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Here we are providing The Portrait of a Lady Important Extra Questions and Answers Class 11 English Hornbill, Extra Questions for Class 11 English was designed by subject expert teachers.

The Portrait of a Lady Important Extra Questions and Answers Class 11 English Hornbill

The Portrait of a Lady Extra Questions and Answers Short Answer Type

Question  1.
What generated the interest of the world in King Tut?
Answer:
King Tut was just a teenager when he died. He was the last heir of a powerful family that had ruled Egypt and its empire for centuries. Since the discovery of his tomb in 1922, the modem world wondered about what happened to him and wondered if he could have been murdered.

Question 2.
How did nature seem to echo the unnatural happening?
Answer:
As King Tut was taken from his resting place in the ancient Egyptian cemetery, dark-bellied clouds that had scudded across the desert sky all day, veiled the stars in grey. It seemed that the wind was angry and had roused the dust devils.

Question 3.
Why did the tourists throng to see Tut’s tomb? What was their reaction?
Answer:
The tourists came to pay their respects to King Tut. They admired the murals and Tut’s gilded face on his mummy-shaped outer coffin. They read from the guidebooks in whisper, or stood silently, pondering over Tut’s untimely death, dreading, lest the pharaoh’s curse befall those who disturbed him.

Question 4.
Who was Howard Carter? What did he find?
Answer:
Howard Carter was the British archaeologist who in 1922 discovered Tut’s tomb after years of unsuccessful search. He discovered the richest royal collection ever found that included stunning artifacts in gold that caused a sensation.

Question 5.
Tut was buried in March-April. How did Carter conclude this?
Answer:
On opening a coffin, Carter found a shroud decorated with garlands of willow and olive leaves, wild celery, lotus petals and cornflowers. Since these flowers grow in March or April, Carter concluded that the burial was in these months.

Question 6.
“When he finally reached the mummy, though, he ran into trouble.” Why was it so?
Answer:
When Carter tried to raise the mummy out of the coffin, he could not. The ritual resins had hardened, cementing Tut’s body to the bottom of his solid gold coffin. No amount of force could pull it out.

Question 7.
How did he decide to detach the mummy? Why?
Answer:
First Carter tried to loosen the resins with the heat of the sun. For several hours, he put the mummy outside in blazing sunshine that heated it to 149 degrees Fahrenheit but it was in vain. Then he decided to carve it out from beneath the limbs and trunk as there was no other way of raising the king’s remains.

Question 8.
What were the treasures found in the coffin? Why were they put there?
Answer:
King Tut’s coffin contained precious collars, inlaid necklaces and bracelets, rings, amulets, a ceremonial apron, sandals, sheaths for his fingers and toes, and his inner coffin and mask, all of which were made of pure gold. The royals, in King Tut’s time, hoped to take their riches along with them for their next life.

Question 9.
How has the viewpoint of archaeologists changed with the passage of time?
Answer:
The archaeologists, earlier, focussed on the treasures that the tomb would yield. The centre of attention, now, is more on the fascinating details of life and intriguing mysteries of death. Moreover, now they use more sophisticated tools, including medical technology.

Question 10.
What was the interesting fact about Tut that was brought to light in the late sixties?
Answer:
In 1968, more than forty years after Carter’s discovery, an anatomy professor X-rayed the mummy and revealed a startling fact: beneath the resin that caked his chest, his breast-bone and front ribs were missing.

Question 11.
Why was King Tut’s death a big event?
Answer:
King Tut’s demise was a big event as he was the last of his lineage and his funeral sounded the death rattle of a dynasty. Moreover, he died at the very young age of about eighteen.

Question 12.
What is known about Tut’s predecessor Amenhotep IV?
Answer:
Amenhotep IV, during his reign, promoted the worship of the Aten, the sun disk, and changed his own name to Akhenaten, or ‘servant of the Aten’, and moved the religious capital to the new city of Akhetaten. He outraged the country by attacking Amun, a major god, smashing his images and closing his temples.

