Chapter 1 – The Portrait of a Lady Questions and Answers: NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English (Hornbill Prose)

Question 1.
The three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he left the country to study abroad.

Answer:
The author’s grandmother was an extremely old lady with puckered face. The author enjoyed about twenty year’s association with her. But during this period his relationship did not remain exactly the same. The initial and first phase of their relationship was when the author was living with her in the village. The relation was most cordial at that time. Rather they were good friends. She always used to accompany the author to his school. She used to get him ready for school.
She would bring his wooden slate, earthen inkpot and a red pen. She would tie them in a bundle and hand it to him. She would serve him breakfast of a thick stale chapatti with a little butter and sugar spread on it. The second phase of their relationship was when the author’s parents called them to the city.

That was a turning point in their friendship. Though they shared the same room, his grandmother no longer came to school with him. The author went to an English school in a motor bus. There were no dogs in the streets. So she took to feeding sparrows in the courtyard of their city house. Gradually they started seeing less and less of each other.
For some time, the author’s grandmother continued to wake him up to get ready for school. She silently disapproved his schooling and particularly when he started learning music lessons in school. She was distressed that there was no teaching about God and the scriptures. She rarely talked to the author thereafter.
The third phase of their relationship started when the author went up to university. He was given a room of his own. The common link of friendship had been snapped. She felt secluded and remained busy with her spinning-wheel, reciting prayers and feeding the sparrows.

Question 2.
Three reasons why the author’s grandmother was disturbed when he started going to the city school.

Answer:
To the grandmother city school seemed to be totally different from the village school. In the village she would get ready the author for school, serve him with breakfast and always accompanied him to school. But she could not identify at all with what was taught to him at school. So obviously she was disturbed. She was disturbed because she did not believe in the things they taught him at school.
The English words and ‘little things’ of western science and learning like the law of gravity, Archimedes’s principle and the world being round were beyond her comprehension. She felt unhappy because she could not help the author with his lessons.

Secondly, being an orthodox and God-fearing lady, she was distressed that in the city school there was no teaching about God and the holy scriptures. This made her deeply disturbed. But she was most disturbed when the author told her that he was being given music lessons. She was of the opinion that music was related to harlots and beggars only. It was not meant for gentle and civilized people. That is why she silently disapproved it. She nearly stopped talking to her grandson.

Question 3.
Three ways in which the author’s grandmother spent her days after he grew up.

Answer:
The author’s grandmother was an old, affectionate, orthodox and a deeply religious- minded graceful lady. While she was in the village, she would spend her days while looking after her grandson, reciting prayers and feeding the stray dogs. She used to get the author ready for the school. She used to accompany him to his school. She used to say her morning prayers in the hope that the author would learn it by heart.
She would serve him breakfast of a thick stale chapatti with a little butter and sugar spread on it. She would carry several chapattis to feed the village dogs on the way to school. The school was attached to a temple. The grandmother would sit inside the temple reading passages from religious books. Then she would come back to home alongwith her grandson. The dogs would accompany them fighting and growling for the bits of chapattis thrown to them.

When she came to the city, her activities became restricted. As the author went to school in a motor bus, she did not go to school with him. In the absence of dogs, she started feeding sparrows in the courtyard of their city house. She woke up her grandson initially for some time. But gradually she started talking rarely ’with her.
When the author went up to university, she remained secluded. From sunrise to sunset she sat by her wheel spinning and reciting prayers. Only in the afternoon she relaxed for a while to feed the sparrows. The sparrows would sit all over her body, but she never shoo’d them away. She rather enjoyed it.
While the author was going abroad, she came to see him off at the railway station. But her lips were moving in prayer and her mind was lost in prayer. Her fingers remained busy telling the beads of her rosary. While the author came back after five years, he found her reciting her prayers. On the first day of his arrival also her happiest moments were when she was feeding her sparrows.

Question 4.
The odd way in which the author’s grandmother behaved just before she died.

