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 writer’s attitude towards the stall’s sudden fame can best be described as:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Real goodwill, tempered by unease about who is being pushed out
The writer is glad for Ramesh but worried about his old customers.
- The writer finds it “hard to begrudge Ramesh” his good year and says the vloggers are not villains. This is goodwill, which means kind feelings and good wishes.
- The writer is also uneasy. The porters have no room to stand, and “it is not clear they will return”. Unease means a feeling of worry.
- Tempered by means made milder by. The writer’s goodwill is made milder by this worry.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Warm enthusiasm, tempered by doubt that the food deserves such praise — Incorrect. Overstated: Enthusiasm means great excitement and delight. The writer is glad for Ramesh, but quietly. The worry in the passage is about the porters, not the food.
Option 2: Sharp disapproval, tempered by some pity for the vendor — Incorrect. Contradicted: Disapproval means thinking that something is bad. The writer says the vloggers are not villains and is pleased by Ramesh’s gains.
Option 3: Wistful nostalgia, tempered by relief that the stall has survived — Incorrect. Wrong focus: Wistful nostalgia means a sad longing for the past. The writer looks ahead, to what happens when the cameras move on.