Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
The fog had come down so thick that Imran could not see his own front wheel. He did not need to. Two winters of forty newspapers in Nishatganj had taught him the lanes by ear: the Mishras’ dog, which barked at everything and bit nothing; the hum of the transformer; the pothole after it, which he swerved round without seeing. The air was raw. It crept through his sweater.
He threw the papers over the gates, counting. Thirty-nine. The fortieth went two lanes out of his way, to old Rastogi ji, who had told the agency he would pay nothing extra and had got his way. Imran grumbled about those two lanes every morning. Not once in two winters had he missed them.
A torch beam wobbled out of the grey. Rastogi ji stood at his gate in a monkey cap and two shawls.
“Eleven minutes late.”
“Fog, uncle.”
“There was fog in 1962 also. The paper came at six.” He did not hold out his hand. “What does it say?”
Imran read under the torch: dense fog to continue, forty trains running late. Rastogi ji snorted, as if the fog were a guest who had stayed too long. On the verandah chair behind him lay the tablet his son had sent from Pune, a thin film of dust on its dark screen.
“And the cricket?”
Imran read that too, slowly, to the last run.
“Tomorrow, if it is like this, don’t come,” the old man said brusquely. “I will read it on that machine.”
“Ji, uncle.”
Neither of them believed it. At the corner Imran looked back. The torch was still pointed down the lane, lighting the fog for him until he turned.
Which of the following best describes Imran in this scene?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Grudging but faithful: he grumbles about the extra lanes, yet he has never once skipped them
Grudging means given or done unwillingly, and faithful means loyal and steady. Imran complains about the last stop, but he never fails to make it.
- The house is two lanes out of his way, and Rastogi ji pays nothing extra. “Imran grumbled about those two lanes every morning.”
- Yet “Not once in two winters had he missed them.” He also reads the whole cricket report, “slowly, to the last run.”
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: Resentful: he thinks the old man’s demands are unfair and plans to drop the house soon — Incorrect. Contradicted: He has not missed the house once in two winters. When he is told not to come tomorrow, “Neither of them believed it.”
Option 3: Proud: he hopes to win the old man’s praise for riding so well through the fog — Incorrect. Not mentioned: He does ride well by ear, but nothing shows that he wants praise. Rastogi ji only tells him he is late.
Option 4: Anxious: the thick fog and the old man’s scolding make him rush through the last stop — Incorrect. Contradicted: He does not rush. He reads the news and then the cricket report “slowly, to the last run.”