Vision Institution

The Portrait of a Lady Short Question Answer

The Portrait of a Lady Short Question Answer

The Portrait of a Lady Short Question Answer

Short Question Answer of ‘The Portrait of a Lady Short Question Answer’

1. Why was it hard for the author to believe that his grandmother was once young and pretty ?

Ans . The author had always seen his grandmother as a very old woman. For the past twenty years he had seen her as an old lady with white hair and countless lines running across her face. Because his first impression about his grandmother was one of being aged, it was hard for the author to believe that his grandmother was once young and pretty.

2. How does the author describe his grandfather ?

Ans. The portrait of Khushwant Singh’s grandfather was hung above the mantelpiece. He wore a big turban and loose – fitting clothes. His long white beard. covered the major part of his chest. He looked a hundred years old. To the author, he did not look the sort of person who would have a wife or children; he looked as if he could only have lots and lots of grandchildren.

3. Why could the grandmother not walk straight? How did she move around the house?

Ans. The grandmother was short, fat and her body was bent due to her age. She was forced to put a hand to her waist to support the stoop so she could not walk straight. So, she hobbled around the house while she was moving around just like a lame person.

4. What kind of bond did the author and the grandmother share in the village?

Ans . In the village, the grandmother woke the author up every morning and got him ready for school. She would bathe and dress him. She gave him breakfast, got him his slate and inkpot and then accompanied him to school. While he studied at school, grandmother used to read the scriptures in the temple. When the school was over, they would walk back home together and feed the village dogs on the way. Thus, they shared a very strong bond in the village.

5. What was the daily routine of the grandmother in the village?

Ans. The grandmother would wake up the narrator in the morning, bathe him and dress him for school before giving him breakfast. Then she would get his writing implements (slate with chalk, red pen and an inkpot) ready and give them to him. Then she would accompany him to school. While he was in the school, she used to read the scriptures in the temple next door to the school. Then she would accompany the narrator back home and spend the rest of the day with him.

6. What was the grandmother’s reaction towards education in the English school?

Ans. The author’s grandmother was unhappy as she could no longer help the narrator in his lessons. She didn’t know English words or about Western Science. She was hurt to know that there was no teaching of God and scriptures in the English school. She didn’t believe in the things that was taught in English school.

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7. Bring out the contrast between the school education in the village and in the city.

Ans. The education in the village school was vastly different from the education in the city school. In the village, the school was next to the temple and the priest himself was the teacher. He taught them the alphabet and the morning prayey. But in the city school, there was no teaching of God or the scriptures. English and science along with music were taught in the city school.

8. Which moment of the day used to be the happiest for the grandmother in the city?

Ans.The happiest hour for the author’s grandmother was the half – hour during which she fed the sparrows by throwing little bits of breads at them. For the rest of the day, she spent her time spinning the wheel and reciting prayers as she felt lonely after the author became engrossed in his studies.

9. Describe how the grandmother spent some time with the sparrows every day in the city house. How did she feel at that time?

Ans. The grandmother usually fed the sparrows in the afternoon by sitting in the verandah and breaking the pieces before throwing it to the gathered birds there, chirping noisily. Some even perched on her legs, shoulders and head. She felt very happy at this time. It was the happiest time of the day for her.

10. “I was sure my grandmother would be upset.” What was the author sure about? Was he right?”

Ans. When the author decided to go to abroad for further studies, he was sure that his grandmother would be upset. But she was not even sentimental. She went to bid him goodbye at the railway station. However, she didn’t talk or show any emotion. She was lost in prayer and her hands kept counting her beads.

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11. What was the last sign of physical contact between the author and his grandmother ? Why did the author think so?

Ans. When the author was going abroad for five years for higher studies, the grandmother went to leave him off at the railway station. He could tell that she was still reciting prayers. The grandmother then kissed his forehead lovingly. That kiss seemed to the author as the last sign of physical contact between them. He perhaps thought that the grandmother, being old, might not survive for five years.

12. How did the grandmother celebrate the homecoming of her grandson?

Ans. After five years, the author was coming home. The grandmother went to the railway station to receive him. She hugged him and he could hear her reciting prayers. After reaching home, she gathered the women of the neighbourhood. She got an old drum and started singing songs about the homecoming of warriors. That was the first time since the author had known her that she did not pray.

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13. Why did the grandmother stop talking before her death?

Ans. The old lady fell ill. She had a mild fever. The doctor told her that she would be all right soon. But the grandmother declared that her end was near. She did not pray that evening. She was not going to waste any more time talking to them and wanted to pray. That is why she stopped talking before her death.

14. The grandmother has been portrayed as a very religious lady. What details in the story create this impression?

Ans. The grandmother was a very religious lady. Her lips always moved in inaudible prayer. Her one hand was always busy counting the beads of her rosary. She also read scriptures at the village temple. When she knew her end was near, she lay peacefully in bed praying and counting her beads till death.

15. How did the grandmother die?

Ans. The grandmother realised that she was going to die soon. So she continued praying with her fingers busy in counting the beads of her rosary. She did not talk to anyone. After some time, her lips stopped moving. The rosary fell down from her fingers. Thus, she died a peaceful death.

16. How did the sparrows pay their homage to the dead grandmother?

Ans. The grandmother had died. Thousands of sparrows came and sat in the courtyard next to the grandmother’s body. They were totally silent. Even when the narrator’s mother threw some crumbs of bread to them, they did not eat them. When the grandmother’s body was carried off to be cremated, they flew away silently. Thus, the sparrows paid a silent homage to the grandmother.

17. Which act of kindness was done by his grandmother at the village ?

Ans. His grandmother used to feed the dogs with stale chapattis. This act of kindness was done by her at the village.

18. When did the author’s parents leave him in the village with his grandmother ?

Ans. They left the author with his grandmother in the village when they went to live in the city.

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19. When were the author and his grandmother called to the city?

Ans. When the author’s parents were comfortably settled in the city , they sent for him and his grandmother.

20. How did the author’s grandmother spend her time in the city?

Ans. From sunrise to sunset she sat by her spinning wheel and reciting prayers.

21. What was the song she sang with the women from the neighbourhood about the day before her death?

Ans. The song sung by grandmother the day before her death with the women from neighbourhood was about the ‘home – coming of warriors’.

22. What does the author compare his grandmother to?

Ans. The author compares his grandmother to a winter landscape in the mountains.

23. What did author’s grandmother do in her last time?

Ans. In her last moments of life his grandmother kept praying. She lay peacefully in her bed telling the beads of the rosary.

24. How did his grandmother celebrate the home – coming of the author from abroad?

Ans. His grandmother collected the women of the neighbourhood and sang the song home coming of warriors.

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25. What did the author see when he returned after making arrangements for the funeral?

Ans. He saw thousands of sparrows sitting scattered on the floor in the verandah and in her room right up to her shroud without chirping.

26. What happened when the author’s grandmother died ?

Ans. The rosary fell from her hand. A peaceful pallor spread on her face.

27. How did the sparrows mourn the death of author’s grandmother ?

Ans. The birds sat silently around her shroud, took no notice of the breadcrumb thrown to  them. They flew away quietly from there.

28. What did the author treat as fables of the Prophets? 

Ans. He treated all that his grandmother told about her childhood and the games she played then as fables of the prophets. 

29. How did the author’s grandmother look like ?

Ans. She was short and fat and slightly bent. Her face was a criss – cross of wrinkles running from everywhere to everywhere.

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