Ageing

Love resembles war , simple to start , difficult to stop. As we grow , this love spreads its
roots , each day has a different emotion to feel. Ageing the process of getting older as
Wikipedia says , leads to the loss of not only the mankind but also our loved ones whom we
have cherished forever in our lives. Grief and lamentation come along as this transitory
process occurs. The poem “A photograph” by Shirley Toulson and the story “ Portrait of a
Lady” by Khushwant Singh both showcase the fact that generation gap is not an
unsurpassable gulf is characterized by the fact that a wave of nostalgia overpowers us
when we think of the simple and serene days of our childhood spent with parents and
grandparents. We might grow up and grow apart but the morals and principles instilled in us
by the older generation refuse to die. The author Khushwant Singh reminisces those days
and incidents of his childhood where he would spend the time of his life with his beloved
Grandmother and in the poem Shirley Toulson thinks about her mother’s laughter and
carries the loss of her mother with a smile on her face.

Khushwant Singh introduces his grandmother to the readers as old and wrinkly and how
she was once a young and a pretty woman with people admiring her outer beauty , but for
his that was hard to believe. For as long as he could remember, he only recognized the
beautiful old lady in a white sari. For him, his grandmother was a constant in his life.
The narrators life reorients right from his childhood unto his way to university. However, all this
while the grandmothers life is static. The narrator grew old but his grandmother did not. She held on
to her lifestyle. Even in city, she recreated her surroundings from the village, such as feeding the
sparrows which had replaced her morning routine of feeding the dogs. The elderly often tend to resist
change and are not able to evolve in the forever changing world. For them, they themselves are the
constant which they need.

Shirley Toulson in, 'A Photograph' expresses the loss of her mother. In a way, her mother is a constant.
Her memories are stuck in the past, forever present, never to be altered. Her death is a fact which is
which is unalterable. Much like the forces of nature, the loss of the poets mother is immortal. Due to
the immense grief, the poet has become melancholic. She is so engulfed by the grief that she is fully
silenced by it. Years have passed since the death of her mother, yet she has aged, but she has not
grown. The constant lamentation for her mother has seemingly put her in a state of limbo which she
cannot escape.

In both instances, the reader may observe two kinds of characters: A static character and a changing
character. In the story, it is quite clear that the grandmother is the static character whereas the
narrator is dynamic. Similarly in the poem, while the poet and her grief is a constant, her mothers life
altered over the years. As she grew old, she lost her youth and beauty. In both the stories the dynamic
characters had an everlasting impact on the static characters. Khushwant Singh's growth forced the
grandmother to resign and accept her seclusion. The changing life of the poets mother, which
inevitable led to her death, drove the poet into a melancholic state from which she was unable to
recover.
To sum up, 'A photograph' by Shirley Toulson and "The portrait of a lady" by Khushwant Singh both
revolved around intertwined complex themes and explore love, relationships and loss in a unique and
beautiful manner. While the characters lives are separate, at the same time, it almost seems like they
fit right into one timeline seamlessly.

Once again, "Love resembles war , simple to start , difficult to

stop. As we grow, this love spreads its roots , each day has a different emotion to feel."