Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
The attic smelt of mothballs and old rain. Meera had brought masking tape and a marker, and by noon every carton carried one word: KEEP, KABADI or ASK. The taxi to Kalka was booked for four. She did not mean to miss it.
Tara was slower. She held each thing up to the skylight as if it might explain itself: a cracked thermos, a brass school bell, a cardigan darned at both elbows in three different colours of wool.
“Bua could have bought a new one,” Meera said. “She had a pension. She just didn’t like spending it.”
Everyone in the family said so. Kamla Bua was close with money. One crisp five-rupee note in every Diwali card, for forty years.
Under the eaves stood a tin trunk. Inside were letters, hundreds of them, tied in bundles with rubber bands that snapped at a touch.
“Love letters,” Tara breathed.
“Kabadi,” said Meera, and reached for the tape.
Tara had already opened one. Respected Madam, I have passed my B.Ed. The fee you sent for the last term… She opened another, and another. A nurse in Solan. A bank clerk in Mandi. A teacher in Rampur. Each one thanked her for a term’s fees, a hostel bill, a set of books. Many began by saying sorry for writing at all: I know you said thanks are a waste of a stamp.
Meera sat down on the KABADI carton. She read four letters without a word. Outside, a monkey thudded across the tin roof, and neither of them looked up.
“Five rupees,” Meera said at last, to no one.
At half past three she rang the taxi and asked for six o’clock. Then she peeled the label off the trunk.
Which of the following best describes Tara in this scene?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Dreamy and curious: she lingers over things and at once pictures a romance in the trunk
Dreamy means given to fancies and imagination. Tara takes her time over Bua’s things and is quick to imagine a story behind them.
- She holds each thing up to the skylight “as if it might explain itself”.
- When the trunk of letters is opened, her first guess is “Love letters”. She then opens one at once.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Careless: she pays no heed to her sister’s labels and lets the work fall behind — Incorrect. Contradicted: She is slow because she looks at each thing closely. That is the opposite of careless.
Option 3: Grief-stricken: she is too upset by Bua’s death to handle any of her belongings — Incorrect. Contradicted: She picks up the thermos, the bell and the cardigan, and she opens the letters herself.
Option 4: Defiant: she reads the letters to show Meera that she will not be ordered about — Incorrect. Wrong reason: She opens the letter out of curiosity. The sisters do not argue at all.