Complete Summary
The author’s grandmother was an old woman. Her face was wrinkled all over. For twenty years the author had seen no change in her looks and behaviour. It was difficult to believe that she, too, had once been a playful child or a pretty young woman with a husband. Even the grandfather with his long white beard in a portrait looked at least a hundred years old. It was even disgusting to think that the grandmother had ever been young and pretty.
The old lady was short-statured and a little bent. She moved about in the house limping. She had silver locks and wore spotless white clothes. She looked like a winter landscape in the mountains. She always carried a rosary in her hands which she kept counting. Her lips were always moving quietly in prayer. She was a picture of peace and contentment.
When the author’s parents went to live in the city. They left him behind with the old lady. She used to get him ready for school. While she bathed and dressed the boy, she kept saying her morning prayer. She hoped that the child would get to know the prayer by heart. But the author listened to her chiefly because he loved her voice. With the wooden slate, an earthen Inkpot and a pen in the school bag, she went to school with the boy. She also always carried several stale chapattis for the village dogs. She threw those bread pieces to the dogs when they walked back home together.
The school was attached to a temple. While the children were seated in the verandah and taught the alphabet by the priest, the old lady sat inside the temple reading some holy books.
When both had finished, they would walk back home together. It was the first phase of the author’s togetherness with his grandmother.
When the parents were settled properly. They called the author and the old lady there. That was a turning point in their friendship, rather the second phase. She could no more accompany the boy to his English school. And there were no street dogs either. So the old lady started feeding the sparrows in the courtyard. As time passed. They saw less of each other. She often enquired what he was taught at school. The poor woman could not understand English words and the laws of science. So, She could not help him with his lessons.
But she was shocked to know that there was no religious or moral teaching at the school. Secondly, the children were given music lessons. She associated music only with beggars and prostitutes.
When the author went up to university, he got a separate room for his studies. His friendship link with her was broken. She accepted her isolation quietly. She used to ply her spinning wheel and recited her prayers. Only in the afternoon, she took a short break to sit in the verandah and feed the sparrows. Hundreds of birds became so friendly with her that they sat on her legs, shoulders and head. She smiled but never drove them away. That was the happiest hour of the day for her.
She did not look upset even when the author went abroad for further studies. She showed no sentiments when she saw him off at the railway station. The author did not expect to find her alive on his return. But she was there again to receive him. She looked extremely happy. That day she fed the birds longer. In the evening, She collected women from the neighbourhood, Got an old drum and sang for hours. She could not withstand so much strain. She was taken ill. She declared that her end was near. She refused to talk to any member of the family. And she died peacefully.
As per custom, her dead body was laid on the ground and covered with a red shroud. While others left her alone to arrange for the funeral, hundreds of birds gathered around her. But they all were in silent mourning. The author’s mother thought the birds were hungry; she threw pieces of bread to them. But the sparrows took no notice of the bread. When the dead body was carried off, the birds also flew away quietly. Next morning, the sweeper swept the bread pieces into the dustbin.
Q.1. Why did the grandmother feed dogs and birds in the village and then in the city? What did the habit tell about her nature?
Ans. The old lady was a caring person. She had a love for birds and animals. In the village, she threw chapattis to the street dogs. In the city, she had no dogs around, so she began to feed little birds. This showed her affection for all living creatures and her noble nature.
Q.2. How did the sparrows express their sorrow when the author's grandmother died?
Ans. Author's grandmother was very fond of feeding sparrows with beads crumbs. When the grandmother died, the sparrows did not take notice of bread crumbs and flew away without eating them. In this way, they expressed their sorrow at her death.
Q.3. Why was it hard to believe that the author's grandmother was young and pretty?
Ans. It was hard to believe that the author's grandmother was young and pretty because she author, as a young boy, had always seen her as an old lady. She was short stature and wrinkled all over. She had a quiet personality whom everybody respected. So, to imagine her as a young and a pretty girl was a revolting thought for the author.
Q.4. What was the turning point in the author's and the grandmother's relationship?
Ans. The author had to be sent to a big city for education. This was the turning point in his and the grandmother's relationship. The author began to receive education in a English medium school. The grandmother could not assist him with his assignment and therefore, became withdrawn. She began to feel lonely and fed sparrows in the afternoons.
Q.5. What made the grandmother unhappy in the city?
Ans. In the city, the friendship between the old lady and the little grandson came under strain. She was disturbed because she could not go with him to school, nor help him with his lessons. She did not approve of English education, particularly the music lessons. The author, as he grew up, got a room of his own. The growing distance between them upset her. All this made her unhappy.
Q.6. Give a brief account of the grandmother’s friendship with the sparrows in the city.
Ans. The old grandmother lost even the last link of friendship with the author so she made friends with the sparrows. In the afternoon, she threw small bits of bread to the birds who even sat on her shoulders and her head. After her death, the sparrows also grieved for her. Thousands of them made a circle round her. They made no noise, no movement. They refused to eat the crumbs offered to them. They flew away only after her dead body was taken away.
Ans: When the grandmother died, thousands of sparrows collected and sat in the courtyard. There was no chirruping. When the author’s mother threw some breadcrumbs for them, they took no notice of the breadcrumbs. They were full of grief at her death and flew away quietly after the cremation.
Q.8. Describe how the bond of friendship between the author and his grandmother grew strong and then weak with the passage of time.
Ans. The little boy and his old grandmother became best friends in the village. She gave him the morning bath and breakfast. She went with him to the temple school in the village and they came back home together in the afternoon.
But when the two moved to the city, their friendship suffered a crack. It was a turning point in their relationship. The author went to an English school in the city. He went by the school bus. So the grandmother could not accompany him anymore. Now he was being taught science, Maths and English; so she could not help him with his lessons. Moreover, when she heard that music lessons were also being given at school, she felt very disturbed as music had cheap associations for her. Now she saw less of him and withdrew herself. When he went to university, he got a room of his own. The common link of sharing the same room was also broken. She felt isolated. She took to plying the charkha and feeding the sparrows.
But her concern and affection for the writer were not affected. She gave him a send-off at the station, received him on coming home and celebrated his arrival with songs and beating the drum. She even forgot to pray that evening.
0 Comments
If you any doubts, Please let me know