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The Portrait of a Lady by Khushwant Singh, Part One

The Portrait of a Lady
Khushwant Singh

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
AND FIRST FIVE PARAGRAPHS WITH WORD MEANINGS

About the author
Khushwant Sing is one of the greatest writers of modern India. He was born on 2nd February 1915 in Hadali,Pnnjab in Pakistan. He was a prolific writer and a versatile genius. He was a novelist, journalist, lawyer and a politician. He was brought up in Delhi. He went to St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and King’s College, London. He was known for his trenchant views on secularism. He is appreciated for his sense of humour and sarcasm. He was awarded with  Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan. This great Indian author died on 20th  March, 2014 in Delhi

PART ONE
PARAGRAPH 1
MY grandmother, like everybody’s grandmother, was an old
woman. She had been old and wrinkled for the twenty years
that I had known her. People said that she had once been
young and pretty and had even had a husband, but that was
hard to believe. My grandfather’s portrait hung above the
mantelpiece in the drawing room. He wore 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 did not look the sort of person who would have a wife or
children. He looked as if he could only have lots and lots of
grandchildren. As for my grandmother being young and pretty,
the thought was almost revolting. She often told us of the
games she used to play as a child. That seemed quite absurd
and undignified on her part and we treated it like the fables
of the Prophets she used to tell us.
Word meanings:
1.   mantelpiece                        a shelf above a fireplace
2.   best part of his chest                 almost the whole chest
3.   the thought was almost revolting            unbelievable
4.   fables                                    traditional short story that teaches moral
5.   Prophets                     persons sent by God who teache the messages of God

PARAGRAPH 2
She had always been short and fat and slightly bent. Her
face was a criss-cross of wrinkles running from everywhere to
everywhere. No, we were certain she had always been as we had known her. Old, so terribly old that she could not have grown older, and had stayed at the same age for twenty years. She could never have been pretty; but she was always beautiful. She hobbled about the house in spotless white with one hand resting on her waist to balance her stoop and the other telling the beads of her rosary. Her silver locks were scattered untidily over her pale, puckered face, and her lips constantly moved in inaudible prayer. Yes, she was beautiful. She was like the winter landscape in the mountains, an expanse of pure white serenity breathing peace and contentment.

Word meanings:
1.   criss-cross                    with many straight lines that cross each other
2.   hobbled                        walked with difficulty
3.   stoop                            bent
4.   telling the beads          saying the prayers
5.   rosary                          a string of beads used for counting while saying prayers
6.   silver locks                 grey hair
7.   scattered                     spared over
8.   puckered                     having small folds and lines
9.   She was like the winter landscape in the mountains, an expanse of pure white serenity          author’s grandmother was pure and pristine like a winter landscape in the mountain. She was calm and quiet.
10.                     contentment             satisfaction

PARAGRAPH 3
My grandmother and I were good friends. My parents left me
with her when they went to live in the city and we were constantly together. She used to wake me up in the morning and get me ready for school. She said her morning prayer in a monotonous sing-song while she bathed and dressed me in the hope that I would listen and get to know it by heart; I listened because I loved her voice but never bothered to learn it. Then she would fetch my wooden slate which she had already washed and plastered with yellow chalk, a tiny earthen ink-pot and a red pen, tie them all in a bundle and hand it to me. After a breakfast of a thick, stale chapatti with a little butter and sugar spread on it, we went to school. She carried several stale chapattis with her for the village dogs.

Word meanings:
1.   monotonous                       repetitious
2.   plastered                            covered
3.   stale                                   no longer fresh
4.   chapatti                              a type of flat round Asian bread

PARAGRAPH 4
My grandmother always went to school with me because the school was attached to the temple. The priest taught us the alphabet and the morning prayer. While the children sat in rows on either side of the verandah singing the alphabet or the prayer in a chorus, my grandmother sat inside reading the scriptures. When we had both finished, we would walk back together. This time the village dogs would meet us at the temple door. They followed us to our home growling and fighting with each other for the chapattis we threw to them.

Word meanings:     
1.   scriptures                   the holy book of a particular religion
2.   growling                    making low sound as in anger


PARAGRAPH 5
When my parents were comfortably settled in the city, they
sent for us. That was a turning-point in our friendship. Although we shared the same room, my grandmother no longer came to school with me. I used to go to an English school in a motor bus. There were no dogs in the streets and she took to feeding sparrows in the courtyard of our city house.

Word meaning:
1.   sent for                     asked someone to come
2.   turning-point            the time when an important change takes place
3.   took to                      began to do as a habit

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