The Portrait of a Lady describes the author Khushwant Singh's relationship with his grandmother over the course of many years. It details 3 phases - early dependence as a child, growing distance as he attended school in the city, and living independently as a university student. Throughout her life, the author's grandmother maintained religious practices, lovingly taking care of him as a child and feeding sparrows in her later years. She passed away peacefully reciting prayers, with the sparrows mourning her death in the verandah. The story provides a glimpse into the author's childhood, portrait of his devout grandmother, and evolution of their bond over time.

1. The Portrait of a Lady
By-Khushwant Singh
Name-Harsh Saini
Class-11th B
Session-2023-24 Name

2. About the Author:
Khushwant Singh was an Indian writer and journalist (1915 – 2014). He was
born in a prosperous Sikh family and spent his childhood in Hadali and Delhi,
where his father and grandfather were involved in building construction. After
he graduated (1934) from Government College, Lahore (now in Pakistan), he
studied law at King’s College, London (L.L.B., 1938), and at London’s Inner
Temple, where in 1938 he qualified as a barrister. He practiced law in Lahore
until the partition, when he moved to Delhi with his family, he joined the
Indian Foreign Service. Khushwant Singh began writing short fiction while
serving in diplomatic posts in London and Ottawa; his first story
collection, The Mark of Vishnu, and Other Stories, was published in London
in 1950. Singh’s literary output included such nonfiction books as The
Sikhs (1953), He served as editor of the Illustrated Weekly of India (1969–
78) and of the daily newspaper Hindustan Times (1980–83). He held a seat
(1980–86) in the Rajya Sabha (upper house of the parliament). Singh was
later conferred with the Padma Vibhushan in 2007.

3. Vocabulary
• Mantelpiece- a structure of wood, marble, or stone above and around a fireplace.
• Revolting – unpleasant
• Absurd – Illogical
• Criss- cross - a pattern of intersecting straight lines
• Hobbled – walked in an awkward way
• Stoop – bend one’s body forward
• Rosary- a string of beads for keeping count of number of chants made of a religious prayer
• Locks- hair
• Untidily - not neat
• Puckered – a face contract into wrinkles
• Serenity – the state of being peaceful and calm
• An expanse of pure white serenity - refers to the calm, relaxed and peaceful character of the
author’s grandmother

4. Vocabulary
 Lewd Association – Indecent or Obscene
 Harlots – Prostitutes
 Gentlefolk - People of noble birth
 A veritable bedlam of chirruping - refers to the noise and confusion caused by the chirruping of
the sparrows
 Frivolous – not having any serious purpose, light-hearted
 Rebuke - disapproval of something or someone
 frivolous rebukes - light hearted scolding
 Sagging – sinking downwards
 Dilapidated – in a state of despair or ruin
 Omitted - leave out or exclude something
 Crude – in a natural state, roughly made
 Blaze - a very large burning fire
 Shroud – a piece of cloth used to wrap a dead person

5. Introduction
The Portrait of a Lady gives us a picture of human relationship in
a joint family. It is a realistic account of how the grandparents
give all their time, attention and love to their grandchildren.
In this lesson, the author describes his relationship with his
grandmother over the years. He pens down her daily activities
and how she evolved as a character as time passed by. He
explains her appearance which helps create an image in the
reader’s mind. In other words, the story is the loving tribute
from a grandson to a grandmother.

6. Characters
 Grandmother-Khushwant singh’s grandmother is described as an
extremely religios person. She was a very kind lady. She was
short, fat and slightly bent.
 Khushwant Singh(the author)-He recounts his childhood days
and his relationship with his grandmother.

7. Summary
 The Portrait of a Lady’ is a descriptive story describing Khushwant Singh’s grandmother. He
describes his relationship with his grandmother in the story – The Portrait of Lady.He recalls his
grandmother as a short, old, slightly bent lady. He sketches the lady as not very pretty but
constantly beautiful throughout her life and the twenty years that the author had stayed with
her.She was healthy and lived a very long life. In the story, the author describes the 3 phases of
relationship in the story which include the time of complete dependence, the sharing of room, and
losing the common link of friendship by getting his privacy.Grandmother had an orthodox kinda
mentality and disapproved of Music lessons taught to the author in the school. Animal lover, theist,
and the formerly caring lady died out of very usual mild fever.She spent her last chapter chanting
the god’s name and praying. She ignored the protest done by the author and the author’s parents.
Finally, with a peaceful pallor spread on her face, she died.During the customary ceremony, before
the funeral, the corpse was lying in her room where 1000’s sparrows sat scattered on the floor,
very quiet. They showed their sorrow by taking no notice of the bread crumbs kept by the author’s
mother and flew away once the body was carried away and came back never again.

8. Gist
1. Life of the author in village with 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.

9. 2.Author’s early days in village with his Grandmother:
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 by him for the day and
accompanied 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.

10. 3.Turning point in the relationship
The parents of the author settled in the city and called them. As they reached,
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. She, however, used to ask
him about his day and what he had learned. She didn’t understand the
subjects that were taught in the school and also she could help him. She
didn’t approve of the new syllabus, especially the music lesson which was
being imparted to the child. She thought that they did not teach him about
God and the scriptures. They saw less of each other.

11. 4.Activities of the Grandmother when the author studied in
university:
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,
in afternoon she loved feeding sparrows in the verandah. Breaking bread
into pieces and feeding to the birds was he happiest half an hour of her
day. The birds would sit on her legs, her head, some even on the
shoulders.

12. 5.Author went abroad
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. When they came back home she still
used to feed the sparrows.

13. 6.Last phase of the Grandmother
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.

14. Useful Links
1. https://youtu.be/Ty8kgJnX7FY
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eQQT4AbOLw
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5j4Ibp98BI

15. Conslusion
 To sum up, in the portrait of a lady summary, the writer and
his grandmother had a beautiful bond between them and
loved each other a lot. The story tells us how beautiful a
relationship can become between a grandson and his
grandmother.

16. THANK YOU………..