THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY - BLOG 3

The Portrait of a Lady

-         Khushwant Singh

Good morning dear students. Let us thank God for this wonderful day. Today we continue with our chapter “The Portrait of a Lady”. Before we go deep into the lesson let us look at the learning objectives of this chapter.

The students will be able to

·         know the expressions used in the lesson and their usage.

·         appreciate the bond between the author and his grandmother

·         gain insight into the various phases of author’s life with his grandmother.

·         realize the importance of grandparents in a family.

·         know the worth of any relationship.

·         sympathize with the grandmother and her situations.

·         admire and appreciate the biography of grandmother

admire the divine beauty of the grandmother.

Today in this period we are going to deal with the short answer questions and its answers.

Short Answer Type Questions(copy to your note book)

Q.1 How does Khushwant Singh describe his old grandmother?

Ans: Khushwant Singh says that his grandmother was so old that she could not get any way older. Her face was full of wrinkles. She was short, fat and somewhat bent. It was unbelievable to imagine that she had once been young and pretty, and had a husband. The thought of her being once was almost revolting to him.  

Q.2 Why did narrator’s grandmother give the impression of ‘winter landscape in the mountains’?

Ans: The author’s grandmother used to wear spotless white clothes. She had silvery hair. White all over, she looked like the winter landscape in the mountains covered with snow. She recited her prayers all the time, so had a serene expression on her face which was like peaceful, white mountains.

Q.3 How can you say that the grandmother was a religious – minded lady?

Ans: The author’s old grandmother was deeply religious-minded. She all day long counted the beads of rosary and recited prayers. She read scriptures inside the temple. She was disturbed to know that there was no teaching about God and scriptures at the city school. She fed the dogs in the villages and the birds in the city.

Q.4 ‘The thought was almost revolting’. What was the thought and why was it disgusting?

Ans: The old grandmother often told the children of the games she used to play as a child. It seemed absurd or believable and even indecent on her part. The children treated those stories like fables. They found it hard to believe that their grandmother could have ever been young and pretty. They had always seen her as an old lady: so they liked to think of her only as their grandmother.

Q.5 Why was the grandmother unhappy in the city?

Ans: In the city, the friendship between the old lady and the little grandson came under strain. She was disturbed because she could not go with him to school, nor help him with his lessons. She did not approve of English education, particularly the music lessons. The author, as he grew up, got a room of his own. The growing distances between them upset her. All this made her unhappy.

                                 WILL CONTINUE ...........................................