The Portrait of a Lady & A Photograph — NCERT Solutions

The three phases of the author's relationship with his grandmother are:

Phase 1 — In the village (childhood):
The author and his grandmother shared a very close and intimate bond. She would wake him up, help him get ready for school, and accompany him to the village school. She would sit outside the classroom reading the scriptures while he studied. They were almost inseparable companions.

Phase 2 — In the city school:
When they moved to the city, the author went to an English-medium school by a motor bus. The grandmother could no longer accompany him. She was disturbed by the new curriculum — English, Western science, and the absence of religious teaching. The bond began to loosen, though she still spent time with him in the afternoons.

Phase 3 — At the university (living in the hostel):
When the author was given a room of his own in the university, the common link of their being together was snapped. They rarely met. The relationship became distant, though the grandmother never showed any bitterness. She spent her time spinning, praying, and feeding sparrows.

The three reasons why the author's grandmother was disturbed when he started going to the city school are:

1. No religious education: The city school did not teach the children about God or the scriptures. The grandmother believed that education without religious instruction was incomplete and morally wrong.

2. Teaching of music: The school taught music, which the grandmother considered unbecoming and improper. She associated music with 'nautch girls' and beggars, and felt it had no place in the education of respectable children.

3. No mention of God: The curriculum included English and Western science but made no mention of God. The grandmother felt that a school that did not teach children to pray or know God was doing them a disservice.

After the author grew up and moved to the university hostel, the grandmother spent her days in the following three ways:

1. Spinning the wheel (charkha): She sat by her spinning wheel most of the day, spinning quietly. This kept her occupied and gave her a sense of purpose.

2. Reciting prayers: She continuously recited prayers, moving her lips and telling the beads of her rosary. Prayer was the central activity of her daily life.

3. Feeding sparrows: Every afternoon she would sit in the verandah and feed hundreds of sparrows with bread crumbs. This became a ritual she deeply enjoyed, and the sparrows would throng around her.

Just before she died, the author's grandmother behaved in an unusual and unexpected way:

She stopped her prayers for the first time in her life. Instead of spending the evening in quiet prayer as was her lifelong habit, she gathered the women of the neighbourhood, got an old drum, and sang and beat the drum for hours together. She sang songs of the homecoming of warriors — loud, celebratory songs.

This was completely out of character for her, as she had always been a deeply religious and quiet woman who disapproved of music. The family felt this was odd behaviour, but she dismissed their protests. It was as if she was celebrating something — perhaps her own impending death, which she sensed was near. That night she quietly lay in bed, told her beads, and passed away peacefully.

The sparrows expressed their grief in a deeply moving and silent manner:

When the family came to take the grandmother's body for cremation in the evening, they found thousands of sparrows sitting scattered all over the verandah and in her room, right up to where her body lay wrapped in a red shroud.

What was most striking was the complete silence — there was no chirruping at all. The birds sat absolutely still and quiet, which was very unlike their usual noisy behaviour.

When the author's mother threw bread crumbs to them (the way the grandmother used to), the sparrows took no notice of the bread. They were not interested in food.

When the family carried the grandmother's body away, the sparrows flew away quietly. This silent, collective mourning was their way of paying tribute to the woman who had lovingly fed them every day.

The author's grandmother's deep religiosity is evident throughout the text in many ways:

1. Constant prayer: Her lips were always moving in silent prayer. She was perpetually telling the beads of her rosary, whether sitting, walking, or resting.

2. Accompanying the author to school: In the village, she would sit outside the classroom and read the scriptures while the author attended school. She turned even this routine into a religious activity.

3. Disapproval of non-religious education: She was deeply disturbed that the city school did not teach the children about God and the scriptures. This shows how central religion was to her idea of a good life.

4. Feeding sparrows as a religious act: Her daily ritual of feeding sparrows was not merely an act of kindness but also a form of devotion — a way of serving God's creatures.

5. Death while praying: Even on her deathbed, she lay peacefully telling her beads. Her rosary fell from her fingers only when she breathed her last — a deeply symbolic image of a life lived in prayer.

6. Disapproval of music: She considered music immoral and associated it with disreputable people, reflecting her conservative religious values.

The changing relationship:

The relationship between the author and his grandmother went through three distinct phases:

• In the village: Their bond was extremely close and warm. She woke him up, prepared him for school, walked with him to the village school, and waited for him outside. They were constant companions.

• In the city: The bond began to loosen. The author went to school by bus and the grandmother could not accompany him. She was disturbed by his new education. They still met in the afternoons, but the intimacy was reduced.

• At the university: When the author got his own room, the common link was broken. They rarely met. When he went abroad, they were separated for five years.

Did their feelings change?

The circumstances changed, but the feelings did not fundamentally change. The grandmother never showed resentment or bitterness. She accepted each phase with quiet dignity. When the author returned from abroad, she celebrated joyfully by singing and beating the drum. The author, too, always retained deep affection and respect for her. The emotional bond remained strong even when physical closeness was lost.