Question 13.
What made a guard remark, ‘curse of the pharaoh’?
Answer:
When Tut’s body was taken out to be scanned and the million-dollar scanner had stopped functioning because of sand in a cooler fan, the guard jokingly remarked that the king had expressed his annoyance at being disturbed.

Question 14.
With King Tut was being finally laid to rest, nature was at rest too. Explain.
Answer:
When King Tut was finally laid to rest, the wind stopped blowing and was still, like death itself. Orion, the constellation that the ancient Egyptians knew as the soul of Osiris, the god of the afterlife, was sparkling. It seemed to be watching over the boy king.

Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues Extra Questions and Answers Long Answer Type

Question 1.
Nature echoed the unnatural happenings with King Tut’s body. Comment.
Answer:
To set to rest the modem world’s speculation about King Tut, the body was taken out of its resting place some 3,300 years later. He was required to undergo a CT scan to generate precise data for an accurate forensic reconstruction. As the body was taken out, raging wind began to blow which seemed to arouse the eerie devils of dust. Dark clouds gathered and appeared to shroud the stars in a grey-coloured coffin. When the body was put down for scan, the million-dollar scanner seemed to keep from functioning.

There was sand in a cooler fan. It was when he was finally laid to rest, that the winter air lay cold and still, like death itself, in this valley of the departed. Just above the entrance to Tut’s tomb stood Orion the constellation that the ancient Egyptians knew as the soul of Osiris, the god of the afterlife, supervising the young pharaoh returning to his rightful place.

Question 2.
“The mummy is in a very bad condition because of what Carter did in the 1920s.” What did Carter do and why?
Answer:
Howard Carter was the British archaeologist who in 1922 discovered Tut’s tomb. He searched its contents in haste. The tomb, which had stunning artefacts in gold, caused a sensation at the time of the discovery.

After months of carefully recording the treasures in the pharaoh’s coffin, Carter began investigating the three nested coffins. When he finally reached the mummy, he found that the ritual resins had hardened. Thus, Tut’s body was cemented to the bottom of his solid gold coffin. Carter set the mummy outside in blazing sun that heated it up to 149 degrees Fahrenheit, to no avail.

To prevent the thieves from ransacking, he chiselled the body free. To separate Tut from his embellishments, Carter’s men removed the mummy’s head and severed nearly every major joint.

Question 3.
Describe the changing attitudes of the archaeologists over a span of time.
Answer:
Archaeology has changed substantially in the intervening decades. It now focusses less on treasure and more on the interesting details of life and the intriguing mysteries of death. It also uses more sophisticated tools, including medical technology. In 1968, more than forty years after Carter’s discovery, an anatomy professor X-rayed the mummy and revealed a startling fact: beneath the resin that cakes King Titu’s chest, his breast bone and front ribs were missing.

Today, diagnostic imaging can be done with computed tomography, or CT, by which hundreds of X-rays in cross section are put together like slices of bread to create a three dimensional virtual body. It can even answer questions such as how a person died, and how old he was at the time of his death.

Question 4.
What are the facts that are known about King Tut’s lineage?
Answer:
Amenhotep III, Tut’s father or grandfather, was a powerful pharaoh who ruled for almost four decades at the height of the eighteenth dynasty’s golden age. His son Amenhotep IV succeeded him and initiated one of the strangest periods in the history of ancient Egypt. The new pharaoh promoted the worship of the Aten, the sun disk, changed his name to Akhenaten, or ‘servant of the Aten’, and moved the religious capital

from the old city of Thebes to the new city of Akhetaten, now known as Amama. He further shocked the country by attacking Amun, a major god, smashing his images and closing his temples. After Akhenaten’s death, a mysterious ruler named Smenkhkare appeared briefly and exited with hardly a trace. A very young Tutankhaten took the throne as the king, thereafter.

