The Portrait of a Lady by Khushwant Singh
Quick answer: The Portrait of a Lady by Khushwant Singh, CBSE Class 11 Hornbill chapter 1: summary with the ending, the grandmother's character, themes, word meanings and exam answers.
A short, stout, slightly bent old woman in spotless white walks a small boy to the village school each morning, feeding stale chapattis to street dogs on the way.
Khushwant Singh (1915 to 2014) opens Class 11 Hornbill with this sketch of his grandmother.
The chapter in brief
In the village the grandmother wakes the boy, plaits his hair and reads scriptures in the temple while he learns his alphabet in the attached school. In the city he takes a bus to an English school; she cannot help with lessons, dislikes that he learns no scripture, and is upset by his music lessons. When he gets a university room she withdraws to her spinning wheel, prayers and the sparrows she feeds each afternoon.
He spends five years abroad. She meets him unchanged and that evening, for the only time in her life, stops praying to celebrate, thumping a drum and singing of warriors coming home. Next morning she has a fever, says her end is near, refuses to talk, and dies telling her beads. Thousands of sparrows sit silently around her body, ignore the crumbs scattered for them, and fly away when she is carried out.
The people in it
One subject, one observer.
- The grandmother: devout, strong-willed, practical in her love.
- The narrator: grows away from her in stages and records the distance honestly.
- The grandfather: a portrait on the wall, turban and white beard.
- The sparrows: fed daily in the city, her last mourners.
Themes and meaning
Exam readings cover the generation gap opened by English education, village faith against city schooling, and old age lived with dignity. The sharper point is the drum: her one break from routine is joy, not grief, and Singh ties her death to that celebration and her own declared choice, so she goes on her own terms.
The craft: three settings, three objects
Three settings, each marked by one object, the slate, the bus, the spinning wheel, carry the change without argument. The turn comes late and quietly when prayer gives way to song, and the ending offers an image instead of a eulogy. Writers can borrow the repeated ritual whose absence becomes the loudest sentence.
For the exam
Quick material for Class 11 tests.
- Word meanings: mantelpiece, shelf above a fireplace; hobbled, walked unsteadily; monotonous, unchanging; harlots, prostitutes; seclusion, being kept apart; rebukes, scoldings.
- Character sketch of the grandmother in 60 words: A short, stout, slightly bent woman always in white, she is deeply religious, spending her hours in prayer, at the spinning wheel and feeding sparrows. Illiterate but wise, she raises her grandson with quiet care, disapproves of godless English schooling, never complains about growing distance, and dies as she lived, on her own terms, mourned by thousands of birds.
- Q: How did the relationship change? A: From daily companionship in the village to affection without shared activity in the city, then to separate rooms at university.
- Q: What did she do on the narrator's return? A: Gathered women, beat a drum and sang of warriors coming home, abandoning prayer for the only time; the strain brought her final illness.
- Q: How did the sparrows behave after her death? A: Thousands sat silently around her body, refused the crumbs and flew away only when she was carried out.
- Summary in 100 words: The narrator recalls his grandmother as always old and beautiful. In the village she walks him to the temple school and feeds street dogs. In the city he attends an English school, and she disapproves of its lack of religious teaching and of music lessons. When he gets a university room she withdraws to prayer, spinning and feeding sparrows. On his return from five years abroad she celebrates with a drum and songs, then falls ill, refuses to talk, and dies praying. Thousands of sparrows gather silently around her body and fly away without touching the bread crumbs offered to them.
What writers can take from this
- Name the three settings, village, city and university, and attach one object to each in a summary answer.
- Do not call the grandmother superstitious; the text shows disciplined religious routine, and examiners reward that distinction.
- Cite the sparrows and the untouched crumbs as the emotional climax, not the death itself.
- Writers, notice how Singh reports his own growing distance without excusing it; that honesty earns the ending.
- Describe a person only through what they do at the same hour every day, then let a change in that routine carry the plot.
Try it yourself
Write a memoir-style story about an elderly relative told in three settings, each marked by one object they carry or use. The narrator must grow away from them in each section, and the ending must show the person's absence through something small they used to do every day.
Questions
What is the theme of The Portrait of a Lady?
A bond between grandmother and grandson that changes shape as he moves from a village school to an English city school and then to university. It also contrasts traditional faith with modern education and shows old age lived with dignity and self-possession.
Why did the grandmother not pray on the evening of the narrator's return?
For the only time in her life she set prayer aside to celebrate, collecting the neighbourhood women and singing of the homecoming of warriors while thumping an old drum. The joy overstrained her, and she fell ill the following morning.
What happens at the end of The Portrait of a Lady?
The grandmother predicts her death, stops speaking to spend her last hours praying, and dies with her rosary slipping from her fingers. Thousands of sparrows sit silently around her body, ignore the bread crumbs offered to them and fly away when she is carried out.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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