The Portrait of a Lady

Questions and Answers Short Answer Type

Question 2.
The grandmother has been portrayed as a very religious lady. What details in the story create this
impression?
Answer:
The author recalls his grandmother as a very religious woman. He remembers her hobbling about
the house, telling the beads of her rosary. He recalls her morning prayers and her reading
scriptures inside the temple. The author recounts how, during the last few days, she spent all her
time praying.

Question 3.
The grandmother had a divine beauty. How does the author bring it out?
Answer:
The grandmother was not pretty but had a divine beauty. She dressed in spotless white. Her
silver locks were scattered untidily over her pale, puckered face, and her lips constantly moved
in an inaudible prayer. The author describes her “like the winter landscape in the mountains”a
personification of “serenity, breathing peace and contentment.”

Question 4.
What proofs do you find of friendship between the grandmother and grandson in the story?
Answer:
The grandmother and grandson were good friends. She got him ready and walked him to and
back from school. In the city, they shared a common bedroom. The author’s grandmother saw
him off, silently, but kissing him on his forehead, when he went abroad and celebrated his return
five years later.

Question 5.
The grandmother was a kind-hearted woman. Give examples in support of your answer.
Answer:
The grandmother was a kind-hearted woman. On her way back from school, she would feed the
village dogs with stale chapattis. In the city, when she could not move out, she took to feeding
sparrows that came and perched on her legs, shoulders, and head.
Question 6.
“This was the turning point in our friendship.” What was the turning point?
Answer:
The turning point in the friendship arrived when they shifted to the city. They saw less of each
other as she could neither accompany him to school, nor understand English. She did not believe
in science. She could not keep pace with the author’s modem education that he received in the
city school.

Question 7.
Draw a comparison between the author’s village school education and city school education.
Answer:
The village school was attached to a temple and the students were taught the alphabet and
morning prayers. The author and his grandmother walked to the school in the village. However,
in the city he went by the school bus. He was taught science and English but not taught about
god. He was also taught music.

Question 8.
What was the happiest moment of the day for the grandmother?
Answer:
The happiest moment of the day for the grandmother in the city was when she was feeding the
sparrows. They perched on her legs, shoulders, and head but she never shooed them away.

Question 9.
What was ‘the last sign’ of physical contact between the author and the grandmother? Why did
the author think that to be the last physical contact?
Answer:
The author was going abroad for five years. His grandmother kissed his forehead. He presumed
this as the last sign of physical contact between them. He feared that she would not survive till he
returned since he was going away for five years.

Question 10.
Everybody including the sparrows mourned the grandmother’s death. Elaborate.
Answer:
When the grandmother died, thousands of sparrows collected and sat in the courtyard. There was
no chirruping. When the author’s mother threw some breadcrumbs for them, they took no notice
of the breadcrumbs. They were full of grief at her death and flew away quietly after the
cremation.

Question 11.
Describe the author’s grandfather as he looked in his portrait.
Answer:
In the portrait, the grandfather was dressed in a big turban and loose-fitting clothes. His long
white beard covered the best part of his chest and he looked at least a hundred years old. He
looked grandfatherly to the author; someone who could never have been young.
Question 12.
How does the author describe his grandmother?
Answer:
The author describes his grandmother as short, old, fat and slightly bent. To him, she looked the
same for twenty years. It was difficult for him to imagine her young and pretty. But he found a
beauty in her old age, like the serene winter landscape.

Question 13.
How does the author react to the idea of the grandmother being young at a point of time and
playing games?
Answer:
The author could not conceive his grandmother as young and pretty, and playing games as a little
girl. To him, it was like one of the myths and fables she told him.

Question 14.
How did the grandmother prepare the author for going to school?
Answer:
The grandmother woke him up each morning, bathed him, dressed him and got him ready for
school. There after, she plastered his wooden slate, gave him breakfast and walked him to
school. While the author sat in the veranda learning the alphabet and morning prayers, the
grandmother sat inside the temple reading scriptures.

Question 15.
Why was the grandmother distressed by the education imparted in the city school?
Answer:
The grandmother disapproved of the author’s education in the English school; they were taught
science. She could not understand English and did not believe in science. It made her unhappy
that they were not taught about god. The music lessons in school made her unhappier as she felt
it was not meant for the gentle folk.

Question 16.
How did the grandmother react to the fact that the author was being given music lessons? Why?
Answer:
The grandson’s learning music in school made her unhappy as she felt it was not meant for the
gentle folk. For her, music had associations with beggars and harlots. She almost stopped
speaking to the author.

Question 17.
The grandmother’s reception and send off of her grandson were very touching. Comment.
Answer:
When the writer went abroad, the grandmother saw him off at the railway station, silently
praying and telling her beads, and she kissed his forehead. When he returned, she expressed her
joy by collecting women from the neighbourhood, beating the drum and singing for hours of the
homecoming of warriors. For the first time she missed her prayers.
Question 18.
When the grandmother was taken ill, how were her views different from the doctor’s?
Answer:
When the grandmother was taken ill, the doctor felt it was mild fever and would go. But the
grandmother thought differently. She felt her end was near. She refused to waste any more time
talking instead of spending it in prayers as she sensed that only a few hours remained before her
life came to an end.

Question 19.
When people are pious and good, even nature mourns their death. Justify.
Answer:
When the grandmother died, the sparrows, along with the writer’s family, mourned her death.
Thousands of sparrows came and sat quietly all around her dead body. The writer’s mother threw
breadcrumbs but the sparrows took no notice of them. After her cremation they flew without
touching the crumbs.

Question 20.
How did the grandmother spend her day in the city?
Answer:
The grandmother spent her day from sunrise to sunset at her spinning wheel. She sat spinning
and reciting her prayers. It was only in the afternoon that she relaxed for a while to feed the
sparrows.

The Portrait of a Lady Extra Questions and Answers Long Answer Type
Question 1.
Elaborate on the beautiful bond of love and friendship between the author and his grandmother.
Answer:
When the author was still young, his parents left for the city leaving him to the care of his
grandmother. They were good friends. She woke him up each morning, bathed him, dressed him,
plastered his wooden slate, gave him breakfast and walked him to school. While he sat in the
veranda learning, the grandmother sat inside the temple reading scriptures.

When they settled in the city, they shared a common bedroom. When the writer was going
abroad, she went to the railway station to see him off but did not speak a word, only kissed his
forehead. The writer cherished this as their last physical contact as he was going away for five
years. But his grandmother was there to receive him back. In the evening, she collected women
from the neighbourhood and beat the drum and sang for hours of the homecoming of the
warriors. For the first time she missed her prayers.