to stay away from military blocs
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Ch 1 The Portrait of a lady
Summary of the Chapter
In this story, narrator is portraying the character of his grandmother. When narrator was a small kid, he observes his grandmother as a terribly old lady with wrinkles on her face. It was difficult of narrator to believe his grandmother was a young and beautiful lady once upon a time as said by people around him. She was fat and bent.
Narrator when he was a kid was staying with his grandmother as his parents went to live in the city. Narrator explains her as not pretty but beautiful by her grace. He explains her beauty as winters in landscape in the mountains. Then he explains his friendly relationship with his grandmother. His grandmother used to took her to the school. She herself used to study sculptures in the nearby temples till his school runs.
When his parents were well settled in the city, they sent for him and his grandmother to the city. In the city the narrator and his grandmother shared the same room but now she was not there to drop him to the school. She used to ask him about his syllabus and was not happy about it. He was studying modern science and English. She was unhappy because he was not taught about god and spirituality. She was also unhappy about his music classes as she found it not good for gentlemen.
After school when narrator went to University, he got his own room to study. So the grandmother felt alone but she accepted it and get used to with it. She spent these days by feeding small birds in verandah. This was used to be her best time spent in whole day. The narrator went abroad for further study. Grandmother was unhappy but she did not show any emotions and came to see off him at station. The narrator was not sure whether he would be able to see her after five years when he comeback because of his age.
But after five years he came, he was welcomed by her on station. In an evening she called nearby women and started singing songs with playing and old drum instead of praying. One day she fell ill and she told that her end is near. She died peacefully. She was cremated in a funeral. She was missed by even the sparrows that she used to feed.