Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
By ten o’clock the terrace floor was too hot for bare feet, so Aarav stood on an old cotton sari while Dadi sat cross-legged in the one strip of shade. Between them, on a steel tray, lay the raw mangoes she had cut at dawn, each piece still holding a sliver of hard white stone.
“Write it down properly this year,” his mother had said. So Aarav had his phone out and a fresh note open.
“How much salt, Dadi?”
“Enough.”
“Enough is not a quantity.”
She laughed and pushed the bowl towards him. “Then taste and find out.”
The note did not get much longer. The fenugreek was roasted until the smell told her to stop, and the chilli went in until the colour looked right. Dadi’s measures lived in her fingertips. Aarav was moved to crow duty with a broom and spent twenty minutes losing an argument with one crow on the water tank.
The oil came last. Dadi had carried the heavy jar up two flights of stairs herself and waved away his help. Now she held it out to him. He tipped it too fast, and oil splashed onto the tray. She did not take the jar back. She only rested two fingers on his wrist, and the stream thinned to a slow gold thread.
They tied muslin over the jar and set it in the corner that got the most sun. It would cure there for a week. Aarav looked at the three lines on his screen and put the phone in his pocket. Then he pressed a finger into the spice left on the tray and tasted it, frowning, the way she did.
What can be inferred from the way Dadi acts when the oil splashes over the tray?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → She wants him to do the work himself and guides him only as much as he needs
When the oil spills, Dadi lets Aarav carry on and helps him only a little.
- The passage says, “She did not take the jar back.” The job stays in his hands.
- She only rests two fingers on his wrist. This light touch slows the oil to a thin stream. She does not scold him or take over.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: She does not trust Aarav to finish the task without her — Incorrect. Contradicted: If she did not trust him, she would have taken the jar back. She lets him finish pouring.
Option 2: She is annoyed that he has wasted the oil she had prepared — Incorrect. Not mentioned: Dadi says nothing about the spill. Her touch on his wrist is gentle, not angry.
Option 4: She is no longer strong enough to lift the heavy jar on her own — Incorrect. Contradicted: Earlier she carried the heavy jar up two flights of stairs herself and waved away his help.