THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KHUSHWANT SINGH
Khushwant Singh (born Khushal Singh, 2 February 1915 – 20 March 2014) was an Indian author,
lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician. His experience in the 1947 Partition of India inspired
him to write Train to Pakistan in 1956 (made into film in 1998), which became his most well-
known novel. Khushwant Singh was one of the prominent Indian writers and columnists. In the
story the author draws a pen portrait of his grandmother. He has beautifully written an account of
his relationship with his grandmother.
GIST OF THE LESSON
Appearance of the grandmother
Old. short, fat and slightly bent.
Her silver hair scattered untidily on her wrinkled face.
She hobbled around the house in white clothes with one hand resting on her waist and the
other telling the beads of her rosary.
author remembers her as not very pretty but always beautiful.
He compares her calm and serene face to that of a winter landscape.
Daily routine (Childhood phase in village)
During their long stay in the village
Grandmother woke him up in the morning, plastered his wooden slate, prepared his
breakfast, and accompanied him to school.
While he studied alphabets, she read the scriptures in the temple attached to the school.
, On their way back home she fed stale chapattis to stray dogs.
The turning point in their relationship (Family moved to city)
Author went to a city school in a motor bus and studied English, law of gravity,
Archimedes’ principle and many more things which she could not understand at all.
Grandmother could neither accompany him to school nor help him in his studies.
She was upset that there was no teaching of God and scriptures at city school.
Instead he was given music lesson which, according to her, was not meant for gentlefolk.
But she said nothing.
When author went to a university
He was given a separate room.
The common link of their friendship was snapped.
Grandmother rarely talked to anyone now.
She spent most of her time sitting beside her spinning wheel, reciting prayers and feeding
the sparrows in the afternoon.
When the author left for abroad
Grandmother did not get disturbed. Rather, she saw him off at the railway station.
Seeing her old age, the narrator thought that it was his last meeting with her.
Contrary to his thinking, when he returned after a span of five years, grandmother was
there to receive him.
She celebrated the occasion by singing songs of the home coming of warriors on an old
dilapidated drum, along with the ladies of the neighbourhood.
Last hours of her life
Next morning she got a mild fever. She could foresee that her end was near.
Peacefully kept on praying and telling the beads till her lips stopped moving and the rosary
fell from her lifeless fingers.
Sparrows paid their silent tribute
To mourn her death thousands of sparrows flew in and sat scattered around her body.
There was no chirruping and when author’s mother threw breadcrumbs to the sparrows,
they took no notice of the bread.
They flew away quietly when the dead body of Grandmother was carried away for last
rites.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KHUSHWANT SINGH
Khushwant Singh (born Khushal Singh, 2 February 1915 – 20 March 2014) was an Indian author,
lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician. His experience in the 1947 Partition of India inspired
him to write Train to Pakistan in 1956 (made into film in 1998), which became his most well-
known novel. Khushwant Singh was one of the prominent Indian writers and columnists. In the
story the author draws a pen portrait of his grandmother. He has beautifully written an account of
his relationship with his grandmother.
GIST OF THE LESSON
Appearance of the grandmother
Old. short, fat and slightly bent.
Her silver hair scattered untidily on her wrinkled face.
She hobbled around the house in white clothes with one hand resting on her waist and the
other telling the beads of her rosary.
author remembers her as not very pretty but always beautiful.
He compares her calm and serene face to that of a winter landscape.
Daily routine (Childhood phase in village)
During their long stay in the village
Grandmother woke him up in the morning, plastered his wooden slate, prepared his
breakfast, and accompanied him to school.
While he studied alphabets, she read the scriptures in the temple attached to the school.
, On their way back home she fed stale chapattis to stray dogs.
The turning point in their relationship (Family moved to city)
Author went to a city school in a motor bus and studied English, law of gravity,
Archimedes’ principle and many more things which she could not understand at all.
Grandmother could neither accompany him to school nor help him in his studies.
She was upset that there was no teaching of God and scriptures at city school.
Instead he was given music lesson which, according to her, was not meant for gentlefolk.
But she said nothing.
When author went to a university
He was given a separate room.
The common link of their friendship was snapped.
Grandmother rarely talked to anyone now.
She spent most of her time sitting beside her spinning wheel, reciting prayers and feeding
the sparrows in the afternoon.
When the author left for abroad
Grandmother did not get disturbed. Rather, she saw him off at the railway station.
Seeing her old age, the narrator thought that it was his last meeting with her.
Contrary to his thinking, when he returned after a span of five years, grandmother was
there to receive him.
She celebrated the occasion by singing songs of the home coming of warriors on an old
dilapidated drum, along with the ladies of the neighbourhood.
Last hours of her life
Next morning she got a mild fever. She could foresee that her end was near.
Peacefully kept on praying and telling the beads till her lips stopped moving and the rosary
fell from her lifeless fingers.
Sparrows paid their silent tribute
To mourn her death thousands of sparrows flew in and sat scattered around her body.
There was no chirruping and when author’s mother threw breadcrumbs to the sparrows,
they took no notice of the bread.
They flew away quietly when the dead body of Grandmother was carried away for last
rites.
