Hornbill Chapter-1

The Portrait of a Lady

by: Khushwant Singh

Summary

 

Khushwant Singh draws here an interesting portrait of his grandmother. He presents her as a tender, loving and deeply religious old lady. Singh says that his grandmother was an old woman. She was so old that her face was wrinkled that at the present it was difficult to believe she would ever had been young and pretty. Her hair was white as snow. She had a little stoop in her back. She could be seeing reciting her rosary all the time. The author says that "she was like the winter landscape in the mountains and expanse of pure white serenity breathing peace and contentment."

A picture of author's grandfather was hung on the wall. He appeared too old and it was that he never had a wife. He appeared to have only lots and lots of grandchildren. Singh was the only child at that time. His parents had gone to live in the city leaving him behind the village under the care of his grandmother. She would get him ready for school. And would also feed him with Chappathi. The School as attached with a temple. All the children sat in the verandah reciting alphabets while his grandmother is engaged reading holy scriptures. Finally in the evening, the author and the grandmother would walk back home feeding the dogs.

After a friendly relationship with his grandmother, he had to adopt a new life in the city. This itself was a turning point for the grandmother and the grandson. Both of them was sent for to settle down in the city with his parents. The author went to an English school but the grandmother never liked the way he was taught. Though Singh and his grandmother shared the same room, she was unable to help him. Apart from this, she was also disappointed that he was learning music that she considered not for gentlefolks. In due course, Singh went up to a University and because of that, he was given a separate room. This indeed made the common link of their relationship snapped down completely. The grandmother agreed the fact and she used to spin the wheel from sunrise to sunset to compensate that. Only during the afternoon she would relax by feeding the sparrows with little pieces of bread. They were her best friends and the sparrows also liked her company.

Later, Singh went up abroad for higher studies which was for 5 long years. He had a doubt in his mind that whether his grandmother may survive or not until he come back. His also taught that it might e the last physical contact between them when she came in the railway station to see him off. After 5 years he came back, incredibly he was welcomed by his grandmother who was not grown a single day older. Singh noticed that even at this time when everyone was joyful about his return, grandmother's happiest moments was with her sparrows.

Later in the evening there was a change in her attitude. She celebrated the return of her grandson by collecting some women of neighbourhood and beating drum for several hours. But in the morning, grandmother's health deteriorated and she revealed that she was nearing her end. So she decides that she is not going to waste a single moment by talking so she prayed. Quite suddenly, the rosary falls from her hand and she exhaled her last breath and it was clear that she was no more. After making the preparations for the funeral, the family members went to fetch her body for the last journey. The golden blaze of light of the setting sun glittered her room. And to pay the last homage to the grandmother, thousands of sparrows gathered in and around her room. The sparrows never did cheered nor did they do anything normal. They don't even bother to notice the bread pieces thrown at them. Along with her funeral, the sparrows flew away.

Examination Style Questions:

1. Why was it hard for the author to believe that his grandmother was once young and pretty?
   Ans: The author had only seen and known his grandmother as an old woman. It had been the same situation for twenty years. As a child, therefore, he found it hard to believe that she was young and pretty once upon a time.
   
   
2. Write three reasons why the author's grandmother was disturbed when he started going to the city school?
   Ans: The three reasons are as follow:
   1. She couldn't teach him as the author was being taught English lessons, law of gravitation of which all grandmother was unaware and because of which she was unable to help him in his studies.
   2. She did not like the idea of learning music in the school as she considered that it was the work of lower backward classes.
   3. She could no more go to leave the author in the school as he used to go by a motor bus in the school.

3. Briefly describe the typical routine of the grandmother when she was in Village and City.
   Ans: During her village life, everyday she would prepare the author for school. She dressed him up,gave him breakfast and would accompany his grandson to school because his school was attached to the temple. While the children learned alphabets and prayer the grandmother would read the scriptures at the temple. But after she came to the city, there wasn't much to do. So she would sit and do some clothing work in her spinning wheel and at the afternoon she would feed the sparrows. These were her routines in both village and city.
   
   
4. What were the three ways in which author's grandmother spent her days after he went to school?
   Ans: (i) Reciting prayers. (ii) Spinning the wheel. (iii) Feeding sparrows. {Explain these three points}
   
   
5. The grandmother had a divine beauty. How does the author bring this out?
   Ans: The author brings out the inner beauty of the grandmother by comparing her to as now covered winter landscape. This comparison shows her calmness and serenity. The author brings it out in the serenity and peacefulness that lit up her face.
   
   
6. Mention the odd way in which the author’s grandmother behaved just before she died.
   Ans: The day when the author arrived from abroad was the day before her death. She broke her routine of praying and sang the songs of the home coming of the warriors on a withered drum along with the ladies of neighbourhood.
   
   
7. How did the grandma shape the grandsons personality? What role did she play?
   Ans: She had played the key role in her grandson's life from his childhood. She is the one who takes care of him from sunrise to sunset. She indirectly teaches him how the person should lead life with god, scriptures and values. That is why grandson has more attachment with his grandmother.
   
