The Portrait of a Lady

In this story, Khushwant Singh draws a pen picture of his grand mother. He
describes how he had spent his childhood with her in the village. He also
describes the change that came in the relationship in the city. Ultimately, he
describes the moving scene of her death.

Brief Summary
Khushwant Singh draws here an interesting portrait of his grandmother. He
presents her as a tender, loving and deeply religious old lady. Singh says that his
grandmother was an old woman. She was so old that her face was wrinkled that
at the present it was difficult to believe she would ever had been young and
pretty. Her hair was white as snow. She had a little stoop in her back. She could
be seeing reciting her rosary all the time. The author says that "she was like the
winter landscape in the mountains and exponce of pure white serenity breathing
peace and contentment."
A picture of author's grandfather was hung on the wall. He appeared too old and
it was that he ever had a wife. He appeared to have only lots and lots of
grandchildren. Singh was the only child at that time. His parents had gone to live
in the city leaving him behind the village under the care of his grandmother. She
would get him ready for school. And would also feed him with Chappathi. The
School as attached with a temple. All the children sat in the verandah reciting
alphabets while his grandmother is engaged reading holy scriptures. Finally in
the evening, the author and the grandmother would walk back home feeding the
dogs.
After a friendly relationship with his grandmother, he had to adopt a new life in
the city. This itself was a turning point for the grandmother and the grandson.
Both of them was sent for to settle down in the city with his parents. The author
went to an English school but the grandmother never liked the way he was
taught. Though Singh and his grandmother shared the same room, she was
unable to help him. Apart from this, she was also disappointed that he was
learning music that she considered not for gentlefolks. In due course, Singh went
up to a University and because of that, he was given a separate room. This indeed
made the common link of their relationship snapped down completely. The
grandmother agreed the fact and she used to spin the wheel from sunrise to
sunset to compensate that. Only during the afternoon she would relax by feeding
the sparrows with little pieces of bread. They were her best friends and the
sparrows also liked her company.
Later, Singh went up abroad for higher studies which was for 5 long years. He
had a doubt in his mind that whether his grandmother may survive or not until
he come back. His also taught that it might e the last physical contact between
them when she came in the railway station to see him off. After 5 years he came

back, incredibly he was welcomed y his grandmother who was not grown a single
day older. Singh notices that even at this time when everyone is joyful about his
return, grandmother's happiest moments was with her sparrows.
Later in the evening there was a change in her attitude. She celebrated the return
of her grandson y collecting some women of neighbourhood and beating drum for
several hours. But in the morning, grandmother's health deteriorates and she
reveals that she was nearing her end. So she decides that she is not going to waste
a single moment by talking so she prayed. Quite suddenly, the rosary falls from
her hand and she exhaled her last breath and it was clear that she was no more.
After making the preparations for the funeral, the family members went to fetch
her body for the last journey. The golden blaze of light of the setting sun glittered
her room. And to pay the last homage to the grandmother, thousands of sparrows
gathered in and around her room. The sparrows never did cheered nor did they
do anything normal. They don't even bother to notice the read pieces thrown at
them. Along with her funeral, the sparrows flew away.

A photograph
Short Synopsis

A photograph descries 3 stages. In the first stage, the photograph shows the
poet's mother standing at the each enjoying her holiday ith her two girl cousins.
She was 12 or so at that time. The second stage takes us twenty or thirty years
later. The motehr would laugh at the way she and her cousins Betty and Dolly
were dressed up for each holidays. In the third stage, the poet remembers the
mother with a heavy heart. The photograph revives a nostargic feeling in the
poet.
Brief Summary

The poet is looking at her mother's photograph which is indeed an old one. With
it she can see how her mother looked when she was a little girl of twelve. THe
photo shows her on a beach with her two girl cousins ho are younger than her,
holding her hand. It might have een windy at that time that their hair was flying
on their faces when the uncle took the photograph. All the three as smiling
through their flying hair. Looking at the photograph, the poet says that her
mother had a sweet face, but it was a time before the poet was born. The sea was
washing their feet. The poet says that the sea has changed only a little but change

has come about who's feet it was washing.

After 30 or 40 years, the mother would take out the photograph and take a look
at it. By that time, she was married and had a daughter. She would laugh a little
and says "Look at Betty and Dolly, see how they have dressed for the beach". By
now, she can only remember those days. A huge change has come about her and
she is no longer that small innocent girl of twelve.
After some years, the poet's mother dies. Now the poet remembers her mother's
laughter, for her it is a thing of past.
That's why she says "the sea holiday as her past and mine is her laughter".
Because just like the mother remembers her old days, now the poet can
rememer her in that way only. However in course of time, the two of them learnt
to live ith their losses. The pay of the losses had made a permanent impression
in their wry faces. The poet says that her mother had been dead and no she feels
herself in a situation that there is nothing to be said about but only emptiness.
The silence of this situation sileances her. In other words, she is left speechless.
The fate has killed all the feelings in her.

