Khushwant Singh’s grandmother has been portrayed as a very old lady. She was short statured, fat and slightly bent. Her face was wrinkled and she was always dressed in spotless white clothes. She was a deeply religious lady. Her lips were always moving in a silent prayer. She was always telling the beads of her…
The narrator and his grandmother had developed a unique relationship in the village. He was completely dependent on her. But soon, a turning point came in their relationship. His parents called them to the city. He went to an English school by bus. The grandmother’s role was now marginalized. She couldn’t accompany him to school…
The narrator’s grandmother was a true picture of love, affection and care. She had all those virtues which grandmother’s generally have for their grandsons. She was highly religious but a conservative lady. The grandmother presented a picture of peace and contentment. Her spotless white dress and her silver white hair gave her spiritual beauty. The…
Khushwant Singh’s grandmother was closely involved in bringing him up when the author lived with her in the village during his early life. She used to wake him up early in the morning. While bathing and dressing him, she sang her prayers, she hoped that the young boy would learn it by heart. She then…
Two instances that show the grandmother’s patience are:
In ‘The Portrait of a Lady’ Khushwant Singh draws a pen picture of his grandmother. He describes how he spent his childhood with her in the village. He also describes the changes that came in their relationship in the city.
When grandmother shifted to the city, she spent half an hour everyday feeding the sparrows. The birds became very friendly with her and came everyday in the verandah of her house. It was the happiest hour of the day. When she died after her short illness, hundreds of sparrows flew in the verandah and sat…
The sparrows joined the mourning along with other family members. They sat in hundreds around her dead body. They didn’t chirp. Nor did they touch the crumbs of bread thrown to them. They flew away quietly when the dead body was carried off for cremation.
The sparrows expressed their grief at the death of the grandmother. They sat around her dead body mourning her death. They didn’t chirp. Nor did they touch the bread crumbs thrown to them by the narrator’s mother. They flew away quietly when the dead body was carried off.