Answer:
The author’s grandmother was a God-fearing, orthodox and a religious-minded old lady. But a day before her death, a change came over her. She did not pray. Rather she broke her routine and collected the neighbouring women. She got an old dram and started to sing. For several hours she kept beating the dram She sang songs about the home coming of warriors. They had to persuade her to stop so that she might not overstrain herself. The odd thing was that it was for the first time that she did not pray.

Question 5.
The way in which the sparrows expressed their sorrow when the author’s grandmother died.

Answer:
When the gr andmother had left for her heavenly abode, her dead body was laid on the ground and covered with a red shroud. In the evening they went to her room with a crude stretcher to take her to be cremated. They had to stop half-way in the courtyard. All over the verandah and in her room right up to where she lay dead, thousands of sparrows sat scattered on the floor.
The sparrows were not chiruping at all. The author’s mother fetched some bread for them. She broke it into little crumbs, the way her grandmother used to do. She then threw the crumbs to them. But the sparrows took no notice of the bread. When the corpse was carried off, the sparrows flew away quietly. Next morning the sweeper swept bread crumbs into the dustbin. This is how the sparrows expressed their sorrow.
Talking about the text

Question 1.
The author’s grandmother was a religious person. What are the different ways in which we come to know this ?

Answer:
The renowned author Khushwant Singh gives us a very vivid and detailed account of his grandmother. According to her pen-picture portrayed by him, his grandmother was a deeply religious old lady. She hobbled about the house telling the beads of her rosary with one hand and constantly moving her lips in inaudible prayer. She used to sing her prayer, while bathing and dressing the author, in the hope that he too would learn it by heart.
In the village, she used to accompany him to his school. She did so because the school was attached to the temple. She used to sit in the temple praying as long as the school continued. She was shocked to know that there was no religious teaching about God and the scriptures at the city English School. According to her no education was meaningful if there were no teachings about God and the religious books.
While reading the lesson we find that there was hardly a moment when she stopped reciting prayer or telling the beads of her rosary. The only exception was that she did not pray on the day when her grandson came back after studying abroad. Only on that day she had been beating the dilapidated drum and sang songs about the home-coming of warriors. It was due to her religiousmindedness that she used to feed dogs in the village and sparrows in the city.
When she became aware that her end was near, she stopped talking to her family members. She devoted the rest of her last moments to prayers and telling the beads of her rosary. Only a truly religious minded person can be aware of his or her approaching death. So much so that she breathed her last praying and telling the beads of her rosary. It fell from her hands as soon as she left for her heavenly abode quite peacefully.

Question 2.
Describe the changing relationship between the author and his grandmother. Did their feelings for each other change ?

Answer:
The author Khushwant Singh’s grandmother was an extremely old lady with puckered face. She was kind-hearted and a deeply religious minded graceful lady. While portraying a pen-picture of her grandmother, the author also tells us about their changing relationships. In the village the author and his grandmother spent most of their time together. They were good friends. She would get him ready for the school, serve breakfast and accompanied him to the school. From school they would return together.
But their moying to the city proved to be a turning point in their friendship. Although they shared the same room, the grandmother no longer accompanied him to his school. This was because he used to go to his English school by motor bus. As the years passed they were seeing less of each other. For some time she continued to help him in getting ready for the school. But she became unhappy when she came to know that she could not identify with the lessons given to him in his school. She was unhappy because she could not help him in his lessons.
The grandmother was distressed to know that there was no teaching about God and scriptures in the city English school. She was deeply upset when the author told her one day that they were being given music lessons at the English. To her music had indecent association. She thought that it was meant for harlots and beggars. She silently disapproved of the music lessons. After that she rarely talked to the author, her grandson. The gap of friendship was further widened when the author went up to university and he was given a room of his own.
Thus the common link of friendship between them was snapped. She accepted her seclusion with resignation. She devoted most of her time to spinning wheel instead of talking to anyone. I don’t think their feelings for each other were ever changed. Though their feeling of friendship was curtailed, most probably due to the generation gap and changing attitudes, they definitely cared for each other.
Grandmother went to see the author off and came to receive him when he went and came back after studying from abroad. She kissed him on his forehead. He cherished the memory of that kiss, which he considered to be probably the last physical contact between them. She broke her routine of praying most probably to welcome her grandson who had come back home after achieving something. That is why I feel that their bond and feelings for each other remained till the grandmother went to her heavenly abode praying peacefully.