WE ARE NOT AFRAID TO DIE

The narrative describes how optimism, determination and strong will power raise ones
spirits and help us overcome all forms of stressful situations.
The narrator was a 37 years old businessmen. His dream was to travel around the
world through sea just like Captain James Cook which he wished to complete in three
years. He was along with his wife Mary, his daughter Suzanne and his son who was
only six years old.
The first phase was about 105,000 kilometres up to the South African seaport of Cape
Town, which passed off very pleasantly. The second part of the journey was for 150,000
kilometres. This phase was completed in Australia. On 25th December, the writer's ship
was in the southern Indian Ocean, 3500 kilometres to the east of Cape Town. The
family celebrated their new year (1977) on board the ship. Next came a phase when the
ship was caught in the stormy seas. The weather suddenly became very terrible. The
writer thought that their ship would ride over the waves but were heavily caught amidst
the stormy situations at the sea. There was water everywhere and they found the ship
to be sinking.
The condition was extremely helpless and very pathetic. Water was gushing in from
everywhere. Debris was floating across the cabins. The electric pump was also not
working as it had short-circuited. They had to keep pumping and steering all night long.

The writer's daughter's head had swollen and she had a deep injury. However, the
bravery of the strong-willed children is noteworthy in the story.
On January 4, they breathed a sigh of relief after having survived 36 hours of
continuous pumping. However, their relief seemed to be quite short-lived because by
evening that day the sea again witnessed bad weather. This is the turning point of the
story when we see the author consoling the children. It was quite amazing that the
children exclaimed ...we aren't afraid of dying if we can all be together. This led to the
building energy and enthusiasm inside a very extremely fatigued writer. He decided to
heave and fight the sea.
Next day saw a very bright morning. He was welcomed by his children who exclaimed
You are the best daddy in the world. He rushed to the deck and to his amazement,
gazed at the stark outline of Ile Amsterdam. It seemed to him to be the most beautiful
island in the world.
They anchored off shore for the night and then were welcomed by the 28 inhabitants of
the island the next morning. All along, the only thing which filled the writer's mind was
the undeterred courage which his wife Mary showed, his daughter who didn't worry
about her head injury and his son who wasn't afraid of dying.

The AILING PLANET

More than ever the planet earth is losing its vitality and freshness. Due to
human development activities throughout the globe the earth has become highly
polluted, highly irreparable and highly damaged. We have taken out petroleum, coal and
a lot of natural resources from the earth. We have removed more than half of world's
vegetation and emitted large quantity of carbon and a lot of other chemicals. We have
destroyed marine life and made rivers dry. Moreover our greed for more and more
wealth resulted in depleting the protective ozone layer and invited all harmful rays to the
earth's surface. Besides, we have brought out a great imbalance between humans and
the other species of the earth.

Summary
1. First Nation-wide Green Party: established 1972, New Zealand
2. Worldview shifted from mechanistic to holistic and ecological
3. Realisation that the planet is a living organism in declining health due to human
impact on its natural resources
4. Sustainable development - Development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their needs - key to human
survival and prosperity in the future

5. We, today known as the 'world's most dangerous animal', are custodians of the
future.
6. Undiscovered species exist in large numbers but we may never discover their identity
if we do not conserve their habitats
7. Lester R. Brown's book 'The Global Economic Prospect' identifies four principal
biological systems of the earth as fisheries, forests, grasslands and croplands. They
provide food supply and raw material for our survival.
8. Over-fishing and deforestation, coupled with uncontrolled population explosion, has
led to the collapse of fisheries, disappearance of forest cover, conversion of grasslands
to barren wastelands and the deterioration of crops.
9. We lose an acre and a half of forests every second and the World Bank estimates a
five-fold increase in the rate of forest planting to cope with the demand for fuel wood.
10. Article 48 A of the Constitution - "The State shall endeavour to protect and improve
the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country". Author
laments that laws are never respected or enforced in India.
11. Fertility falls as incomes rise, education spreads, and health improves.
Thus development which may ensure raised incomes, is the best contraceptive.
But development itself is not possible without a control on our population explosion.
More children mean more hungry mouths which implies poverty as well as increased
demand on our natural resources.
12. India's current population is estimated to be 1.2 billion while the world population is
about 7 billion. Hence, we hold the major chunk of the world. The author questions
whether we recognise this fact and are at least now willing to make a change in our
awareness of the human impact on environment.
13. Era of responsibility - the awareness of our role and the need for
sustainable development
14. Author claims that the industry must join the cause and work towards becoming ecofriendly just as Du Pont under the leadership of Mr. Edgar S Woolard.
15. We are tenants of the planet, and are required to keep it repaired and wellmaintained for generations to come - Margaret Thatcher, Lester Brown