Read the given passage and answer the four questions that follow:-
I still remember the summers of my childhood, when the air in our ancestral village carried the scent of ripening mangoes. Our orchard, an expanse of towering trees with branches heavy with fruit, was my sanctuary. The afternoons were spent sprawled on a charpoy under the largest tree, listening to my grandmother's tales of kings and sages, while the cicadas hummed a lazy tune. One evening, when the sky blushed orange, my cousin Rohan and I dared each other to climb the ancient mango tree — the one no one had scaled in years. "It's cursed," the elders warned, "a snake guards its highest branches." But we were twelve, and fear was something we laughed at. With scraped knees and racing hearts, we ascended, our fingers sticky with the sweetness of half-eaten mangoes.
Then, suddenly, I froze. Just inches from my hand, nestled between two branches, lay a coiled serpent, its beady eyes fixed upon me. Panic gripped my chest, my breath shallow. "Don't move," Rohan whispered. Trembling, I heeded his words, inching backward ever so slowly. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I bolted, my heart pounding louder than the temple bells at dusk.
We never climbed that tree again. But to this day, whenever I taste a mango, I remember that evening — the thrill, the terror, and the inexplicable joy of childhood.
What role does the mango orchard play in the narrator's childhood?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → It is a place of refuge and delight.
A refuge is a place of safety and shelter. The narrator calls the orchard "my sanctuary" and spent happy afternoons there on a charpoy, listening to his grandmother's tales. It was a place of refuge and delight.
Example: The library was her refuge from the noise of the city.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: It represents a challenge to be conquered. — Incorrect. Too narrow: only one tree was a dare; the orchard as a whole was a sanctuary, not a challenge.
Option 3: It serves as a setting for a family dispute. — Incorrect. Not mentioned: the passage tells of no family quarrel; the elders only warn the boys.
Option 4: It symbolises lost traditions. — Incorrect. Wrong focus: the passage recalls childhood memories, not a loss of traditions.