Class 11
Chapter 2
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY
Notes.
Khuswant singh has written a number of books on sikh history and religion. He has also translated a number of books from Urdu and punjabi into english. Apart from being a writer. he has been a lawyer , a public-relation officer, and the editor of the Illustrated weekly of India. Two of his well know novels are 'train to pakistan' and 'I shall Not Hear the Nightingale.
ਖੁਸਵੰਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੇ ਸਿੱਖ ਇਤਿਹਾਸ ਅਤੇ ਧਰਮ ਬਾਰੇ ਬਹੁਤ ਸਾਰੀਆਂ ਪੁਸਤਕਾਂ ਲਿਖੀਆਂ ਹਨ। ਉਸਨੇ ਉਰਦੂ ਅਤੇ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਦੀਆਂ ਕਈ ਕਿਤਾਬਾਂ ਦਾ ਅੰਗਰੇਜ਼ੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਅਨੁਵਾਦ ਵੀ ਕੀਤਾ ਹੈ। ਲੇਖਕ ਹੋਣ ਤੋਂ ਇਲਾਵਾ। ਉਹ ਇੱਕ ਵਕੀਲ, ਇੱਕ ਲੋਕ-ਸੰਪਰਕ ਅਧਿਕਾਰੀ, ਅਤੇ ਭਾਰਤ ਦੇ ਇਲਸਟ੍ਰੇਟਿਡ ਸਪਤਾਹਿਕ ਦਾ ਸੰਪਾਦਕ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ। ਉਸ ਦੇ ਦੋ ਜਾਣੇ-ਪਛਾਣੇ ਨਾਵਲ 'ਟਰੇਨ ਟੂ ਪਾਕਿਸਤਾਨ' ਅਤੇ 'ਆਈ ਸ਼ੈਲ ਨਾਟ ਹੇਅਰ ਦ ਨਾਈਟਿੰਗੇਲ' ਹਨ।
FAQ.
Answer the following questions in 10-15 words each:
Q1. Whose portrait hung above the matalpiece in the drawing room?
Ans:- Author’s grandfather’s partrait hung above the matelpiece in the drawing room.
Q2. What according to the author’s was absurd and
undignified on grandmother’s part?
Ans:- She aften told author about the games that she used to play in her childhood. Thay seemed quite absued and undignified on her part and author treated it like the fables of he proprets she used to tell them.
Q3. Why did she say her prayer in a montonous singsong?
Ans:- She say her morning prayer in a monotous singsong while she bathed and dressed author in the hope that author would listen and get to know it by heart.
Q4. What did they have for breakfast?
Ans:- They had thick, state chapatti with a little butter and sugar spread on it for breakfast.
Q5. Why did grandmother always go to school with the author?
Ans:- Author’s grandmother always go to school with him because was attached to temple where author learned the alphabet and the morning prayer from priest.
Q6. The children in village school were tought the alphabet. Did grandmother know the alphabet?
Ans:- Yes the grandmother know the alphabet that were tought to the children in village school. While the children sat in raws on either side of the verandh singing the alphabet and reciting the prayer. However, author’s grandmother sat inside reading the scriptures.
Q7. How did they the village dogs while returning home?
Ans:- While returning home, the stray dogs would meet them at the temple door. They followed them to their home growling and fighting with each other for chapateis that they threw to them.
Q8. That was the turning point in our relationship. What happened to the friendship?
Ans:- When author’s parents were settled in the city. That was a turning point in their friendship. Althought, they shared the same room but author’s grandmother no longer came to school with him.
Q9. How did the author go to school in the city?
Ans:- The author used to go to school by bus.
Q10. Why did she feel disurbed when the author announced that they were being given music lesson at school?
Ans:- She was very upset aften knowing that the aithor’s school has announced about the music lesson. According to the grandmother, music had lewd associations. It was the monopoly of harlots and beggers and not meant for gentlefolk.
Q11. Why was grandmother unhappy about the school education at the city?
Ans:- Thegrandmother was unhappy because at school in city, teachers tought author about english and science. The grandmother could not help author with his studies. Also the grandmother was distressed because in the author’s school there was no teaching about god and scriptures.
Q12. When was the common link of friendship between the author and his grandmother broken?
Ans:- The time when author went to the university for his further studies. Then the author was given a saparate room. That was the time when the common link between the author and his grandmothr broken.
Q13. What did grandmother do from sunrise to sunrise?
Ans:- From sunrise to sunset she sat y her on spinning wheel and reciting prayer. Only in the afternoon, she relaxed for a while to feed sparrows.
Q14. What took the place of the village dogs in grandmother’s life in the city?
Ans:- The sparrows took the place of the village dogs in grandmother life in the city.
Q15. What could have been the caus of grandmother’s falling ill?
Ans:- After five years, the author came home. She collected the women of neigbourhood and started hitting the dum. So that’s why, she had over straining.
Q16. How did the sparrow show (an the last day) That they had not came for the school?
Ans:- On the last day thousands of sparrows showed up. The author’s mother fetehed some bread and broke down into little pieces. But, the sparrows did not take the bread due to her demise.
Long Question / Answer
Q1. Give a brief pen- Portrait of grandmother.
Ans: In this chapter “The portrait of Grandmother” the authors
Khuswant Singh describe the real picture of his grands mother.
He says that his grandmother was terribly old. Her face was criss-Cross of wrinkles. She was fat and had a little Stoop. She was so
old that she couldn't have looked older. The author had lived with her for
twenty years. She had always looked the same. It was difficult to imagine that she had ever been young and pretty but
inspite of being so old, she looked very attractive she was dignified in her
looks and habbits. She was fond of reading the scriptures also. In the morning
she would wake him up to get ready for school. All the time she would keep
saying her morning prayer so that the author would listen it and get to learn
it by heart, she would spend whole day in the gurudwara of the village when the
author was sent to an english school, she was unhappy because children were not
given any religious education, there. It was because of her religious mature
that she fed birds and animals. Her inner peace was also because of this she
remained calm and showed no emotions when the author left for abroad for five
years
like all
great persons of religion, she knew when her end was near Now she did not want
to waste her little time in talking to anyone she kept saying prayers and
telling the beads till her last breath. All this shows that, the authors
grandmother was really a kind hearted and religious lady.
Q2. Write a brief note on Grandmothers relationshipwith the sparrow?
Ans: In the city, Grandmother
used to feed sparrows daily with breadcrumbs. She took great delight in it she
would feed the sparrows very lovingly.Hundreds of sparrows collected round her
The Sparrows would come and sit on her legs, Shoulders and head also. But the
old woman never shooed them away. The little birds too loved her. They seemed
to enjoy her company. When Grandmother died the sparrows were full of grief.
Thousands of sparrows came to the place where Grandmother lay dead. They were all very quiet. They did not chirp at all. The author’s
mother threw some crumbs to them but they did not touch them even. They flew
away Quietly when Grandmother's dead body was carried off for Cremation.
Q3. How would Grandmother prepare the author for school?
Ans: The author’s grandmother would wake him up in the morning to
get him ready for school. She would bath him and dress him up for school. All
the time she would keep saying her morning prayer. She would say her prayer in
a monotonous sing-song. She did so with the hope that author would listen and
get to learn it by heart. She would wash his wooden slate and plaster it with
yellow chalk. She would tie a tiny earthen ink-pot and a reed pen in a bundle.
Then she would give the author a thick stale chapatti to eat. She would spread
on it some butter and sugar. Then after breakfast, she would hand the bundle to
the author and walk him to school.
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