Question 3.
Would you agree that the author’s grandmother was a person strong in character ? If yes, give instances that show this.

Answer:
The author’s grandmother was an old, wrinkled, short, fat and slightly bent lady. She was a deeply religious-minded lady endowed with moral courage and convictions. Though she was not formally educated, she had firm belief about what was wrong and what was right. Though she had a deep regard and a strong bond and friendship with her grandson, she would disapprove of what she felt was wrong. She did not like the things which were taught at the English school. But instead of being a passive spectator, she would show her disapproval without any hesitation.
When she came to know that her grandson was being given music lessons, she showed her disapproval. She thought that music was meant for harlots and beggars. She was so displeased and disturbed that she rarely talked to her grandson, the author, thereafter. The author thought that when he decided to go abroad for further studies, her grandmother would be upset. But she was a strong-minded lady. But she remained firm and quite composed.
She was not even sentimental. She went to see him off at the railway station but did not talk or show any emotions. Her mind was lost in prayer, which gave her ample strength. When he came back after five years, she was there to receive him at the station. Then the way she faced her death showed what a strong minded woman she was. She was aware of her approaching end. But she never showed any signs of panic or fear. Rather she embraced the death calmly while praying peacefully. Thus we can say that the author’s grandmother was a person strong in character.

Question 4.
Have you known someone like the author’s grandmother ? Do you feel the same sense of loss with regard to someone whom you have loved and lost ?

Answer:
In our locality there was an old man who was known as “Bhagatji” by everyone. He was also deeply religious minded like the author’s grandmother. He always used to wear white kurta and dhoti. His wife had died when he was about thirty years old. Thereafter he did not marry. He devoted most of his time in prayers. For a living he used to sit at the shop of his younger brother selling ghee. He had no children of his own.
So, he loved children very much. In the evening, he would go to a pond and meditate for many hours. On his way back to home, he used to bring either dry fruit or such small eatables for distributing to the children of our street. As soon as the children saw him, they would loudly announce his corning and they would surrounded him. They would shout and jostle with each other to get ‘Prashad’ from Bhagat Ji. I was studying in sixth class when hp died. On that day nobody cooked food in their homes.
When he was taken for cremation, it seemed like a huge procession. Everybody from our street and most of the people from the city were there to pay homage to that great man. People were praising him for-his selfless social activities and for his limitless devotion to God. His fond memories will always be cherished in the minds of the people of our city.
Thinking about language

Question 1.
Which language do you think the author and his grandmother used while talking to each other ? ‘S

Answer:
The author and his grandmother must be talking in Punjabi, their mother tongue, -‘f

Question 2.
Which language do you use to talk to elderly relatives in your family ?

Answer:
I always speak to elderly relatives in my family in our mother tongue. Sometimes we talk in Hindi also.

Question 3.
How would you say ‘a dilapidated drum’ in your language ?

Answer:
In our language we use the expression ‘टूटा – फूटा ढोल’ for a dilapidated drum.

Question 4.
Can you think of a song or poem in your language that talks of homecoming ?

Answer:
Yes, I know a song in Punjabi which expresses the feelings of a wife when her husband, who is a soldier in army comes home. She says that my husband looks like a lion when he comes home after doing parade. Sometimes he speaks English and sometimes he tells, tales of war.
She says, “I feel shy to face him.” He asks me to sing and produces sound of a drum with his lips. He never rebukes or speaks ill with me. Only yesterday I have come from my parents’ home and today he asks me to go to a fair. Whenever, outwardly, I get angry, he threatens me that his vocation has ended and he is going back to join duty.”