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Ch- The Portrait of a Lady

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Sukhwant Kaur Saini

CLASS-12 SUBJECT- ENGLISH AUTHOR- KHUSHWANT SINGH Introduction ‘Portrait of a Lady’ describes a special bond between grandmother and grandson. Khushwant Singh narrates how the relationship develops over the years, and changes as the grandson grows up and the grandmother grows older. Solitude and silence fill the grandmother's days as she distances herself from the real world. She now prefers the company of the gods and the birds. She enters a world of her own and is content with herself.

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CLASS-12 PANORAMA CH-2 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY By Khushwant Singh -SUKHWANT KAUR
Khushwant Singh was an Indian novelist, lawyer, politician and journalist. He studied at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and King’s college, London. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1947. As a writer, he is best known for his keen secularism, sarcasm and love for poetry. He served as the editor of several literary and news magazines as well as two newspapers. Khushwant Singh was awarded with Padma Bhushan in 1974, Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India and Sahitya Akademi Fellowship by Sahitya Academy of India. ‘The Mark of Vishnu’, ‘A History of Sikhs, The Train to Pakistan, Success Mantra, We Indians and Death at my Doorstep are some of Khushwant Singh (February 2, 1915 – March 20, 2014)
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY • 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 seen 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."
The Portrait of a Lady The chapter ‘The Portrait of a Lady’ is the story of the author and his grandmother. The grandmother was an old woman with a wrinkled face. The author had always seen her like this, for the past twenty years. She appeared to be so old that he could not imagine her being ‘young and pretty’, someone who had a husband. She was short, fat and slightly bent. The author had seen his grandfather’s portrait- an old man with a turban and a long white beard covering his chest. To the author, his grandfather didn’t seem like a man who could have a wife and children, but someone who could have lots of grandchildren. His grandmother used to move around the house in ‘Spotless White’ with her one hand resting on her waist and her other hand counting the beads of her rosary.
In the initial days, the author and his grandmother had a good relationship. She used to wake him up and get him ready for school. She used to pack the things required (wooden slate etc.)by him for the day and walked him to school everyday. She used to visit the temple that was attached to the school. She had a routine of reading the scriptures. The author along with other children sat on the verandah singing alphabets and morning prayers. They both used to come back home together with stray dogs roaming around them as his grandmother would carry the stale chapattis to feed them Wooden slate
Soon, the parents of the author who went to the city to settle in and called them. As they reached the city, his relationship with his grandmother took a turn. Though they shared the room, there bond grew apart. He started going to an English medium school, she no longer accompanied him to his school, and there were no longer stray dogs who roamed around them while walking back home. She, however, used to ask him about his day and what he had learned. She didn’t understand anything as everything was in another language which she could not understand. She didn’t approve of the new syllabus that he was studying because she thought that they did not teach him about God and the scriptures. They saw less of each other.
As the days passed, he grew older and soon went to the university. He had his own room and this made their relationship sour. She stopped talking to everyone and spent her whole day sitting at her spinning wheel, reciting prayers and moving beads of the rosary with one hand. However, she loved feeding sparrows in the verandah at dawn. Breaking bread into pieces and feeding it to the birds was her daily routine. The birds would sit on her legs, her head, some even on the shoulders.
Soon, the author decided to go abroad for further studies. She came to the railway station to leave him off. She was not sentimental, continuously recited her prayers, her mind lost in the prayers, and she kissed him on the forehead. After five years, as he returned home, she was there, came to pick him at the station, was still the same as she had been five years ago. She clasped him within her arms and didn’t say a word. She still used to feed her sparrows.
One day, she didn’t recite her prayers but instead collected the women of the neighbourhood, got a drum and started singing. The next morning, she was ill with mild fever. The doctor said that there was nothing to worry about but she was sure that her end was near.
She didn’t want to waste her time talking to anyone in the family anymore but spend her last hours in reciting her prayers laying on the bed. She died and so her body lay on the bed, lifeless. As they prepared for her funeral, they saw all the sparrows sitting in the verandah around her, mourning her death.
THANKS FOR WATCHING I HOPE MY PRESENTATION WAS HELPFUL

