The Portrait of a Lady

1. The Portrait of a Lady Khushwant Singh

2. Three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he went abroad In the village, the author was good friend with his grandmother. In the city, though they shared the same room but they saw less of each other. When author went to university, he got a separate room and they became more distant.

3. Three reasons why the author’s grandmother was disturbed with the city education She was unhappy to know about the concepts he was taught at school. She was distressed that there was no teaching about God and scriptures. She was very disturbed that he was given music lessons. She rarely talked to the author.

4. Three ways in which the author’s grandmother spent her days after he grew up 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. It used to be the happiest half-hour of the day for her.

5. The odd way in which the author’s grandmother behaved before she died A change came over her. She didn’t pray. She collected the women of the neighbourhood, got an old drum and started to sing of the home-coming of warriors. The author’s family had to persuade her to stop to avoid overstraining.

6. The way in which the sparrows expressed their sorrow when the author’s grandmother died Thousands of sparrows sat scattered all over the verandah and in her room where she lay dead. There was no chirruping. They didn’t eat the bread offered by the author’s mom and flew away quietly after her corpse was carried off.