Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
Linthoi had never played on a ground so flat. At home in Imphal the college field was all tufts and bare patches, and a ball could hop sideways off a stone. Here in Kolhapur the grass was cut short and even, the lines were newly painted, and a raw wind blew across it from the hills.
In the hostel the night before, Sanatombi had talked until the warden switched off the light, about the dal, about the Kerala girls in the next room who laughed at everything. Linthoi had lain awake listening to the ceiling fan tick on each turn. At breakfast the rice was the wrong kind, dry and loose. She finished every grain, because Coach Tomba was noting who left food on their plates.
Behind the stand she retied her left boot twice.
The first time the ball came to her, she hit it far too hard and it rolled out for a goal kick. Someone in the crowd shouted something in Marathi. She did not know what it meant and decided it was not about her.
Coach Tomba did not shout from the line. He held out his palm and pressed it down through the air, twice, slowly.
Ten minutes later she took a high ball on her chest, let it drop, and slid it out to Roja on the wing without looking up. It left her foot the way it did at home. Roja’s cross was cleared, but Linthoi noticed she was breathing properly again. By the second half she had stopped hearing the crowd.
Which of the following does the passage suggest?
(A) Small, familiar movements of the game help Linthoi feel at ease in a strange place.
(B) Linthoi feels lonely because her teammates leave her out at the hostel.
(C) Away from home, even ordinary things such as food and voices can feel unfamiliar.
(D) Linthoi’s early mistake costs her team a goal and shakes the coach’s faith in her.
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) Small, familiar movements of the game help Linthoi feel at ease in a strange place. — Correct.
- The pass “left her foot the way it did at home”.
- Right after this she notices she is “breathing properly again”.
(B) Linthoi feels lonely because her teammates leave her out at the hostel. — Incorrect.
- Sanatombi “had talked until the warden switched off the light”.
- Linthoi is not left out.
(C) Away from home, even ordinary things such as food and voices can feel unfamiliar. — Correct.
- The rice is “the wrong kind”, and a shout comes “in Marathi”, a language she does not understand.
(D) Linthoi’s early mistake costs her team a goal and shakes the coach’s faith in her. — Incorrect.
- Her mistake gives away only “a goal kick”, not a goal.
- The coach answers with a calm signal and does not shout.