The document provides guidance on writing a character sketch of Khushwant Singh's grandmother from his story "Portrait of a Lady". It includes: 1) Differences between an essay on a person and a character sketch, noting that a character sketch is confined to how a character is portrayed. 2) A description of the grandmother's appearance, habits, and daily routines based on pictures from the story, showing her to be short, fat, wrinkled, pious, and kind to animals. 3) More details on her religious nature, fondness for her culture and grandson, and calm demeanor when he leaves for studies abroad.

1. PES/ENG/XI/027
• This is final file made Punjabi correction.
• Contact person for this script from SSA, Punjab team – Mrs Brar 9780107971.
• Word limit- 2275
CLASS: 10+1
TOPIC: CHARACTERSKETCH
PORTRAIT OF A LADY BY KHUSHWANT SINGH
ANCHOR 1-
Welcome to today’s lesson. Today, we will learn ‘how to write a character sketch’.
Do you know? What does a character sketch mean? The word character sketch
consists of two words – character and sketch .
VO & MO
Character means reputation
Bwv cirqr
MO & VO
Sketch means a portrait or a drawing.
VO
ryKw icqr Bwv cirqr icqrx - iksy ivAkqI dy cirqr bwry dsxw
Now you must be thinking that while writing an essay on a person you do the
same. But you will see the difference between the two.
VO &MO
DIFFERENCE BETWEEEN CHARACTER SKETCH
AND
AN ESSAY ON A PERSON
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• While writing an essay, we are free to use our own imagination about a
person.
VO
ieh lyK iLKx vWg hI hY pr lyK iv`c AsI AwpxI klpxw vrq skdy hW
MO & VO
• We talk about the good qualities of that person.
VO
AsIN ivAkqI bwry isrP cMgIAW g`LW krdy hW [
MO & VO
• While writing a character sketch, we are confined to the nature of the
character what the writer has portrayed in the story, novel or a play.
VO
pr cirqr icqrx ilKx ligAW AsIN pwqr dy suBwA bwry dsdy hW ijvyN lyKk
nyN khwxI ,nwvl jW nwtk iv`c icqirAw hY[
• Both good and bad aspects of a person are discussed. icqrq kIqy jw rhy
ivAkqI dy suBwA dy cMgy Aqy mwVy dovyN p`KW qy ivcwr kIqI jWdI
hY [
So while writing a character sketch we have to read the text. Now look at this
picture. (Pic. of grandmother on the screen)
ANCHOR
What do you see in the picture? Yes, an old lady. May be like somebody’s
grandmother. Do you love your grandmother? O’, sure. Some of you who are
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living in joint families must have experienced the cozy lap of your grandmother.
You can easily write about your grandmother. But the way khushwant Singh has
written about his own grandmother in ‘Portrait Of A Lady’ is amazing. He has
described about her appearance, habits, nature and day to day activities in such a
way that the reader finds her in front of him. So today we will discuss about
Khushwant Singh’s grandmother. We see two phases of his grandmother’s life.
The first phase is that when Khushwant Singh‘s family lives in a village. Just have a
look on these pictures.
Pictures
Description of Pictures--
Pic-1 –
• An old, short and fatty lady wearing white Punjabi suit, wrinkled face, grey
hair, with one hand telling the beads of a rosary and other resting on her
waist to balance her stoop.
Anchor
What does this picture tell us about the physique of the grandmother?
Let’s write.
• She is fat, short and slightly bent.
V.O
T[j w'Nh, S'N/ eZd dh ns/ eZ[M e[Zph j?,
• Her face is a criss- cross of wrinkles.
V.O
T[;d/ fujo/ s/ M[oVhnkA jB .
• Her grey hair usually remains scattered on her puckered face.
V.O
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T[;d/ ;c?d tkb fujo/ s/ c?b/ j'J/ jB .
• She can not walk strait so she hobbles with one hand on her waist to
balance her stoop.
• T[j f;ZXk Bjh ub ;edh fJ; bJh bzrVk e/ s[odh j? ns/ nkgD/ eZ[p Bz{
;zs[fbs oZyD bJh fJZe jZE ewo s/ oZydh j?.
• The other hand telling the beads of her rosary.
• T[;dk d{ik jZE wkbk d/ w'sh frDB Gkt f;woD ftZu o[ZfMnk ofjzdk j? .
Pic-2 -the grandmother getting her grandson ready for school.
Pic-3 the grandmother giving him breakfast of stale chapattis with sugar and
butter spread on them.
Pic-4 Grandmother handing over a wooden slate, earthen inkpot, and pen to
the grand son.
Children! What do you observe in these pictures? Let’s try to write them.
• The grand mother making her grand son ready for school.
