The portrait of a lady(khushwant singh) class 11th chapter 2 Question Answers

The Portrait of a lady

Class-11th

Lesson-2

Short Questions/Answers

The portrait of a lady(khushwant singh) class 11th chapter 2 Question Answers 

Q1.Whose Portrait hung above the mantelpiece in the drawing room?

Ans. it was the portrait of the authors grandfather that thing above the mantelpiece in the drawing room. He wore a big turban and loose fitting clothes. He had a long white beard. He looked at least years old.

Q2. What according to the author was absurd and undignified on Grandmother's part?

Ans. Grandmother often described the games she used to play in her childhood. It seemed to the author absurd and undignified on her part it was so because as a child the author could not imagine that her grandmother who was so old could ever have been young and pretty.

 Q3. She would say her prayer in a monotonous singing?

Ans. she did so with the hope that the author would listen and get to know it by heart.

Q4. What did they have for breakfast?

Ans. For breakfast, they used to have thick stale Chapatti with Some butter and sugar spread on them.

Q5. Why did Grandmother always go to school with the author?

Ans. Grandmother always went to school with the author because the school was attached to the village temple while the author studied in the school, Grandmother would read the Scriptures in the temple. After the school, grandmother and author would come back home together.

Q6. The children in the village school were taught the alphabet. Did grandmother know the alphabet?

Ans. yes, she know the alphabet she used to read the scriptures in the village temple.

Q7. How did they feed the village dog while returning home?

Ans. Every day in the morning before taking the author to school, Grandmother would pack several stale chapattis for the village dogs. And while returning home after the school, she and the author would feed the village dogs with those chapattis.

Q8. That was turning point in our friendship? What happened to the friendship?

Ans. In village, grandmother used to accompany the author to his school and helped him in his study also .but in the city she could neither accompany him to school not help in his study. Their friendship did not remain as intimate as it was in the village.

 Q9. How did the author go to school in the city?

Ans. In the city the school as very far from the author's home. So he will go to school in motor bus in the city.

Q10. Why was grandmother unhappy about the school education in the city?

Ans. In the city school, the children were taught lessons in science and music only. They were not given any religious education. They were not taught any holy books and prayers. That was the reason that grandmother was unhappy about the school education in the city.

Q11.  Why did she feel disturbed when the author announced that they were being given music Lesson's at school?

         Ans. According to her music had lewd associations - She Consider it the monopoly of harlots and beggars. She believed that music was not meant for gentle folk.so she was disturbed.

Q12. When was the common link friendship between the author and his grandmother broken?

Ans. The common link was broken when the author went to the university. He was given of his own room.

 Q13. What did Grandmother do from sunrise to sunset?

Ans. From Sunrise to sunset, she would sit by her wheel spinning and reciting prayers. She would rarely leave her spinning wheel to talk to anyone.

Q14 what took the place of the village dogs in Grandmother’s life in the city?

Ans. Sparrows took the place of the village dogs. She daily feed sparrows with bread crumbs very lovingly. They collected around her and she never shooed them away.

Q15. What could have been the cause of grandmother falling ill?

Ans. When author came back from abroad she celebrating it by collected the women of her neighbourhood, got a drum and started singing she overs tired herself in thumping the drum and singing. That was why she fell ill.

Q16. How did sparrows show (on the last day) that they had not come far the bread?

Ans. Grandmother was lying dead in her room. A large number of sparrows came and sat all around her. The author mother threw breadcrumbs to them but sparrow did not eat them. When the dead body was carried off far cremation, the sparrows also flew away in silence. It was clearly shows that they had not come for bread. 

Long Questions/answers

Q1. Give a brief pen- Portrait of grandmother. 

Ans. In this chapter “The portrait of Grandmother” the authors Khuswant Singh describe the real picture of his grands mother. He says that his grandmother was terribly old. Her face was criss-Cross of wrinkles. She was fat and had a little Stoop. She was so old that she couldn't have looked older. The author had lived with her for twenty years. She had always looked the same. It was difficult to imagine that she had ever been young and pretty but inspite of being so old, she looked very attractive she was dignified in her looks and habbits. She was fond of reading the scriptures also. In the morning she would wake him up to get ready for school. All the time she would keep saying her morning prayer so that the author would listen it and get to learn it by heart, she would spend whole day in the gurudwara of the village when the author was sent to an english school, she was unhappy because children were not given any religious education, there. It was because of her religious mature that she fed birds and animals. Her inner peace was also because of this she remained calm and showed no emotions when the author left for abroad for five years

          like all great persons of religion, she knew when her end was near Now she did not want to waste her little time in talking to anyone she kept saying prayers and telling the beads till her last breath. All this shows that, the authors grandmother was really a kind hearted and religious lady.

Q2. Write a brief note on Grandmothers relationshipwith the sparrow?

Ans. In the city, Grandmother used to feed sparrows daily with breadcrumbs. She took great delight in it she would feed the sparrows very lovingly.Hundreds of sparrows collected round her The Sparrows would come and sit on her legs, Shoulders and head also. But the old woman never shooed them away. The little birds too loved her. They seemed to enjoy her company. When Grandmother died the sparrows were full of grief. Thousands of sparrows came to the place where Grandmother lay dead. They were all very quiet. They did not chirp at all. The author’s mother threw some crumbs to them but they did not touch them even. They flew away Quietly when Grandmother's dead body was carried off for Cremation.

Q3. How would Grandmother prepare the author for school?

Ans. The author’s grandmother would wake him up in the morning to get him ready for school. She would bath him and dress him up for school. All the time she would keep saying her morning prayer. She would say her prayer in a monotonous sing-song. She did so with the hope that author would listen and get to learn it by heart. She would wash his wooden slate and plaster it with yellow chalk. She would tie a tiny earthen ink-pot and a reed pen in a bundle. Then she would give the author a thick stale chapatti to eat. She would spread on it some butter and sugar. Then after breakfast, she would hand the bundle to the author and walk him to school.

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