The portrait of a lady, Prepared by P.B.


Lesson Questions & answers:
Understanding the text:

1. Mention the three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he left the country to study abroad.
Answer: The three phases of the author’s relationship with his grandmother before he left the country to study abroad are as follows:
1.In his childhood: In this stage, the author went to the village school with his grandmother. She readied him to go to school and looked after him entirely/totally.
2.In his Boyhood: In this stage, the author stayed with his grandmother. For some time, the grandmother continued to wake the author up and get him ready for school but she could not help him in his studies. Also, the author went to his English school by a motor bus without his grandmother.
3.In his Early youth: In this stage, the author went up to an University. He was given a room of his won. Then, their common like of friendship was snapped.

2.Three reasons why the author’s grandmother was disturbed when he started going to the city school/English School.
Ans: The Three reasons that the author’s grandmother was disturbed when he started going to the city school are as follows:
1.The grandmother did not like the English words, the western science and learning, the law of gravity and the other lessons which were taught in the English school.
2.She was unhappy that she could not help the author with his lessons.
3.She did not believe in the things/subjects/knowledges that the teachers taught at the English school, because there were no teaching about God and scriptures.
4.She was very disturbed when she heard about the music lesson. In her view, it was the monopoly of harlots and beggars which was not meant for gentlefolk.

3.Three ways in which the author’s grandmother spent her days after he grew up.
Ans:
The three ways in which the author’s grandmother spent her days after he grew up are as follows:
1.His grandmother accepted her seclusion/separate with resignation.
2.From sunrise to sunset, she sat by her  wheel spinning and was reciting prayers.
3.In the afternoon, she fed the sparrows bread for a while/just a half hour.

4.The odd way in which the author’s grandmother behaved just before she died.
Ans:
The odd ways in which the author’s grandmother behaved just before she died as follows:-
1. In the morning, she was taken ill of a mild fiver.
2. She taught the thing differently.
3. She told the poet and the other family members that her end was near.
4. She informed that she did not want to waste any more time talking to anyone.
5. She ignored her family’s request to stop about it.
5. After that, she laid peacefully in bed then she was praying and telling her beads.
6. After a moment, her lips stopped moving and the rosary fell from her lifeless fingers.
7. A peaceful pallor spread on her face and she was died.

5.The way in which the sparrows expressed their sorrow when the author’s grandmother died.
Ans:
On the day of the grandmother dead, all over the verandah and in her room right up to where she laid dead and stiff wrapped in the red shroud, thousands of sparrows sat scattered on the floor. There was no chirping. The poet and the other people felt sorry for the birds and the author’s mother fetched some bread for them. She broke it into little crumbs/pieces, the way his grandmother used to, and threw it to them. But, the sparrows took no notice of the bread. When they carried the grandmother’s corpse off, they flew away quietly. The next morning, the sweeper swept the bread crumbs into the dustbin.
Thus, the sparrows expressed their sorrows when the author’s grandmother died.

Additional most important questions & answers:
1.What did people say about the grandmother?
Ans: People said that the grandmother had once been young and pretty. Also, she had a husband.

2.Where did the portrait of the grandfather hang?
Ans:- The portrait of the grandfather was hung above the mantelpiece in the drawing room.


3.How does the poet describe his grandfather or his portrait?
Or write a few words about the author’s grandfather.
Ans:- The poet describes his grandfather as follows:
1.The portrait of the grandfather was hung above the mantelpiece in the drawing room.
2.He was a big turban and loose-fitting clothes.
3.His long, white beard covered the best part of his chest.
4.He looked at least a hundred years old.
5.He did not look the sort of person who would have a wife or children.
6.He looked as if he could only have lots and lots of grand children.

4.What did the grandmother often tell the poet?
Ans: The grandmother often told the poet of the games she used to play as a child.
Or: The grandmother often told the poet about the games which she used to play as a child.

5.How does the poet describe his grandmother?
Or: Write a few words about the grandmother.  Or: Sketch the character of the grandmother.
Ans: The poet describes his grandmother as follows:
1.She had always been short and fat also slightly bent.
2.Her face was a criss-cross of wrinkles which was running from everywhere to everywhere.
3.She was so terribly old that she could not have grow older. Also, she had stayed at the same age for twenty years.
4.She could never have been pretty but she was always beautiful.
5.She hobbled about the house in spotless white.
6.Her one hand was as resting on her waist to balance her stoop and another hand was telling the beads of her rosary.
7.Her silver locks were scattered untidily over her pale and puckered face.
8. Her lips constantly moved in inaudible prayer.
9.She/Her beautiful was like the winter landscape in the mountains, an expanse of pure white serenity breathing peace and contentment.
10.The poet and his grandmother were good friends.
                Thus, the poet describes about his grandmother.

6.How did the grandmother think about the music lessons:
Ans:  The grandmother was very disturbed when she heard about the music lesson. In her view, it was the monopoly of harlots and beggars which not meant for gentlefolk.

7.What was the name of the ill that the grandmother suffered?
Ans: The name of the ill was mild fever that the grandmother suffered.

8.How did the grandmother help the author for ready to school? (5 Marks)
Or: How did the grandmother ready the author for school ?
Ans: 1.The author and his grandmother were good friends.
2. She always used to wake him up in the morning and get him ready for school.
3.She bathed and dressed up the author.
4.Then, she readied the wooden slate with washed, and plastered with yellow chalk.
5.Besides it/Also, she tied a bundle of a tiny/small earthen ink-pot, a red pen and the slate.
6.After that, she provided the breakfast with a thick, stale chapatti with a little butter and sugar spread on it.
7.After the breakfast, the grandmother went to the village school with the author.
Thus her grandmother readied the author for school.

9.How many years did the author know the grandmother ?
Ans: The author knew the grandmother for twenty years.

10.What was hard to believe for the author ?
Ans: People said that the grandmother had once been young and pretty and had a husband. This was hard to believe for the author.

11.What did the grandfather wear ?
Ans: The grandfather wore a big turban and loose-fitting clothes.

12.  What did thing that the best part of the grandfather’s chest cover?
Ans: The best part of the grandfather’s chest was covered by the long-white beard.

13. What was the thought that was almost revolting?
Ans: As for the grandmother being young and pretty, the thought was almost revolting.

14.What did the thing that the author compared with his grandmother ?
Ans: The author compared the winter landscape of the mountains with his grandmother.

15. When and why did the grandmother say her morning prayer in a monotonous sing-song ?
Ans: When the grandmother bathed and dressed up the author then she said her morning prayer in a monotonous sing-song.
                She used it that the author would listen and get to know it by heart.

16.Why did the author hear the grandmother’s voice or the morning prayer ?
Ans: The author loved his grandmother’s voice, so the author heard the grandmother’s voice or the morning prayer.

17.What did the author take(eat) in the breakfast ?
Ans: The author ate/took a thick, stale chapatti with a little butter and sugar spread on it in the breakfast.

18.Why did the grandmother carry several stale chapattis with her to village school ?
Ans: The grandmother carried several chapattis with her for the village dogs to village school.

19.Why did the grandmother go to the village school with the author ?
Ans: The village school was attached to the temple, so the grandmother went to the village school with the author.

20.What were taught by the priest ?
Ans: The priest taught the alphabet and the morning prayer.

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