Here we are providing We’re Not Afraid to Die… If We Can All Be Together Important Extra Questions and Answers Class 11 English Hornbill, Extra Questions for Class 11 English was designed by subject expert teachers.

We’re Not Afraid to Die… If We Can All Be Together Important Extra Questions and Answers Class 11 English Hornbill

We’re Not Afraid to Die… If We Can All Be Together Extra Questions and Answers Short Answer Type

Question 1.
Who was the narrator? What adventurous task did he take on?
Answer:
The narrator was a thirty-seven-year-old businessman, who along with his family, set from Plymouth, England, on a round-the-world voyage like Captain James Cook had done 200 years earlier in a 30-ton wooden-hulled boat.

Question 2.
How did they prepare for this onerous task?
Answer:
For sixteen years, they spent all their leisure time improving their seafaring skills in British waters. They bought a boat, Wavewalker, a 23-metre, 30-ton wooden-hulled vessel that had been professionally built. They spent months fitting it out and testing it in the roughest weather that they could find.

Question 3.
How many people were there in the boat?
Answer:
The four of them the narrator, his wife Mary, son Jonathan, and daughter Suzanne sailed for 105,000 kilometres to the west coast of Africa to Cape Town. They took on two crewmen with them an American, Larry Vigil, and a Swiss, Herb Seigler, before settling sail on the southern Indian Ocean.

Question 4.
What was the first indicator of rough weather?
Answer:
On their second day out of Cape Town, they encountered strong winds. For the next few weeks, the gales blew continuously. The gales did not worry the narrator but the sizes of the waves were disturbing.

Question 5.
What ordeal awaited them on 2 January?
Answer:
After they celebrated Christmas, the weather changed for the worse. On the early morning of 2 January, the waves became huge. As the ship rose to the top of each wave, they could see the vast sea rolling towards them. The wind seemed to be howling.

Question 6.
What measures did they take to counter this ordeal?
Answer:
They dropped the storm jib and lashed a heavy mooring rope in a loop across the stem to slow the boat, and then double-lashed everything, went through their life-raft drill, attached lifelines, put on oilskins and life jackets.

Question 7.
What happened on the evening of 2 January?
Answer:
On the evening of 2 January there was a lull before the storm. As the sky grew dark, they heard a growing roar, and saw a massive cloud rising at the rear of the ship. To their dismay, it was a huge wave, almost twice the height of other waves, with a fearsome breaking top.

Question 8.
What happened when they tried to ride over the wave?
Answer:
When they tried to ride over the wave, there was a loud blast that shook the deck. Water gushed over the ship, the narrator’s head hit the wheel and he was thrown overboard into the water. He accepted his impending death, and while he was losing consciousness, he felt peaceful.

Question 9.
How did the narrator get back to the ship after having been thrown into the sea?
Answer:
After the narrator felt he was losing consciousness, his head suddenly popped out of the water. A few metres away, he saw Wavewalker, nearly overturned. Then, a wave threw it upright. He grabbed the guardrails and sailed through the air into Wavewalker’s main boom. The waves tossed him onto the deck like a rag doll.

Question 10.
How did they manage to throw out water from the ship?
Answer:
With the narrator’s wife, Mary, at the wheel, the narrator half-swam, half-crawled into the children’s cabin, where he found a hammer, screws and canvas, and struggled back on deck. He secured waterproof hatch covers across the wide-open holes. With Herb and Larry’s assistance, he managed to throw out the water.

Question 11.
What were the difficulties that they faced that night?
Answer:
The night was bitterly cold, and they were pumping water out of the ship, steering the ship and working the radio. Moreover, they were getting no replies to their calls for help, as they were in a remote comer of the world.

Question 12.
What injuries did Sue sustain? What does it reveal about her?
Answer:
Sue had bumped her head and there was a big bump above her eyes. She had two black eyes, and a deep cut on her arm. She showed remarkable maturity for a seven-year-old when she said that she didn’t want to worry them when her father was trying to save all of them.