More Related Content

Ch- The Portrait of a Lady

  • 1. CLASS-12 PANORAMA CH-2 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY By Khushwant Singh -SUKHWANT KAUR
  • 2. Khushwant Singh was an Indian novelist, lawyer, politician and journalist. He studied at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and King’s college, London. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1947. As a writer, he is best known for his keen secularism, sarcasm and love for poetry. He served as the editor of several literary and news magazines as well as two newspapers. Khushwant Singh was awarded with Padma Bhushan in 1974, Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India and Sahitya Akademi Fellowship by Sahitya Academy of India. ‘The Mark of Vishnu’, ‘A History of Sikhs, The Train to Pakistan, Success Mantra, We Indians and Death at my Doorstep are some of Khushwant Singh (February 2, 1915 – March 20, 2014)
  • 3. THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY • 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 seen 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."
  • 4. The Portrait of a Lady The chapter ‘The Portrait of a Lady’ is the story of the author and his grandmother. The grandmother was an old woman with a wrinkled face. The author had always seen her like this, for the past twenty years. She appeared to be so old that he could not imagine her being ‘young and pretty’, someone who had a husband. She was short, fat and slightly bent. The author had seen his grandfather’s portrait- an old man with a turban and a long white beard covering his chest. To the author, his grandfather didn’t seem like a man who could have a wife and children, but someone who could have lots of grandchildren. His grandmother used to move around the house in ‘Spotless White’ with her one hand resting on her waist and her other hand counting the beads of her rosary.
  • 5. In the initial days, the author and his grandmother had a good relationship. She used to wake him up and get him ready for school. She used to pack the things required (wooden slate etc.)by him for the day and walked him to school everyday. She used to visit the temple that was attached to the school. She had a routine of reading the scriptures. The author along with other children sat on the verandah singing alphabets and morning prayers. They both used to come back home together with stray dogs roaming around them as his grandmother would carry the stale chapattis to feed them Wooden slate
  • 6. Soon, the parents of the author who went to the city to settle in and called them. As they reached the city, his relationship with his grandmother took a turn. Though they shared the room, there bond grew apart. He started going to an English medium school, she no longer accompanied him to his school, and there were no longer stray dogs who roamed around them while walking back home. She, however, used to ask him about his day and what he had learned. She didn’t understand anything as everything was in another language which she could not understand. She didn’t approve of the new syllabus that he was studying because she thought that they did not teach him about God and the scriptures. They saw less of each other.
  • 7. As the days passed, he grew older and soon went to the university. He had his own room and this made their relationship sour. She stopped talking to everyone and spent her whole day sitting at her spinning wheel, reciting prayers and moving beads of the rosary with one hand. However, she loved feeding sparrows in the verandah at dawn. Breaking bread into pieces and feeding it to the birds was her daily routine. The birds would sit on her legs, her head, some even on the shoulders.
  • 8. Soon, the author decided to go abroad for further studies. She came to the railway station to leave him off. She was not sentimental, continuously recited her prayers, her mind lost in the prayers, and she kissed him on the forehead. After five years, as he returned home, she was there, came to pick him at the station, was still the same as she had been five years ago. She clasped him within her arms and didn’t say a word. She still used to feed her sparrows.
  • 9. One day, she didn’t recite her prayers but instead collected the women of the neighbourhood, got a drum and started singing. The next morning, she was ill with mild fever. The doctor said that there was nothing to worry about but she was sure that her end was near.
  • 10. She didn’t want to waste her time talking to anyone in the family anymore but spend her last hours in reciting her prayers laying on the bed. She died and so her body lay on the bed, lifeless. As they prepared for her funeral, they saw all the sparrows sitting in the verandah around her, mourning her death.
  • 11. THANKS FOR WATCHING I HOPE MY PRESENTATION WAS HELPFUL