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class 11 English ch 1 The portrait of a lady extra questions

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class 11 English ch 1 The portrait of a lady extra questions

Question1. Why was it hard for the author to believe that the grandmother was once young and pretty?

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Solution: It was difficult for the author to believe that the grandmother was once young and pretty. In fact the thought was almost revolting. He had seen her old for the last 20 years. He felt she could age no further. The very thought of her playing games as a child seemed quite absurd and undignified.

Question2. The grandmother has been portrayed as a very religious lady. What details in the story create this impression ?

Solution: Th author recalls his grandmother as a very religious women. He remembers her hobbling about the house, telling the beads of her rosary. He recalls her morning prayers and her reading scriptures inside the temple, The author recounts how, during the last few days, she spent all her time praying.

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Question3. The grandmother has a divine beauty how does the author bring it out?

Solution: The grandmother was not pretty but had a divine beauty. she dressed in spotless white. Her silver locks were scattered untidily over her pale, puckered face, and her lips constantly moved in an inaudible prayer. The author describes her ” like the winter landscape in the mountains” a personification of “serenity” breathing peace and contentment.

Question4. What proofs do you find of friendship between the grandmother and the grandson in the story ?

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Solution: The grandmother and grandson were good friends. She got him ready and walked him to and back from school. In the city, they shared a common bedroom. The author’s grandmother saw him off silently, but kissing him on his forehead, when he went abroad and celebrated his return five years later.

class 11 English ch 1  The portrait of a lady extra questions
class 11 English ch 1 The portrait of a lady extra questions

Question5. The grandmother was a kind hearted woman. Give examples in support of your answer.

Solution: The grandmother was a kind hearted woman. On her way back from school, she would feed the village dogs with stale chapattis. In the city, when she could not move out, she took to feeding sparrows that came and perched on her legs, shoulder, and head.

Question6. “This was the turning point in our friendship.” What was the turning point.

Solution: The turning point in the friendship arrived when they shifted to the city. They saw less of each other as she could neither accompany him to school, nor believe in science. She could not keep pace with the author’s modern education that he received in the city school.

Question7. Draw a comparison between the author’s village school education and city school education.

Solution: The village school was attached to a temple and the students were taught the alphabet and morning prayers. The author and his grandmother walked to the school in the village. However, in the city he went by the school bus. He was taught science and English but not about god. He was also taught music.

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class 11 English ch 1 The portrait of a lady extra questions

Question8. What was the happiest moment of the day for the grandmother?

Solution: The happiest moment of the day for the grandmother in the city was when she was feeding the sparrows. They perched on her legs, shoulder, and head but she never shooed them away.

Question9. What was ‘ the last sign’ of physical contact between the author and the grandmother? Why did the author think that to be the last physical contact?

Solution: The author was going abroad for five years his grandmother kissed his forehead. He presumed this as the last sign of physical contact between them. He feared that she would not survive till he returned since he was going away for five years.

Question10. Everybody including the sparrows mourned the grandmother’s death. Elaborate.

Solution: When the grandmother died, thousands of sparrows collected and sat in her courtyard. There was no chirruping. When the author’s mother threw some breadcrumbs to them, they took no notice of the breadcrumbs. They were full of grief at her health and flew away quietly after the creation.

Question11. Describe the author’s grandmother as he looked in his portrait.

Solution: In the portrait, the grand mother was dressed in 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 looked grand fatherly to the author, someone who could never have been young.

Question12. How does the author describes his grandmother.

Solution: The author describes his grandmother as short, old, fat and slightly bent. To him, she looked the same for twenty years. It was difficult for him to imagine her young and pretty. But he found a beauty in her old age, like the serene winter landscape.

Question13. How does the author react to the idea of the grandmother being young at a point of time and playing games.

Solution: The author could not conceive his grandmother as young and pretty, and playing games as a little girl. To him, it was like one of the myths and fables she told him.

Question14. How did the grandmother prepare the author for going to school ?

Solution: The grandmother woke him up each morning, bathed him, dressed him and got him ready for school. There after, she plastered his wooden slate, give him breakfast and walked him to school. While the author sat in the veranda learning the alphabet and morning prayers, the grandmother sat inside the temple reading scriptures.

Question15. How did the grandmother react to the fact that the author was being given the music lesson? why?

Solution: The grandson’s learning music in school made her unhappy as she felt that it was not meant for the gentle folk. For her, music had association with beggars and harlots. She almost stopped speaking to the author.

Question16. When the grandmother was taken ill, how were her views different from the doctor’s ?

Solution: When the grandmother was taken ill, the doctor felt it was mild fever and would go. But the grandmother thought differently. She felt her end was near. She refused to waste any more time talking instead of spending it in prayers as se sensed that only a few hours remained before her like came to an end.

Question17. When people are pious and good, even nature mourns their death. justify

Solution: When the grandmother died, the sparrows, along with the writer’s family mourned her death. Thousands of sparrows came and sat quietly all around her death body. The writer’s mother threw breadcrumbs but the sparrows took no notice of them. After her cremation they flew without touching the breadcrumbs.

Question18. Elaborate on the beautiful bond of love and friendship between the author and his grandmother.

Solution: When the author was young, his parents left for the city living him to the care of his grandmother. They were good friends. She woke up him each morning, bathed him, dressed him, plastered his wooden slate, gave him the breakfast and walked him to school.

While he sat in veranda learning, the grandmother sat inside the temple reading scriptures. When they settled in the city, they shared a common bedroom.

When the writer was going abroad, she went to the railway station to see him off but did not speak a word, only kissed his forehead. The writer cherished this as their last physical contact as he was going away for five years. But his grandmother was there to receive him back.

In the evening, she collected women from his neighborhood and beat the drum and ang for hours of the homecoming of the warriors. For the first time she missed her prayer.

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Class 11 biology ch 18 Body fluid and circulation notes

class 11 English ch 1 The portrait of a lady extra questions

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