Yes, the author's grandmother was undoubtedly a person of strong character. The following instances demonstrate this:

1. Acceptance of change without bitterness: When the author moved to the city school and later to the university, she accepted the growing distance without complaint or self-pity. She adapted to each change with quiet strength.

2. Firm in her beliefs: She disapproved of music and the absence of religious education in the city school. She expressed her disapproval clearly, though she did not impose her views forcefully.

3. Self-reliance in old age: After the author moved to the hostel, she did not sit idle or feel sorry for herself. She kept herself meaningfully occupied with spinning, praying, and feeding sparrows.

4. Dignified farewell: Sensing that her end was near, she chose to spend her last evening celebrating (singing and beating the drum) rather than grieving. She then lay down peacefully, told her beads, and died without fuss or drama — a death as dignified as her life.

5. Refusal to be a burden: She never complained about loneliness or the changes in her life. Her strength lay in her silent acceptance and her deep inner life of prayer.

Note: This question requires a personal, subjective response. The following is a model answer that students may adapt.

Yes, many of us have known elderly relatives — grandparents, great-aunts or great-uncles — who, like the author's grandmother, were deeply religious, self-sufficient, and full of quiet love. They may not have expressed their affection in words, but their presence was a source of comfort and security.

The sense of loss described by the author is universal. When someone we love deeply passes away, we often feel a strange emptiness — not just grief, but the loss of a particular kind of warmth and familiarity that can never be replaced. The author's description of the sparrows sitting silently, refusing to eat, mirrors the way we ourselves sometimes feel — unable to go about our normal lives, struck silent by loss.

What makes such loss particularly poignant is that we often realise the depth of our love only after the person is gone. The author's quiet, understated account of his grandmother's death is more moving than any dramatic expression of grief could be.

The author and his grandmother most likely spoke in Punjabi (or their regional mother tongue). The story is set in a Punjabi household, and the grandmother was a traditional village woman who would not have been educated in English. The author, too, as a child in the village, would have communicated in his mother tongue. Even after he began learning English at the city school, their personal conversations at home would have continued in Punjabi, as that was the language of their shared emotional world.

Note: This is a personal response question. The following is a model answer.

I use my mother tongue (e.g., Hindi / Tamil / Bengali / Punjabi — as applicable to the student) to talk to elderly relatives in my family. Elderly members of the family are often more comfortable in their regional language, and conversations in the mother tongue feel more natural, warm, and intimate. Sometimes a mix of the mother tongue and Hindi is used, depending on the topic and the relative.

Note: This answer will vary by language. The following is a model answer in Hindi.

In Hindi, 'a dilapidated drum' can be said as:
$$\text{"एक टूटा-फूटा / जर्जर ढोल"}$$

• जर्जर (jarjar) means dilapidated, worn out, or in a state of decay.
• ढोल (dhol) means drum.

So the phrase would be: "एक जर्जर ढोल" or "एक टूटा-फूटा ढोल".

Note: This is a personal/creative response. The following is a model answer.

Yes, in Hindi literature and folk tradition, there are many songs and poems that celebrate homecoming. For example:

• "Aayo re Aayo re" — a folk song sung when a son or husband returns home after a long absence.
• In the context of the lesson itself, the grandmother sang songs of the homecoming of warriors ("ghar aane ki khushiyan") when the author returned from abroad.
• The famous Hindi poem "Ghar Wapsi" (Return Home) by various poets captures the joy and emotion of returning to one's roots.

Such songs and poems remind us that homecoming is a deeply emotional experience across all cultures — a reunion with one's roots, loved ones, and identity.

The correct matching is as follows:

Locating the phrases in the text:

1. 'to take to something' (to begin to do something as a habit):

In the text: "She took to feeding sparrows in the courtyard of our city house."

Here, 'took to feeding' means she began the habit of feeding sparrows regularly. It was not something she had always done, but something she adopted as a new daily routine after the author moved to the university and she had more time to herself.

2. 'to take ill' (to suddenly become ill):

In the text: "...when she was taken ill..." (referring to the evening before her death, when she developed a mild fever after her singing and celebration).

Here, 'taken ill' means she suddenly fell sick — she developed a fever, which the family did not take seriously at first, but which turned out to be the beginning of her final hours.

The words that refer to a manner of walking are:

$$\checkmark \text{ shuffle} \quad \checkmark \text{ stride} \quad \checkmark \text{ waddle} \quad \checkmark \text{ swagger} \quad \checkmark \text{ trudge}$$

Explanations:

• Shuffle — to walk by dragging one's feet along the ground without lifting them properly.
• Stride — to walk with long, decisive steps.
• Waddle — to walk with short steps, swaying from side to side (like a duck).
• Swagger — to walk in a very confident, arrogant manner, swinging the body.
• Trudge — to walk slowly and heavily, especially when tired or carrying a load.

Words that do NOT refer to walking:

• Haggle — to argue/bargain over a price.
• Ride — to travel on a vehicle or animal.
• Wriggle — to twist and turn the body (not specifically walking).
• Paddle — to walk or play in shallow water; also to row a boat.
• Slog — primarily means to work hard; though it can informally mean to walk with effort, it is not primarily a walking word.