Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
The lane behind Khari Baoli, in Old Delhi, is too narrow for a rickshaw to turn, and for thirty years that suited Ramesh Lal. He fried bedmi puris with potato curry for porters and shopkeepers who ate standing up, paid twenty rupees and went back to work. Then, last year, a food vlogger filmed him flipping a puri high off the ladle and back into the oil. The clip called his stall a hidden gem. Within a week, two million people had seen the hidden gem.
It is hard to begrudge Ramesh what followed. He now sells out by noon instead of four, has bought a second kadhai and has paid off an old loan. Back-lane stalls rarely get a second chance at anything.
Yet the crowd at his counter is not quite a crowd of eaters. Half of it holds phones at arm’s length, waiting to film the same flip from the same angle, and plates are often left half full once the shot is done. The porters who kept Ramesh going through thirty winters are now conspicuous by their absence. With no room to stand, several have moved to a stall two lanes away. His price is now forty rupees, partly because oil costs more and partly because visitors pay without a second look.
None of this makes the vloggers villains. They brought Ramesh customers he could never have found alone, and most seem truly fond of the food they film. But attention of this kind moves on to the next lane with a story. When it does, Ramesh will need the porters again, and it is not clear they will return.
The word ‘begrudge’, as used in the second paragraph, means
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → to resent the fact that Ramesh has had such luck
Begrudge means to feel unhappy or bitter that someone else has something good.
- The writer says, “It is hard to begrudge Ramesh what followed.” What followed is his good year: more sales, a second kadhai, an old loan paid off.
- The next line gives the reason. Back-lane stalls “rarely get a second chance”. So nobody should feel bitter about his success. Example: After all her years of hard work, nobody in the office could begrudge Sunita her promotion.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: to marvel openly that Ramesh has had such luck — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: This is the meaning of marvel at, which means to be full of wonder at something. Example: The children marvelled at the size of the old banyan tree.
Option 3: to doubt that Ramesh has really had such luck — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: This is the meaning of disbelieve, which means to think that something is not true. Example: At first, his parents disbelieved the news of his scholarship.
Option 4: to fail to notice that Ramesh has had such luck — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: This is the meaning of overlook, which means to miss seeing something. Example: In a hurry, the clerk overlooked a spelling mistake in my form.