what do you think is a pen-portrait? Has Khushwant singh been successful at drawing such as portrait in this chapter?
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Answer:
Title: The author, Khushwant Singh, describes his grandmother, painting a word-portrait for the reader. To him, with her pious, kind, understanding and caring persona, she is the true embodiment of the term, ‘lady’. According to the author, the grandmother may not have been pretty, but her inner beauty shone through her persona making her beautiful.
Grandson and grandmother: The grandson and his grandmother shared a close bond. Initially, the grandson stayed with his grandmother in the village. She took care of his daily needs and even accompanied him to school. She was pious and religious and hoped to pass on her faith to Khushwant as well.
Khushwant describes her as beautiful like the winter landscape in the mountains, serene and content. She might old and wrinkled but her spiritual aura, simplicity, calmness and general contentment with her life made her beautiful to Khushwant’s eyes.
When the grandson and grandmother moved to the city, they stayed in separate rooms and the grandmother no longer accompanied him to school. The distance grew further when she came to know that he was taught music, science and English in his school. She did not trust these subjects and was distressed that there was no teaching about God or scriptures.
Although the generation gap widened in the city, they still loved one another. She silently lent him support when he went to study abroad. Her death left a void in Khushwant even though he felt blessed for having had her as a part of his life.
The village school vs. the city school: The village school was attached to a temple and the grandmother-grandson duo would walk to reach it. The teacher was a priest and prayers were taught along with the alphabet. Rote learning, wooden slates lathered with yellow chalk, ink pots and ink pens were used to facilitate learning.
In the city school, the grandson travelled by a motor bus. The grandson learnt English, Science and Music. There was no teaching of God or the scriptures.
Prayers/Grandmother’s spirituality: The grandmother’s spiritual nature and devotion to the Almighty defines her personality. She prays daily and almost constantly. She wishes to pass on the same devotion into her grandson. The only day she did not pray was the day her grandson returned from abroad and the very next morning, she fell ill. She prayed from then up to the point of her death passing away with the same spiritual calmness on her face that she had possessed when alive.
The animals: The grandmother was a kind woman who often fed stray animals on her way back from the village school. In the city, there were no stray dogs but she spent some time every day feeding the sparrows on the verandah. These sparrows came to her even on the day she passed away and sat silently near her body. They took no notice of the food offered by Khushwant’s mother and flew away after a while. It was evident that they came to bid her a final good bye.
With them flying off and later, with the sweeping away of the bread crumbs, the poet indicates that with time, the pain of the loss would also be swept away and only sweet remembrance shall linger.