   
8. The authors grandmother was a religious person. what are the different ways in which we come to know this?
   Ans: .Her lips constantly moved in inaudible prayers. Possibly she was not beautiful in worldly sense but she looked extremely beautiful with the peacefulness, serenity and the contentment her countenance displayed.
   
   
9. How did Khushwant Singh portray his grandfather in the lesson?
   Ans: Khushwant Singh describes his grandfather as he was painted in the portrait wearing a big turban and loose-fitting clothes, a long white beard covering the best part of his chest and looking at least a hundred years old.

10. Describe the happiest half-hour of the day for the grandmother.
    Ans: For Khushwant Singh's grandmother there was none other pastime and happy activity than that of feeding the sparrows in the afternoon for half an hour. The sparrows could be seen perched on her legs, shoulders and even on her head but were never shooed away by her.

11. The grandmother's reception and send off of her grandson were very touching. Comment.
    Ans: When the write went to abroad, the grandmother saw him off at the railway station silently praying and telling her beads., she kissed his forehead. When he returned, she expressed her joy by collecting the women of neighbourhood and singing for hours of the homecoming of warriors. For the first time she missed her prayers.
    
    
    Long Answer type questions:
    
    
12. Mention the three phases of the author's relationship with his grandmother before he left the country to study abroad .

Ans: The author’s relationship with his grandmother went through several changes with time. In the first stage living in a village with her, his grandmother took care of all the needs of the child. She was quite active and agile. It was her domain and she was the queen of her kingdom. In this period she was the sole unchallenged guardian, mentor and creator of the child.
The turning point came in their relationship when they came to city to stay with the author’s parents. In city, he joined an English School and started to go to school in a motor bus. Here the role of his grandmother in his bringing up was curtailed a little bit. Now she could not accompany him to the school. Despite taking lot of interest in his studies she could not help him in his lessons because he was learning English, law of gravity, Archimedes’ principle and many more such things which she could not understand and this made her unhappy. She found herself at loss as she could not change the things her way. She was dismayed and withdrew herself to some extent. Perhaps she had realized that in the makeover of the child, her role was finished and this very thought saddened her most. After finishing school, the author went to university after which he was given a room of his own thus breaking the existing link of friendship.

13. Based on your reading of the chapter, what impression do you form about the grandmother?
Ans: She was short, fat and slightly stooped in stature. Her silvery white hair used to scatter on her wrinkled face. Khushwant Singh remembers her hobbling around the house in spotless white clothes with one hand resting on her waist to balance her stoop and the other busy in telling the beads of her rosary. She was the lone caretaker of her grandson when they were in village. She fulfilled her responsibilities with utmost devotion. But in the second phase of her relation with her grandson she started feeling bit dejection because of the seclusion she was witnessing in city. She was no longer able to spend time with her grandson resulting in feeling of solitude. She found another way of passing her time. She started feeding sparrows and that became her favourite time of the day. Religious by nature, she followed her daily routine of singing prayers and her rosary beads. Kindness and politeness was here major characteristics.


14. Grandmother herself was not formally educated but was serious about the author's education. How does the text from the chapter support this?
Ans: The grandmother was quite serious about the education of the author. She woke him up in the morning and got him ready for the school. She washed his wooden slate. She plastered it with yellow chalk. She tied his earthen ink-pot and red-pen in to bundle. She took him to school. He studied in school and she waited for him. She read the scriptures in the temple nearby.
In the city, the author went to an English medium school in a motor bus. When he came back, she would ask him what teacher had taught him. She could not help him in his lessons. She did not believe in the things taught at the school. She was distressed to learn that he was taught about music. She considered it unfit for the gentle folk. For her, it was only for harlots.


15. Gradually the author and the grandmother saw less of each other and their friendship was broken. Was the distancing deliberate or due to the demand of the situation?
Ans: When the author was a young boy, his parents shifted to the city leaving him with his grandmother. They were good friends. She was with him though the day and she even accompanied him to and from the school. But when his parents had settled in the city, they sent for them. This proved to be a turning point in their friendship. The only thing that remained unchanged was that they shared their common room. She could not accompany him to the school as he went by the school bus. He was now in an English school, where they taught him about science. The fact fact they were not taught about God and scriptures made her unhappy. His music lessons in school made her feel worse as she considered it as the work of harlots. But it was when he went to the university and got a separate room and that their ties were severed further. This was not deliberate but the situations adversely affected their relationship.


16. Elucidate the phrase 'not pretty but beautiful' with reference to the chapter.
Ans: The grandmother was short, fat, old and slightly bent. For the last twenty years she looked the same and to him she seemed too old to age further. It was difficult for him to imagine that she could have been young and pretty. But to him, she was beautiful in a pristine and peaceful way. He remembered her telling the beads of her rosary, untiringly. Her silver locks lay 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, serene and content.