Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
The municipality’s notice had been on the electric pole for three weeks, and the rain had washed most of it away. Only the date was still clear. The road below the bus stand was to be widened, and the tea stall that had stood on that bend for forty-one years would come down in the morning.
Nimmi had planned the evening for days. A board in chalk, a free glass for every regular, perhaps a few words from her grandfather. He heard her out and then said no to all of it. “People come here for tea,” he said. “Not for a funeral.”
So she did what she did every summer evening. She rinsed the glasses in the bucket, crushed ginger with the flat of the knife and counted the change into the biscuit tin. Tonight she made the tea herself. The postman came at five and grumbled, as always, that the tea was too sweet. Two taxi drivers argued about a run-out. A hostel boy bought one rusk with one-rupee coins. Her grandfather served them all with a studied calm, took every coin and gave back the exact change. Nobody said a word about tomorrow. Nimmi found she was angry with all of them, and could not have said why.
At seven the cloud came down over the ridge and the last bus left. Her grandfather put out the stove and wiped the counter, all the way into the corners. Then he stood looking at the empty bench.
“You made it too strong today,” he said at last. “Just as your grandmother used to.”
He took down the dented saucepan and put it in her hands. It was still warm. She did not trust herself to answer.
Which of the following statements are suggested by the passage?
(A) A loss can be felt deeply even when nobody speaks of it.
(B) The passage blames the town for putting a new road before an old livelihood.
(C) Keeping to the usual routine can be one way of bearing a loss with dignity.
(D) Nimmi feels the loss of the stall, while her grandfather has made his peace with it.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → (A) and (C) only
Each statement is checked against the passage.
(A) A loss can be felt deeply even when nobody speaks of it. — Correct.
- “Nobody said a word about tomorrow.” Yet the grandfather remembers his wife, and Nimmi “did not trust herself to answer”.
(B) The passage blames the town for putting a new road before an old livelihood. — Incorrect.
- The notice is reported plainly.
- No one in the passage blames the town or the municipality.
(C) Keeping to the usual routine can be one way of bearing a loss with dignity. — Correct.
- The grandfather wants no “funeral”.
- He serves, takes the coins and wipes the counter as on any other day.
(D) Nimmi feels the loss of the stall, while her grandfather has made his peace with it. — Incorrect.
- His words “Just as your grandmother used to” show that he feels the loss too.