Read the given passage and answer the four questions that follow:-

Maya sat by the window of her apartment in Boston, watching the snowfall coat the streets in silence. The winter here was nothing like the winters she had known as a child in Kolkata, where the chill in the air was softened by the warmth of family gatherings. She thought of her mother's kitchen, the scent of frying luchis and the distant hum of the morning news on the radio. Here, the mornings were different-quiet, lonely, and marked by the distant sound of car engines outside.

The phone rang, jolting her from her thoughts. It was her father, calling from India. "When are you coming to visit us?" he asked, his voice tinged with both hope and sadness. Maya hesitated. It had been two years since her last trip home and with each passing year, the distance seemed to grow-not just geographically but emotionally.

She glanced at the bookshelves in her living room, filled with English novels and photographs of friends from college. Somewhere between these shelves and the memories of her childhood, Maya felt split in two, as if she belonged fully to neither world.

Later that evening, as she prepared dinner, she tried recreating one of her mother's recipes. The spices didn't taste the same, the aroma felt incomplete. But as she sat down to eat, she felt a fleeting connection to home, as if she had carried a piece of it with her despite the miles.

Maya's hesitation in responding to her father's question about visiting home suggests:

The deepening emotional and geographical distance between her past and present.

The correct answer is Option (4) → The deepening emotional and geographical distance between her past and present.

The paragraph detailing the phone call provides the strongest evidence: "It was her father, calling from India. 'When are you coming to visit us?' he asked... Maya hesitated. It had been two years since her last trip home and with each passing year, the distance seemed to grow—not just geographically but emotionally."

Maya's hesitation and the narrator's subsequent reflection directly confirm that the root of her difficulty in answering is the growing separation, which is both emotional and geographical, tying her past in Kolkata to her present in Boston.

• Her indifference towards returning to Kolkata...: The passage shows she is not indifferent; she feels a "fleeting connection" and is "split in two," indicating a conflict, not apathy.

• A firm decision never to visit home...: The text says she hesitated, suggesting uncertainty and conflict, not a firm decision.

• A lack of emotional connection with her family...: This contradicts the text, which says the distance seemed to grow emotionally, implying a connection still exists, though it is being challenged.