Khushwant Singh was an Indian writer known for works like "The Sikhs" and serving as editor for publications like the Illustrated Weekly of India. He spent his childhood in Hadali and Delhi with his prosperous Sikh family. "The Portrait of a Lady" describes Singh's childhood relationship with his grandmother, from the loving bond they shared in their village to growing apart as his education moved to the city. It depicts the daily life and religious practices of his grandmother, and how her quiet acceptance of loneliness reflected as their connection weakened over time. Singh recalls her final days, passing surrounded by sparrows after welcoming him home from abroad, marking both a bittersweet ending and reunion in their relationship through the stages

1. B.J.P.S Samiti’s
M.V.HERWADKAR ENGLISH MEDIUM HIGH SCHOOL
The portrait of a lady
Subject: English
Ppt by P.S.JOSHI 1

2. The Portrait of a Lady
By Khushwant Singh

3. 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 joHe 950. Singh’s literary output included such nonfiction books
as The Sikhs (1953), 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.

4. •The summary of this poem will brief you about the life of
the writer with his grandmother. All the beautiful and
emotional moments are present in this summary. The
summary will tell you about the beautiful relationship
that the writer had with his grandmother.
M.V.HERWADKAR ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOL 4
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

5. The portrait of a lady
M.V.HERWADKAR ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOL 5
• ‘The Portrait of a Lady’, is a real story of the writer’s
grandmother. The name of the writer is Kushwant Singh. His
grandmother was an old lady. The writer tells us the story of the
childhood that he had spent with his grandmother. The
writer has explained his relationship with his grandmother over
the years. He thinks about her daily activities and how she grew
as a character over time. He mentions her appearance, which
assists in creating a mental impression of her in the reader’s
mind.

6. 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.

7. • The writer recalls his Grandmother as short, healthy and slightly bent. Her
hairs were silver in colour and were scattered messily on her wrinkled
face. She used to walk around the whole house in white clothes. She kept
her one hand resting on her waist and the other hand was telling the
beads of her rosary.
• The writer thinks of her as not very pretty but constantly beautiful all the
time. He compares her calm face with the winter landscape. During their
lengthy stay in the village, Grandmother woke him up from the bed in the
early morning, plastered his wooden slate, organized his breakfast, and
sent him to the school. The temple was connected to the school. She sat
inside and studied the sacred texts while the children learned the
alphabet.
M.V.HERWADKAR ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOL 7

8. • On their way back to the home she used to give the stale chapattis to the street
dogs. A turning point in their beautiful relationship arrived when they went to
live in a city. Despite the fact that they shared a room, their relationship started
to grow apart. Now, the writer used to go to the city school on a school bus and
studied subjects like English, Physics, mathematics and many more subjects
that his grandmother could not understand at all.
• His grandmother could no longer go to school with him to send him. She felt
upset that there was no teaching about God and scriptures at the city school.
Instead, he was given music lessons, but she said nothing. She thought music
was dreadful. It was just good for prostitutes and beggars, according to her. It
was not intended for gentlemen.
M.V.HERWADKAR ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOL 8

9. When the writer went to a university, he got a separate room in his
house. The common link of the relationship between the
grandson and the grandmother was broken now. Grandmother
rarely talked to anyone in the house now. The writer’s
grandmother quietly accepted her loneliness. She was constantly
occupied with her spinning wheel and reciting prayers and she
hardly ever spoke to anyone. She took a break in the afternoon.
Her daily routine consisted of breaking bread into pieces and
giving it to the birds. The birds would perch on her legs, head, and
even her shoulders.
M.V.HERWADKAR ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOL 9

10. When the writer was leaving on a trip abroad for his further studies,
his grandmother did not get disturbed at all. Rather she went to the
train station to say goodbye, but she didn’t say anything and merely
kissed his forehead. Her lips were moving in prayer, her thoughts
were consumed by prayer and her fingers were busy reciting the
storey of the beads on her rosary. Seeing her grandmother at this
old age, the writer was thinking that it might be his last meeting
with his grandmother. But when he came back home after a
duration of 5 years, his grandmother was there to welcome him
back and he saw her celebrate his return.
M.V.HERWADKAR ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOL 10

11. • The next morning after the return of his grandson she got ill. Although the
doctor told them that it was a slight fever and would go away very soon,
still she could foresee that her time to leave this world was near. She did
not want to waste her time talking to someone. Her fingers were busy
reciting the storey of the beads on her rosary.
• She went to her bed praying and telling the beads till her lips stopped
moving and the rosary fell down from her lifeless hand. Her body was
discovered on the floor, wrapped in a red shawl after she died. To grieve
her death, thousands of sparrows flew in and sat dispersed around her
body. All the sparrows flew away without making any noise when the
dead body of the old lady was carried away for the last rites.
M.V.HERWADKAR ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOL 11

12. •Conclusion of The Portrait of a Lady
•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 grand
M.V.HERWADKAR ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOL 12

13. • The Theme of the story
• The themes can be interpreted as spanning many stages of the
author’s life. During childhood, the key themes were seen to
be innocence, admiration, and love between a grandmother and
her grandson. During the author’s stay in the city, however, the two
were linked by themes of separation and unfamiliarity. Finally,
following his return from abroad, the dominant subject appears to
be a sense of reunion as well as a bittersweet ending.
M.V.HERWADKAR ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOL 13

14. 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

15. 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

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