The Portrait of a Lady
Class 11 English · Hornbill · Chapter 1
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The story in short
Khushwant Singh's autobiographical prose sketch traces the changing bond between the narrator and his grandmother across three phases. In the village, the two are inseparable: she wakes him, dresses him, walks him to the temple school, reads scriptures while he learns the alphabet, and feeds the village dogs on the way home. When the family moves to the city, the friendship loosens; she can no longer accompany him to the English school, cannot help with western lessons in science and gravity, and is quietly distressed by the absence of religious teaching and by his music lessons. At university he gets a separate room and the common link snaps; she withdraws to her spinning-wheel and prayers, her happiest half-hour spent feeding sparrows. She shows no sentiment when he leaves for five years abroad, and meets him calmly on his return. On the eve of her death she breaks routine, gathering neighbourhood women to sing of warriors' homecoming. Falling mildly ill the next day, she declares her end is near, stops talking, and dies peacefully telling her beads. At the funeral, thousands of silent sparrows gather around her body, refusing the crumbs offered, and fly away only when she is carried off — a moving image of mute mourning that closes the portrait.
The Portrait of a Lady
Characters & key ideas
Autobiographical sketcha prose account drawn from the author's own life and memory.
Rosarythe string of beads the grandmother constantly tells while reciting prayers.
Spinning-wheelthe device at which she spins thread and recites prayers in her seclusion.
Sparrowsthe birds she feeds daily; their silent gathering at her death symbolises mourning.
Seclusionthe withdrawn, prayerful life she accepts with resignation as the narrator grows up.
Serenityher calm, peaceful nature, compared to a white winter landscape in the mountains.
Extra questions & answers (board-style)
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Who is the author of "The Portrait of a Lady"?