The potrait of a lady kushwant saingh

1. TOPICOFTHE
LESSON
THE POTRAIT OF A LADY
Khushwant Singh

2. THEAUTHOR
 Khushwant Singh (born Khushal Singh, 2 February
1915 – 20 March 2014) was an Indian author, lawyer,
diplomat, journalist and politician.
 His experience in the 1947 Partition of India inspired
him to writeTrain to Pakistan in 1956 (made into
film in 1998), which became his most well-known
novel.
 Short stories of Khushwant Singh are,
 The Portrait of a Lady
 The Strain
 Success Mantra
 A Love Affair in London
 TheWog
 The Portrait of a Lady: Collected Stories (2013)

3. INTRODUCTION
 The 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.
 This terms can best relate the story, innocence,
friendship, love, connection, kindness,
selflessness, respect and acceptance.
 The image of the grandmother emerges from
the portrait of a lady is very religious. She
believes in teaching scriptures and about God
in school.

4. THEME
 As we grow up, various tasks and interests
attract our attention leaving us with little time
to realize that we might be the only interest of
someone in our family. If the birth of a
grandchild leading to boundless joy for
grandparents is a reality in every nook of the
world, it is also true that the grandchildren’s
attention will invariably be taken over by other
things pretty soon. We end up being so busy
that those silent steps the old ones take to
retreat from our lives are rarely noticed.
 This story is an attempt to celebrate those
childhood years spent with his grandmother.
 The unstoppable love by his grandmother has
no comparability.

5. PHRASES
USED IN
THE STORY
1. The thought was almost revolting – hard to
believe.
2. An expanse of pure white serenity – Calm or
peaceful state.
3. A turning point – A change (positive or negative).
4. Accepted her seclusion with resignation –
Accepting the loneliness without any complaints.
5. A veritable bedlam of chirrupings – A state of
confusion caused by bird’s sound.
6. Frivolous rebukes – Scolding in a silly manner.
7. The sagging skins of dilapidated drum –The poor
condition of the drum.

6. OUTER LOOK
OFGRANDMA
Terribly old.
Short, fat and slightly bent.
Had a wrinkled face.
She could never have been pretty but always
beautiful.
She wears white cloth in the home.
She keeps one hand on her waist to balance
herself.
She always keeps rosary in her other hand.
Her silver locks were scattered over her pale face.
Her prayers are inaudible and she pray within
herself.

7. BOND
BETWEEN
GRANDMAAND
NARRATOR
 Narrator and his grandmother were good friends.
Author’s parent left him with his grandmother and
went to the city in search of work.
 She used to wake him up early in the morning and
got him ready for the school. She bathed and
dressed him up and sing song while make him bath.
 She make ready of all the things that should be
carried by the narrator to the school.They are
wooden slate plastered with yellow chalk, Earthen
pot, red pen.
 She prepare his breakfast which was a thick stale
chapatti, with a little butter and sugar spread on it.
 She also carried some chapatti’s for the village dogs.

8. TEACHINGSOF
GRANDMA
 Grandma always went to school with the
narrator because the school was attached to
the temple.
 Narrator was taught with alphabets and prayer
songs by the priest, where his grandma sat
inside and reading the scriptures.
 After completing their session , the narrator
would walk back home along with his grandma
 There were waiters for them at the temple
door that is the village dogs which follow them
Until their home for the chapatti’s which where
thrown to them.
 Once their parent settled comfortably in the
city, they called both the narrator and the
grandma to the city.

9. TURNING
POINT
 Once the narrator was sent a letter to come the city, he
along with her grandma went to the city, which was a
big turning point In their life.
 The narrator is no longer went to school along with her
grandma. He travelled in a motor bus, no dogs in the
streets.
 After reaching to the city the only happiness for the
grandma is feeding the sparrows in the courtyard of her
city house.
 The bond between grandma and the narrator gradually
fallen off.
 For some time she wakes him up and made him ready
for the school, when the narrator came back from the
school, she would ask what was taught for him and felt
unhappy there were no teaching about God and
scriptures.

10. A HARD PART
OFTHEIR
LIFE.
 The author went to the university, where he was
given a room.The common link of friendship was
snapped and her grandma accepted her
loneliness with quite silence.
 Then after she rarely left her spinning wheel to
talk to anyone .She spent all her days Sitting on
the spinning wheel and reciting prayers .
 The moment when she sat in the verandah and
started breaking the bread into little pieces,
hundreds of little birds came to her and collected
the breads.This was the happiest half – hour of
the day for her.
 This was the time for the author to continue his
studies in abroad and with a compulsion that he
must leave her grandma all alone here.

11. NARRATORS
STUDIES IN
ABROAD.
 The narrator would be away for five years by
spending his time in his studies .
 Before leaving the city the narrator was at the
railway station where his grandma also
accompanying him.
 She was not even sentimental, she did not talk
or show any emotions.
 Her lips moved in prayer, her mind was lost in
prayer, her figures were busy with the beads of
her rosary and gave a silent kiss on narrator's
forehead, and kept her moist imprint on him,
which was known to be the last sign of
physical contact between them.
 After five years the narrator came back home
and was met her in the station, where she
clasped him in her arms and have not talk any
words but reciting her prayers.

12. GRANDMA’S
LAST MOMENTS
 In the evening a change came over her, she did not pray.
 She collected the women of the neighborhood and got an old
drum and started to sing. She sang the home-coming of warriors.
 This was the first time that the author noticed her grandma, that
she did not pray.
 The next morning she fell ill.
 She declare the her end was near.
 She continued praying and telling the beads of her rosary,
suddenly her lips stopped moving and rosary fell down and she
was no more.
 By the evening time, there came hundreds of sparrow sat near
her dead body and remained a still silence.
 The narrator’s mother broken some pieces of bread and threw to
them but they did not eaten it.
 When the dead body was taken out off the home, all the sparrows
flew away by not even eating a single piece of bread.

13. LEARNING
OUTCOMES
The true love is always strong and
powerful, it cannot be separated in any
moment.
Never hesitate the love you get from
others, because it’s a precious one which
should be respected.
God never gives his love to us directly but
through someone.

14. CONCLUSION
1. 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.
2. The story also puts light on the need of
companionship and friendship felt by our
elders. It also shows how love and emotion
is experienced not only by human beings
but animals and birds too.