• dkdh nkgD/ g'so/ Bz{ ;e{b bJh fsnko eodh j? .
• Giving him breakfast of stale chapaties.
• T[;Bz{ pk;hnkA o'NhnkA dk BkFsk fdZdh j? .
• Handing her grandson the all required things. It shows she is very
caring.
• T[j ;e{b ikD ;w/ T[;Bz{ ;kohnAk b'VhdhnkA t;skA cVkT[dh j? .fJ; s'
gsk brdk j? fe T[j T[;dk pj[s fXnkB oZydh j? .
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Pic-5 Grandmother accompanying him to the school with stale chapattis in her
hand and her lips moving.
Pic-6 Grandmother is sitting inside the temple, reading holy book. The writer is
sitting in a veranda with the other students in rows singing the alphabets and
prayers in a chorus.
Pic-7 The grandmother and the grandson leaving the school, throwing stale
chapattis to the dogs and the dogs are following them, growling and fighting
with each other for the chapattis.
ANCHOR 2-
Now let us try to write about the habits of the grandmother on the basis of
the pictures you have seen just now.
HABITS
( VO - You see in the picture grand mother is wearing white Punjabi suit. So
you can write about her dress also. She)
• Wears white spotless dress.
• T[j p/dkr ;c?d eZgV/ gkT[dh j? .
(You must have noticed that in every picture, her lips keep on moving. So you
can write)
• Her lips always move in inaudible prayers.
• T[;d/ p[Zb jw/FkA Bk ;[DB :'r gqkEBk ftZu fjZbd/ ofjzd/ jB .
( In the picture you see that the grand mother accompanying her grand son
to the school because the school is attached to a temple. So what does it
show about grand mother? )
• She is very religious; daily goes to the temple, reads holy books and tells
the beads of the rosary
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• T[j pj[s Xkofwe j?, jo o'I r[o{d[nko/ ikAdh j? T[E/ T[j r[o{ rzqE ;kfjp
gVQdh j? ns/ f;woB eodh j? .
(VO- While getting her grand son ready, she keeps on singing prayers in a
bit loud voice because)
• She also wishes that her grand son could learn prayers by heart.
• T[j nkgD g'so/ Bz{ fsnko eoB ;w/A Tuh nktki ftZu gkm eodh j? skA fe
T[;dk g'sok th T[;Bz{ :kd eo bt/ .
ROUTINUE
• Loves her grand son very much.
• T[j nkgD/ g'so/ Bz{ pj[s fgnko eodh j? .
• Accompanies her grand son to the school.
• T[;d/ Bkb ;e{b sZe ikAdh j? .
• Help him to get ready and also help him in his lessons.
• T[j T[;Bz{ fsnko eodh j? ns/ gVkQJh ftZu th wdd eodh j? .
(VO- It shows that she is)
• Very sincere and dutiful.
• T[j oj[s tckdko ns/ nkgD/ coi d/ gqsh u/szB j? .
(In the picture you must have noticed that the grand mother is feeding
chapaties to the village dog. So you can write that)
• She feeds the chapattis to village dogs. Therefore she is very kind to the
animals.
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• T[j fgzv d/ eZfsnkA Bz{ o'NhnkA ytkT[dh j? fJ; bJh s[;h efj ;ed/ j' fe T[j
ikBtokA gqsh pj[s fdnkb{ j? .
ANCHOR 3-
And now the scene shifts from village home to a city house.
Description of Character --
Character -- Khushwant Singh, a twelve years old boy wearing an English school
Uniform, going to school by the school bus
Description of Scene--
Scene – Khushwant singh comes back to home and the grandmother asked him
(Show conversation between these two characters)
Grandmother: Khushi! What did you do at school, today?
Khushwant: They taught us English and about Archimedes’ Principle.
Granny: Science and English! What else?
Khushwant: We had music and dance classes. I enjoyed very much.
Grandmother: The lowly things! Did they teach you anything about God?
Khushwant: No, granny.
Grandmother: Very bad!
ANCHOR 4-
So surely you have more knowledge about the grandmother. Let’s see.
When the grand son returns from the school she asks him what he has learnt
at school. So you will write that)
• She shows keen interest in the education and learning process of her grand
son.
• She is against Western culture and loves Indian culture.
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• She can not understand science so she has no interest in it.
(The reaction, she shows about the music in the animation clearly shows that)
• She hates music as she thinks it as the profession of the beggars and bad
character people.
(VO- She asks her grand son if he has been told about God at school. Clearly
shows that)
• She wants her grand son to be religious like her.
Now have a look on some more pictures.
