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.
Meera’s putting the taxi off till six and peeling the label off the trunk suggest that she
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → no longer sees the letters as junk and wants time to read them
At first Meera calls the trunk “Kabadi” (things for the scrap dealer). After reading the letters, she undoes both of her own plans.
- She was firm about the four o’clock taxi. Now she moves it to six, which gives her more time in the attic.
- She peels the label off the trunk, so it will not go out as junk.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: has given in to Tara only to avoid a quarrel before they leave — Incorrect. Wrong reason: Tara never asks her to change anything. Meera changes her mind after reading four letters herself.
Option 2: now plans to stay on and live in Bua’s house — Incorrect. Overstated: She only puts the taxi off by two hours. She still means to leave that day.
Option 4: hopes to keep the trunk aside and sell it later for a better price — Incorrect. Not mentioned: Nothing is said about selling the trunk. What changes her mind is what the letters say.