Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
Kabir has known about his history project for three weeks. It is due on Monday. On Saturday afternoon he clears his desk, sorts his books by colour and watches a video on how to stop procrastinating. By evening he feels oddly pleased with himself, as though something has been done.
His parents call this laziness. Psychologists who study delay tend to disagree. A lazy person is content to do nothing, and Kabir is anything but content: the project nags at him all weekend. What he is dodging is not effort so much as a feeling, the dull dread of a blank page and the fear that his work will not be good enough. Turning away from the task lifts that feeling at once. Seen this way, procrastination is less a failure of time management than a clumsy attempt to manage mood.
The trick works because the brain is a poor judge of time. A reward on offer now looms large, while the same reward a week away seems faint, and a cost due on Monday hardly feels real on Saturday. Economists call this present bias. To Saturday’s Kabir, the Kabir who will be gluing pictures to a chart at midnight on Sunday is almost a stranger, and his troubles feel like someone else’s.
None of this makes the habit harmless. Delay is a palliative: the relief lasts an hour or two, and the dread comes back, usually larger. Scolding oneself often backfires, since guilt is just one more unpleasant feeling to run from. Making the first step very small tends to work better.
On Sunday afternoon Kabir opens a blank file. He types a title, deletes it, and types it again.
The writer’s attitude towards Kabir’s habit of delay can best be described as:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Sympathetic understanding that stops short of excusing the habit
The writer understands why Kabir delays but does not say the delay is fine.
- The writer does not call Kabir lazy. Kabir is “anything but content”, and his delay is a “clumsy attempt to manage mood”. This is sympathetic, which means showing that one understands someone’s feelings.
- But the writer also says, “None of this makes the habit harmless.” The dread comes back, usually larger. So the writer stops short of excusing the habit, which means does not go as far as saying it is acceptable.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: Stern disapproval of a student who wastes time he knows he needs — Incorrect. Contradicted: Stern means strict and serious in blaming someone. The writer disagrees with the parents’ charge of laziness and explains Kabir’s feelings instead.
Option 3: Amused mockery of a boy who cannot see his own foolishness — Incorrect. Only partly true: Mockery means making fun of someone. The books sorted by colour are lightly funny, but the writer takes Kabir’s dread seriously and explains it.
Option 4: Detached neutrality, reporting research without taking a position on it — Incorrect. Contradicted: Detached neutrality means standing back and taking no side. The writer takes a clear side: the habit is not laziness, yet it is not harmless.