Chapter - 2 The Portrait of a Lady by Khushwant Singh/ Question-Answer/ Panorama

Chapter - 2

The Portrait of a Lady                                                                                                   Kushwant Singh

Short Question Answers

Q 1. “That was a turning point in our friendship.” What was the turning point?

Ans. The author’s parents were settled in the city properly. They asked the writer and grandmother also to come there. It was the turning point in their friendship.

Q 2. How did the grandmother help in the morning before going to school?

Ans. Grandma used to wake up her grandchildren in the morning. She got him ready for school. She bathed and dressed him. She would fetch his wooden slate already washed and plastered with yellow chalk, an earthen inkpot and a pen and tie them all in a bundle. Finally she would give him a breakfast of thick stale chapati with a little butter and sugar spread on it.Thus the Grandmother helped him in the morning.

Q 3. What were the grandmother’s views about learning music?

Ans. The grandmother thought that music was not meant for gentlefolk. It has lewd associations. So it is the subject of harlots and beggars.

Q 4. Describe the grandmother’s association with the sparrows.

Ans. The grandmother fed sparrows in the courtyard of the townhouse in the afternoon for half an hour. While she sat in the verandah breaking the bread into little bits, hundreds of little birds collected round her creating a veritable bedlam of chirpings. Some came and perched on her legs others on her shoulders. Some even sat on her head. She smiled but never shooed them away. It used to be the happiest half an hour of the day for her.

Q 5. What did the grandmother do on the eve of the author’s return from abroad?

Ans. On the eve of the author's return from abroad, she did not pray. She collected the women of the neighbourhood, got an old drum and started to sing. for several hours she thumped the sagging skins of the dilapidated drum and sang of the home-coming of warriors.

Long Answer Type Question 

Q 6. Write the character- sketch of the author’s grandmother.

Ans. The author’s grandmother was an old woman. Her appearance had not changed for almost 20 years. She was a beautiful and strong woman who took care of all the matters of the author when his parents left him with her. She had always been short and fat and slightly bent. Her face was a criss-cross of wrinkle running from everywhere to everywhere. She was so terribly old that she could not have grown older. She was a God-fearing lady and would visit temple daily.  Most of the time, at home, she would be busy telling the beads of a rosary in a spotless white sari. Her silver locks were always scattered untidily over her pale puckered face and her lips constantly moved in an inaudible prayer. She was like the winter landscape in the mountains, an expanse of pure white serenity breathing peace and contentment. She was quite kind and charitable. She fed the dogs in the village and in the city she took to feeding the sparrows when she could not find dogs.

Q 7. Everybody including the sparrows mourned the grandmother’s death. Discuss.

Ans. On the eve of the author's return from abroad, when the grandmother skipped her evening prayer, she had already realized that her end was near. She said that only a few hours were left with her to live. Her statement came true and she died. All the members of the house mourned her death. Sparrows were very dear to her grandmother. She had spent the happiest hours of her life with the sparrow. On the day of her death when  the sparrows came to her as part of their routine, her body was lying in the verandah; she was no more. Perhaps, the sparrows realized the fact and they too got involved in the mourning. They sat scattered on the floor. There was no chirping. Feeling sorry for them, when the author's mother threw some bread-crumbs to them, they took no notice of them and flew away quietly when her body was taken away.

Q 8. Trace the various phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother.

Ans. The author and his grandmother were good friends. This friendship solidified when his parent left him with her in the village when they went to settle in the city. They lived together. Grandma would get him ready for school; she would bathe him; dress him; prepare his slate and other things; give him food and even would accompany him to school and back. 

In the second phase, when the author came to city with his grandmother, there came a turning point in their friendship. Grandma could not go to school because he went to school in a motor bus. She started feeding sparrows in the courtyard. She was unable to cope with the things taught in the English Medium school. She was very upset at the teaching of music at school. 

In the third phase, when the writer went to university, the common thread between them i.e. the room they shared, also snapped,because he was given a separate room. She busied herself with prayer, spinning wheel and sparrows. 

Finally when the author went abroad, she went to the railway station to see him off but she was not at all emotional. When he returned from abroad, she went to receive him and celebrated the evening.

Q 9. What was the common link of friendship between the author and his grandmother? How did the grandmother behave when their friendship was snapped?

Ans. The author and grandmother were good friends. The common link of friendship between them was the room they shared. But when he joined the university, he was given a separate room and thus the common link between them was snapped.

She accepted her seclusion with resignation. She would not care to talk to anyone. From sunrise to sunset, she sat by her wheel, spinning and reciting prayers. Only in the afternoon, she relaxed for a while to feed the sparrows. She would offer bread crumbs to them and they would come and create a veritable bedlam of chirpings. They would perch on her legs; others would be on her shoulders but she would never shoo them off. It would be happiest half an hour of the day for her.

Q 10. “She was like the winter landscape in the mountains, an expanse of pure white serenity-breathing peace and contentment.” How far do you agree with the author’s description of his grandmother as stated above?

Ans. I fully agree with the author’s description of his grandmother as stated above. She was really peaceful like the mountain landscape in the winter season. As white color is a symbol of peace, she always lived peacefully in a spotless saree. She was never angry. All the time, she would be busy telling the beads of rosary and praying. She never showed any anxiety or consternation for anything even if it was against her wishes. She accepted every situation with great calm and changed herself according to the situation. She would accept everything with great calm and equanimity.She did not like school teachings but she was never harsh or condemnatory about that.