Question 13.
After the water level receded, what was their next concern? What did they decide to do?
Answer:
Having survived fifteen hours since the wave hit, the narrator checked the charts and calculated that there were two small islands a few hundred kilometres to the east. One of them was lie Amsterdam. Knowing Wavewalker would not hold for much longer, they aimed to reach the island.

Question 14.
“But our respite was short-lived.” Why does the narrator say so?
Answer:
By 4 January, they ate their first meal in almost two days after pumping out most of the water. But their breather was short-lived. Soon after, black clouds gathered and the wind rose to 40 knots; the sea kept getting higher. The weather deteriorated and by dawn on 5 January, the situation turned hopeless, again.

Question 15.
What did Jon say that left the narrator speechless?
Answer:
When the narrator tried to comfort and reassure the children, Jon said that they were not afraid of dying if all four of them could be together. The narrator could find no words to respond, but he left the children’s cabin determined to fight the sea with everything he had.

Question 16.
What action did the narrator take, after having decided to fight the sea?
Answer:
To protect the weakened starboard side, he decided to heave to with the undamaged port hull facing the oncoming waves, using an improvised sea anchor of heavy nylon rope and two 22-litre plastic barrels of paraffin.

Question 17.
How did the narrator make his calculations to find out their position on 6 January?
Answer:
The Wavewalker rode out the storm and by the morning of 6 January, the narrator worked on wind speeds, changes of course, drift and current in an effort to calculate their position.

Question 18.
What instruction did the narrator give Larry? What did he expect?
Answer:
At about 2 p.m., the narrator asked Larry to steer a course of 185 degrees and said that if they were lucky, they would see the island at about 5 p.m. He was not optimistic himself so he went below, climbed on his bunk and slept off.

Question 19.
Why did the narrator feel that he was not the best captain? What was the surprise in store for him?
Answer:
When Jon called him the best daddy in the whole world and the best captain, the narrator was dejected for not being able to locate the island, so he refuted the statement. The truth was that the island was just in front of them.

Question 20.
Why did the narrator feel that it was the most beautiful island?
Answer:
The narrator saw lie Amsterdam. It was an unwelcoming piece of volcanic rock, with little vegetation, but to them it was the most beautiful island in the world because it held for them the hope of their survival.

We’re Not Afraid to Die… If We Can All Be Together Extra Questions and Answers Long Answer Type

Question 1.
The narrator and his wife had longed to sail. What did they do to accomplish their dream?
Answer:
The narrator and his wife had always dreamt of sailing. They wanted to do a round-the-world voyage like Captain James Cook had done 200 years earlier. For sixteen years they spent all their leisure time improving their seafaring skills in the British waters. They took a boat, Wavewalker, that was 23 metres, and weighed 30 ton. It had been professionally built and they spent months fitting it out and testing it in the roughest weather that they could find. Finally, in July 1976, the family set out to sail from Plymouth, England.

Question 2.
What were the troubles that they faced on the morning of 2 January? How did they counter nature’s wrath?
Answer:
When they reached the southern Indian Ocean, one of the world’s roughest seas, they began to encounter strong winds. Apart from the gales, the size of the waves was alarming. It was as high as the main mast. Things became worse on 2 January when the waves became huge. The ship rose to the top of each wave and they could see endless waves approaching them, and the screaming of the wind seemed horrifying to them. To slow the boat down, they dropped the storm jib and lashed a heavy mooring rope in a loop across the stem. Then they double-lashed everything, went through their life-raft drill, attached lifelines, donned oilskins and life jackets.

