared the
same room, things weren’t same anymore. That was a turning-point in their
friendship. Now the narrator had to go to an English school in a motor bus.
There were no dogs on the streets. The grandmother started feeding the
spaarows in the courtyard. As the years rolled by, they saw less of each other.
The grandmother was unhappy that she couldn’t help him with his lessons.
She was distressed that there was no teachings of God and the scriptures. She
was very disturbed after hearing that they taught music lessons school. It had
lewd associations to her. They fell more apart after that.

12. SUMMARY
 SECOND TURNING-POINT
When the author went up to University, he was given a separate room.
The common link of frienship between him and his grandmother was
snapped. The grandmother accepted her seclusion of resignation. She
rarely left her spinning-wheel to talk to anyone. She sat in the verandah
breaking the bread into little bits, while all the sparrows gathered
around her creating a veritable bedlam of chirrupings. She never shooed
them away. It was her happiest half-hour of the day.

13. SUMMARY
 AUTHOR WENT TO ABROAD
The author decided to go to abroad for his further studies. He was sure
that his grandmothr would be upset because he will be away for five
years. However, the grandmother was not even sentimental. She came
to leave him on the railway station but did not show any emotions,
neither did she talk. Her fingers were busy telling the beads of her
rosary. Silently she kissed his forehead, and when he left he cherished
the moist imprint perhaps the last sign of physical contact between them.
He was doubtful if he’d ever see his grandmother again since she was
very old.

14. SUMMARY
 AUTHOR’S HOME-COMING
The author came home after five years and met his grandmother on the
station. She did not look a day older. She clasped him in her arms
reciting her prayers. She still fed the sparrows with frivolous rebukes.
In the evening, the author noticed a change. The grandmother was not
praying. She collected the women of her neighbourhood, got an old
drum and started to sing. For several hours she tumped the sagging
skins of the dilapidated drum and sang of the home-coming of warriors.
That was the first time she was not praying.

15. SUMMARY
 GRANDMOTHER’S DEATH
The next morning, the grandmother was taken ill. She hmild fever and the doctor told that it would
go but the grandmother thought differently. She felt that her end was near and therefore she chose
to pray during her last moments. She said she didn’t want to waste any more time talking to the
family. Everyone protested but she ignored it all. Her lips stopped moving and the rosary fell from
her lifeless fingers. A peaceful pallor spread on her face and the author knew she was dead.
The family did the custom practices, laid her on the ground and covered her with a red shroud. In
the evening, thousands of birds sat scattered on the floor of the courtyard. There were no
chirrupings. Author’s mother offered the birds little crumbs of bread like the grandmother did but
the sparrows took no notice of it. When the grandmother’s corpse was carried away, the birds flew
away quietly.

16. IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
 Explain how the grandmother died.
 Describe how grandmother celebrated the return of the Narrator.
 How did the sparrows expressed their sorrow on the death of grandmother?
 Create a pen picture of grandmother.
 Describe grandfather as described in the story.
 How did the relationship between the Narrator and the
 grandmother change over time?
 How can you say that grandmother was a holy and
 religious lady?
 Describe the old lady’s happiest hours in the city.
 “This was the turning point in our friendship.” What was the turning point?
 Draw a comparison between the author’s village school education and city school education.
 What proofs do you find of friendship between the grandmother and grandson in the story?

17. BETWEEN THE EARTH AND THE SKY ABOVE, NO ONE CAN MATCH A
GRANDMOTHER’S LOVE
THANK YOU