Read the following poem. Answer the question that follow:
At the Museum
But in 2500 B.C. Harappa,
who cast in bronze a servant girl?
No one keeps records
of soldiers and slaves,
The sculptor knew this,
polishing the ache
off her fingers stiff
from washing the walls
and scrubbing the floors,
from stirring the meat
and the crushed asafoetida
in the bitter gourd.
But I'm grateful she smiled
at the sculptor,
as she smiles at me
in bronze,
a child who had to play women
to her lord
when the warm June rains
came to Harappa.
What did the sculptor preserve in casting in bronze the servant girl in 2500 B.C. Harappa?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Memory of a supposedly unimportant person
Since "No one keeps records of soldiers and slaves", a servant girl would normally vanish from history. The sculptor "knew this", and by casting her in bronze he kept alive the memory of a person whom her society regarded as unimportant.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: A civilization — Incorrect. Too broad: the statue belongs to the Harappan civilization, but what the sculptor preserved was one girl, her labour and her smile, not a whole civilization.
Option 3: Some records of soldiers — Incorrect. Contradicted: the poem says that no one keeps records of soldiers.
Option 4: Bitter gourd stirred with meat and crushed asafoetida — Incorrect. Wrong focus: this is one of the girl's kitchen tasks, mentioned to show her hard life; it is not what the statue preserves.