Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
The municipality’s notice had been on the electric pole for three weeks, and the rain had washed most of it away. Only the date was still clear. The road below the bus stand was to be widened, and the tea stall that had stood on that bend for forty-one years would come down in the morning.
Nimmi had planned the evening for days. A board in chalk, a free glass for every regular, perhaps a few words from her grandfather. He heard her out and then said no to all of it. “People come here for tea,” he said. “Not for a funeral.”
So she did what she did every summer evening. She rinsed the glasses in the bucket, crushed ginger with the flat of the knife and counted the change into the biscuit tin. Tonight she made the tea herself. The postman came at five and grumbled, as always, that the tea was too sweet. Two taxi drivers argued about a run-out. A hostel boy bought one rusk with one-rupee coins. Her grandfather served them all with a studied calm, took every coin and gave back the exact change. Nobody said a word about tomorrow. Nimmi found she was angry with all of them, and could not have said why.
At seven the cloud came down over the ridge and the last bus left. Her grandfather put out the stove and wiped the counter, all the way into the corners. Then he stood looking at the empty bench.
“You made it too strong today,” he said at last. “Just as your grandmother used to.”
He took down the dented saucepan and put it in her hands. It was still warm. She did not trust herself to answer.
Which of the following is true about the notice on the electric pole?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → The rain had spoilt most of it, though the day of the closing could still be read.
The passage says the rain “had washed most of it away” and “Only the date was still clear.” This date is the day the stall would come down.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: It had been put up only a few days before the stall was to close. — Incorrect. Contradicted: The notice had been on the pole “for three weeks”.
Option 2: It said that the stall would be moved to a spot above the bus stand. — Incorrect. Not mentioned: The stall is not moved anywhere. It “would come down in the morning” because the road was to be widened.
Option 4: Nimmi had read it out to the regulars so that they would know of the closing. — Incorrect. Not mentioned: Nimmi reads nothing out. In fact “Nobody said a word about tomorrow.”