Pictures
1. The grandmother is spinning on the spinning wheel (charkha) . (sound: looking
at the picture you can see the grandmother sitting by the wheel spinning and
reciting prayers. This was what she did from morning till evening)
2. At noon when she rests she feeds sparrows and hundreds of small birds sitting
on and around her. (sound: These were her happiest moments for her in the
entire day)
(VO-These pictures show that)
• Old age is no bar to work hard for her.
• p[Ykg/ d/ pkti{d th T[j ;ys fwjBs eodh j? .
• She remains busy in spinning, reciting prayers and feeding sparrows.
• T[j ;kok fdB uoyk eZsD, gkm eoB ns/ fuVhnkA Bz{ y[tkT[D ftZu w;s
ofjzdh j?
• She is very kind to animals.
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• T[j ikBtokA gqsh pj[s fdnkb{ j? .
ANCHOR 5-
Now let’s have a look at some more pictures.
Scene 1- Khushwant Singh is to leave for abroad in order to study in a University.
Grandmother with other family members comes to leave him at station. Without
showing any emotion her lips moved in prayer and she kissed writer’s forehead.
Scene 2- After five years, when the writer comes back collected the women of the
neighbourhood, got an old drum and started to sing of the home coming of
warriors.
Scene 3- Thousands of sparrows sat silently scattered around her corpse, as if
they were mourning her death. They took no notice of the bread crumbs and flew
away silently when the corpse was taken away for cremation.
ANCHOR 6-
Now let us try to write more about the grandmother:
(VO- You have seen her feeding dogs and sparrows. There you can write that she
is)
• Very kind to the dogs and sparrows.
When her grand son returns after completing his education, she sings the
songs which are sung at the retuning of victorious warriors. There fore you can
write that)
• She loves her culture, fond of singing and spinning.
• T[;Bz{ nkgDh ;fGnsk Bkb fgnko j? . T[;Bz{ rkT[D ns/ uoyk eZsD dk F"e
j? .
(VO- You see , she is very reserve at the time of the departure of her grand
son. She does not show any emotions. It shows that by nature she is very)
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• Calm and cool.
• T[j pj[s FkAs ;[Gkn tkbh j? .
• Does not show resentment.
• fe; dk fto'X BjhA eodh .
• Instead, she becomes quiet.
• ;r' u[g ofjzdh j? .
(VO- Now, recall the scene of sparrows being fed by grand mother. Her
behavior with the little birds shows that)
• Not only that she loved the sparrows but they shared a mutual affection
towards each other.
• fuVhnkA Bz{ f;oc dkdh jh fgnko Bjh eodh ;r'A T[BkQA dk nkg;h fgnko
j? .a
ANCHOR
So children you have gathered a lot about the grand mother. Now you can write
in your own words. You may face the difficulty in understanding some new words.
Don’t worry I am here to help you. Here is a glossary to help you.
GLOSSARY
• Wrinkles- lines of aging on the face – M[oVhnkA
• Pretty- attractive and pleasant - ;[zdo, wBw'je
• Revolting- unpleasant, disgusting – wB Bz{ BkA uzrk bZrD tkbk
• Absurd- completely ridiculous - w{oysk tkbk ezw
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• Undignified- ungraceful - ;'Gk Bk d/D tkbk
• Fables- traditional short stories – otkfJsh ejkDhnkA
• Hobbled- to walk with difficulty – bzrVk e/ ubDk
• Stoop- Bent – eZ[p
• Rosary- String of beads used to count prayers - wkbk
• Puckered – wrinkled – M[oVhnkA tkbk
• Inaudible- That you can not hear – i' ;[fDnk Bk ik ;e/
• Prophets- messenger of God – gqwkswk dk ;zd/F
• Serenity- calmness - FkAsh
• Scriptures- holy books – Xkofwe g[;sekA
• Seclusion- being private – fe;/ Bkb e[M ;kAMk Bk eoBk
• Frivolous- silly and amusing – w{oykA tkbhnkAns/ jk;'jhDhnkA
• Sagging – bending down – fbcfbc eoBk
• Pallor- pale coloring – fgbZsD, ghbkgD
ANCHOR 7-
Well children now you can compile all the points and start writing the character
sketch of Khushwant Singh’s grand mother and we will meet in the next episode.
Till then keep on working hard.
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You can also do an activity to retain the character of the grand mother.
ACTIVITY
1. Read the lesson carefully.
2. Note the adjectives and verbs related to grand mother
3. Cut a picture of an old lady or you may draw yourself or take the help of
your friends.
4. Paste this picture in the center of a chart paper.
5. Write the adjectives selected by you on small strips of paper.
6. Paste these strips around the picture.
7. Now make simple sentences using the verbs and the adjectives.
8. Write them on bigger paper strips in bold hand and with different colors.
9. Paste these strips on another chart paper.
10. Now paste both the charts in you class room.
The script is frozen by Mrs Baljeet Brar on 23.07.09
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