Question 3.
“The first indication of impending disaster came at about 6 p.m.” What was the warning? What was the disaster that followed?
Answer:
The first warning of the approaching disaster was the threatening stillness. The wind dropped, and the sky grew dark. Then with a roar, an enormous cloud seemed to come after the ship. It turned out to be a vertical wave, almost twice the height of the other waves, and had fearsome breaking crests. When they tried to move over it, a monstrous explosion shook the deck. Water broke over the ship, and the narrator’s head hit against the wheel and he was thrown into the sea. The narrator accepted his impending death, and felt he was losing consciousness. But soon, he was tossed back into the ship like a ‘rag doll’.

Question 4.
How did they deal with the water that had gushed into the ship?
Answer:
As Mary took control of the wheel, the narrator made his way towards the hatch. Larry and Herb were pumping out water frantically. He saw broken timbers hanging, the starboard side bulged inwards; clothes, crockery, charts, tin and toys sloshed about in deep water. So he struggled into the children’s cabin, found a hammer, screws and canvas, and laboured back on deck. He managed to stretch the canvas and secure waterproof hatch covers across the gaping holes.

Some water continued to stream below, but most of it was now being deflected over the side. The problems cropped up when the hand pumps started to block up with the fragments floating around the cabins and the electric pump short-circuited. The water level rose ominously. On the deck he missed the two spare hand pumps, forestay sail, jib, dinghies and the main anchor, which were pitched overboard. He found another electric pump and connected it to an out-pipe, and this worked.

Question 5.
Why were they desperate to look for an island? How did they manage?
Answer:
After having survived for fifteen hours since the wave hit, they knew that Wavewalker could not hold together long enough for them to reach Australia. The narrator checked the charts and calculated that there were two small islands a few hundred kilometres to the east. One of them, lie Amsterdam, was a French scientific base. But the waves had put the auxiliary engine out of action. To make matters worse, the weather continued to worsen. The wind finally eased, and the ship rode out the storm by the morning of 6 January.

The narrator deliberated on wind speeds, changes of course, drift and current in an effort to calculate their position. What he could determine was that they were somewhere in 150,000 kilometres of ocean looking for a 65 kilometre-wide island. About 2 p.m., he asked Larry to steer a course of 185 degrees. He expected to see the island at about 5 p.m., and eventually reached it by 6 p.m.

Question 6.
The children braved the situation more maturely than their years. Discuss.
Answer:
The children, certainly braved the situation more maturely than their years. Sue had her head hit and swollen, worryingly. She had two huge black eyes, and a deep cut on her arm. She did not make much of her injuries because she did not want to worry her father when he was trying to save them. Jon, the narrator’s six-year- old son, assured him that they were not afraid of dying if the family could all be together.

When Sue’s head injury worsened with her blackened eyes narrowed to slits, she held on to her spirit and gave the narrator a card with drawn caricatures of Mary and him with the words: ‘Here are some funny people. Did they make you laugh? I laughed a lot as well. ’ The underlying message of love and positive hope overwhelmed the narrator. He was touched with the thoughtfulness of a seven-year-old girl, who did not want her parents to worry about a head injury, and that of the boy who was not afraid to die.

Here we are providing The Portrait of a Lady Important Extra Questions and Answers Class 11 English Hornbill, Extra Questions for Class 11 English was designed by subject expert teachers.

The Portrait of a Lady Important Extra Questions and Answers Class 11 English Hornbill

The Portrait of a Lady Extra Questions and Answers Short Answer Type

Question 1.
Why was it hard for the author to believe that the grandmother was once young and pretty?
Answer:
It was difficult for the author to believe that his grandmother was once young and pretty. In fact, the thought was almost revolting. He had seen her old for the last twenty years. He felt she could age no further. The very thought of her playing games as a child seemed quite absurd and undignified.

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.

Question 2.
The grandmother was not pretty but beautiful. How?
Answer:
The grandmother was short, old, fat and slightly bent. For the last twenty years she looked the same and to the author she seemed too old to age further. It was difficult for him to imagine that she could have been young and pretty. But to him, she was beautiful in a pristine and peaceful way. He remembered her telling the beads of her rosary, untiringly.

