The Portrait of a Lady’

‘The Portrait of a Lady’ is a descriptive story describing Khushwant Singh’s grandmother. He describes
his relationship with his grandmother in the story – The Portrait of Lady. He recalls his grandmother as
a short, old, slightly bent lady. He sketches the lady as not very pretty but constantly beautiful
throughout her life and the twenty years that the author had stayed with her. She was healthy and
lived a very long life.

In the story, the author describes the 3 phases of relationship in the story which include the time of
complete dependence, the sharing of room, and losing the common link of friendship by getting his
privacy. Grandmother had an orthodox kinda mentality and disapproved of Music lessons taught to the
author in the school. Animal lover, theist, and the formerly caring lady died out of very usual mild
fever.

She spent her last chapter chanting the god’s name and praying. She ignored the protest done by the
author and the author’s parents. Finally, with a peaceful pallor spread on her face, she died. During the
customary ceremony, before the funeral, the corpse was lying in her room where 1000’s sparrows sat
scattered on the floor, very quiet. They showed their sorrow by taking no notice of the bread crumbs
kept by the author’s mother and flew away once the body was carried away and came back never
again.
 A Photograph
Shirley Toulson’s poem ‘A Photograph’ is a tribute to her mother. The poem describes three stages in
the passage of time. In the first stage, the photograph shows the poet’s mother standing at the beach
enjoying her holiday with her two girl cousins. She was around 12 years old at that time. The second
stage takes us twenty or thirty years later. The mother would laugh at the way she and her cousins
were dressed up for the beach holiday. In the third stage, the poet remembers the dead mother with a
heavy heart. The photograph revives a nostalgic feeling in the poet.
 The Summer of Beautiful White Horse
Mourad and Aram were two poor Armenian boys aged 13 year and 9 year respectively. Both belonged
to the Garoghlanian tribe which was known for its pride and honesty.
The tribe was poverty-stricken, but its people were not dishonest and did not believe in stealing.
Mourad and Aram both had intense longing for horse-riding. Going against the family reputation,
Mourad stole a white horse of a farmer. Aram was unable to understand how Mourad got that beautiful
white horse, when he was so poor that he could not afford to buy a horse.

Aram could not resist the temptation of riding the horse, though he could make out that his cousin
had stolen the horse. Aram watched Mourad riding the horse and controlling it in an easy manner.
Aram rode the horse alone but could not manage to control it. Mourad was considered a crazy person,
the descendant of his crazy uncle Khosrove. Uncle Khosrove, a big and powerful man, was a very
impatient man. He did not allow anyone to speak and shouted loudly. Mourad and Aram continued
horse-riding for some weeks, though Aram was not able to control the horse.

One day both the boys came face to face with the horse’s owner John Byro, while they were taking the
horse to its hiding place. John Byro examined the horse and studied it tooth by tooth. He mentioned
that the horse looked identical to his stolen horse. But he never suspected the boys as he knew their
family and parents, well-known for their honesty. The boys returned the horse the next day quietly by
taking it to John Byro’s place. Perhaps they felt guilty and they did not want to bring any shame on
their family. Next morning, John Byro visited Aram’s parents to tell of a great miracle. His horse, that
had disappeared mysteriously, had returned. It was in better health and a better temper.
 ‘We are not Afraid to Die- if we can all be Together’
The narrator with his wife Mary and two children Jonathan and Suzanne set sail from Plymouth,
England, to duplicate the round-the-world voyage made by Captain James Cook 200 years ago.
Wavewalker, a professionally built boat, had been tested for months in the roughest weather. The
initial period of the three-year planned journey priced to be quite pleasant. American Larry Vigil and
Swiss Herb Seigler joined them at Cape Town to help them tackle one of the world’s roughest seas, the
southern Indian Ocean.

The weather began to deteriorate and the crew experienced strong winds and huge waves. At dawn on
January 2 the waves were gigantic. The crew members tried to slow down the boat and prepared for an
impending disaster. Later in the evening, a tremendous wave wrecked the boat, throwing the narrator
into the sea. Then he was tossed back into the boat. However, he was badly injured. Realising that the
boat had taken in water in its lower parts, he instructed Mary to take the wheel and then went below
deck. Larry and Herb pumped out the water that had accumulated in the boat. The narrator made some
repairs and began waterproofing the gaping holes.

The family managed to survive for 15 hours but the narrator knew that Wavewalker would not hold
for long. The narrator made some calculations and found two small islands. They hoped to reach the
nearest island, lay Amsterdam, a French scientific base, soon. However, their relief was short-lived. The
weather deteriorated and their situation again became hopeless. Jonathan’s fearlessness filled the
narrator with determination and courage to fight the sea. Fortunately, they managed to find lie
Amsterdam that evening. It felt like the most beautiful island that they had ever seen.
 The Address
The narrator decides to visit the address that was given to her by her mother, where all her family’s
precious possessions were kept safely by Mrs. Dorling. The first time when the narrator visited the
address, Mrs. Dorling behaved in the most absurd manner. She refused to recognise the narrator and
did not let her enter the house. So the narrator returns empty-handed. The narrator is reminded of her
mother (Mrs. S) who had given this address to her years ago, when inspite of war, they were living in
Holland and she saw Mrs. Dorling who was introduced to her as an old acquaintance of her mother.
The narrator noticed many precious items missing from their places.

Then Mrs. S told her that Mrs. Dorling was helping her by taking her table cloth, silver cutlery, antique
plates, large vases and crockery to her house to keep in safe custody, in case they had to leave the
house suddenly. The narrator decided to revisit the house of Mrs. Dorling as she felt the urge to see all
her mother’s belongings. She wanted to touch them, feel them and remember them. On her second visit
to 46, Marconi Street, she could get entry into the house as Mrs. Dorling’s 15 year-old daughter opened
the door. Her mother was not at home. The girl led her to the living room where, to the narrator’s
dismay, things belonging to her mother were arranged in a bad manner. Mrs. Dorling’s daughter
innocently told the narrator that they were using all the antique plates, crockery and cutlery.

The narrator took an impulsive decision to leave everything behind as the precious objects owned by
her mother had lost their value. Also, these objects associated with her mother were now in strange
surroundings. The narrator decided to forget her past as it brought back bitter memories. Her mother
was no more there to revive the pleasant memories. The narrator walked out of Mrs. Dorling’s house,
deciding that she would never come back to this house to see or take away her family’s possessions as
she had no place to keep all of it.