Presented by,

RICHI RAJAN
CLASS XI
ROLL NO. 1116
 Khushwant Singh is a senior prominent
Indian novelist cum journalist. He was born
on 2 February 1915 at Hadali in British
India that is now a part of Punjab in
Pakistan. A significant post-colonial writer
in the English language, Khushwant Singh
is known for his clear-cut secularism,
humor and a deep passion for poetry. His
assessment and comparison of social and
behavioral traits of people from India and the
West is full of outstanding wit.
 Back bent
Friendship
nature slightly

Religious young and

lady pretty

wrinkled short and

face fat
 The narrator and his grandmother were good friends.
His parents had left him her in the village. They were
always together. She used to wake him up in the
morning. She got him ready for school. She said her
morning prayer in an unchanging sing-song. She
would wash his wooden slate and plaster it with
yellow chalk. She would take an earthen inkpot and a
red pen. She would tie them in a bundle and hand it to
him. She would give him a thick stale chapatti with a
little butter and sugar spread on it. She carried
several stale chapattis with her for the village dogs
 Both the writer and his grandmother were
good friends. His parents had left him with
his grandmother at village. His parents were
in city. Every day, she used to wake up the
writer to be ready to go to school. She was
uttering the monotonous song while she was
bathing. The writer liked her very much. His
grandmother was going to school with him
because there was the temple nearer the
school. She would sit among the children
and listen to the priests prayer.
 When the writer went to University, he was allotted a
room for his staying. The common link of their friendship
was broken. The grandmother accepted her loneliness
quietly. His grandmother spent time with her spinning
wheel. From sunrise to sunset she sat by her wheel
spinning and reciting prayers. In the afternoon, she
relaxed for a while to feed the sparrows. She broke the
bread into little bits and threw them to the sparrows . She
was always getting surrounded by sparrows that were
perching on her legs and shoulders. Some even sat on her
head She never drove them away. Feeding the sparrows
was the happiest half hour of the day for her.
 When the writer decided to go abroad for further
studies and his grandmother would be upset. But she
came to leave him at the railway station but did not
talk or show any emotion. She kissed his forehead
silently. The narrator thought that it was last sign of
physical contact between them She was totally
absorbed in prayer and her fingers were busy telling the
beads of her rosary.
 The narrator returned home after five
years. The grandmother did not look a
day older. In the evening a change came
over her. The author could feel her pulse
as usual and her sparrows were with her.
She didnt pray. That evening she was
seen very happy spending time with the
older women folk. She collected all the
women of the neighborhood. She took an
old drum and started singing. She
continued thumping the old drum for
several hours. She sang of the
homecoming of warriors. They had to
persuade her to stop. Singing and beating
of the drum could make her tried. For the
first time she forget to pray.