Her silver locks lay scattered untidily over her pale, puckered face, and her lips constantly moved in an inaudible prayer. She was like the winter landscape in the mountains, serene and content.

Question 3.
Discuss the relevance of the title ‘The Portrait of a Lady’.
Answer:
Khushwant Singh draws a heart-warming pen-portrait of his grandmother whom he loved and admired. Though not pretty, she was beautiful to the author’s perception. Telling the beads of her rosary while her lips constantly moved in an inaudible prayer, she was like the winter landscape in the mountains serene and content. She shared a special relationship with the author.

She got him ready and walked him to and from school. White he sat in the veranda learning, his grandmother sat inside the temple reading scriptures. The writer recounts his memories of his grandmother when he went abroad and how on his return 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. She was a pious soul, who cared for the family, and even dogs and sparrows; her death was mourned by all including the sparrows. The writer, through his portrayal, makes the old lady endearing and unforgettable.

Question 4.
From a foster mother in the village to a lonely old lady in the city describe the grandmother’s journey through the later part of her life.
Answer:
When Khushwant Singh was still young, his parents left for the city leaving him to the care of his grandmother. They were good friends. His grandmother tended to him, got him ready and walked him to . school. While Khushwant Singh and the other children sat in the school’s veranda, learning, his grandmother sat inside the attached temple, reading scriptures.

In the city, their friendship underwent a change. The only thing that remained unchanged was their common bedroom. She could not accompany him to school as he went by the school bus. His grandmother did not understand or approve of his ‘city education’ and their communication deteriorated further. Later, when he went to the university, he got a separate room and this severed their bond further. She then 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.

Question 5.
Write a character sketch of the author’s grandmother using the following words: affectionate, caring, kind and benevolent, religious, a strong woman.
Answer:
The author’s grandmother was not pretty but to the author she was a beautiful woman an embodiment of serenity and contentment. She was a pious and a religious lady who was always telling beads of her rosary and her lips constantly moved in inaudible prayer. She was an affectionate and a caring woman. She shared a special relationship with the author.

She woke him up each morning, bathed him, dressed him, plastered his wooden slate, gave him breakfast and walked him to school. Her kindness and benevolence extended to the dogs and sparrows as well, whom she fed dutifully. She was a strong woman, who did not show any emotion when the author was going abroad but when he returned, she collected women from the neighbourhood and beat the drum and sang for hours of the homecoming of warriors.

Question 6.
The grandmother herself was not formally educated but was serious about the author’s education. How does the text support this?
Answer:
The grandmother was not formally educated but was serious about the author’s education. She could read the scriptures. She realized the value of education and did not let the author miss school. She woke him up each morning, bathed him, dressed him, plastered his wooden slate, gave him breakfast and walked him to school where he was taught the alphabet and morning prayers. While he sat in the veranda learning, the grandmother read her scriptures.

In the city, she could not accompany him to school as he went by the school bus. He was now in an English school, where they taught science. She could not understand English and did not believe in science. The fact that they were not taught about god made her unhappy. Khushwant Singh’s music lessons in school upset her over its lewd associations. She took an interest in the author’s education.

Question 7.
Gradually the author and the grandmother saw less of each other and their friendship was broken. Was the distancing deliberate or due to
the demands of the situation?
Answer:
When the author was a young boy, his parents shifted to the city leaving him with his grandmother. They were good friends. She was with him through the day and even accompanied him to and from school.

But when his parents had settled in the city, they sent for them. This proved to be a turning point in their friendship. The only thing that remained unchanged was their common bedroom. She could not accompany him to school as he went by the school bus. He was now in an English school, where they taught science.

She could not understand English and did not believe in science. The fact that they were not taught about god made her unhappy. His music lessons in school made her feel worse. But it was when he went to the university and got a separate room and that their ties were severed further. This was not deliberate, but the situations adversely affected their relationship.