Comprehension:
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow
The old man remained dreaming in the sun. His kite shop was gone. He still made kites for his own amusement and for the benefit of his grandson, Ali. Not many people bought kites these days. Adults disdained them and children preferred to spend their time at the cinema. Moreover, there were not many open spaces left for flying of kites.
But the old man remembered a time when grown men flew kites and great battles were fought, the kites swerving and swooping in the sky, tangling with each other until the string of one was severed. Kite flying was then the sport of the kings, and the old man remembered how the Nawab himself would participate in this noble pastime. There was time, then, to spend an idle hour with a gay dancing strip of paper. Now everyone hurried in a heat of hope and delicate things like kites and daydreams were trampled underfoot.
He, Mehmood the kite-maker, had in the prime of his life been well-known throughout the city. Some of his kites sold for three or four rupees each! Everyone in the neighbourhood would ask after his health; but now, no one visited him. The children who had bought kites from him 10 years ago, had grown up in a swiftly changing and competitive world and they looked at the old kite-maker and the banyan tree with the same indifference. Both were taken for granted – permanent fixtures that were of no concern to the raucous, sweating mass of humanity that surrounded them.
The comparison between the old man and the banyan tree reflects _______________________.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → complacency towards inexpungible presence
The passage says the young people looked at the old kite-maker and the banyan tree "with the same indifference"; both were "taken for granted" as "permanent fixtures". Complacency here means a careless, unconcerned attitude towards something one is used to, and inexpungible means that cannot be removed or wiped out, that is, permanent. People stopped noticing Mehmood because he seemed always to be there.
Example: The memory of that day remained an inexpungible part of her life.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: fragility and temporariness — Incorrect. Contradicted: the passage calls both of them "permanent fixtures", the opposite of fragile and temporary.
Option 2: physical distortion and emotional inexperience — Incorrect. Not mentioned: the comparison says nothing about the shape of the tree or the old man, or about anyone's lack of emotional experience.
Option 3: ignorance about past lives — Incorrect. Wrong reason: the point is that people do not care, not that they do not know; many of them had bought kites from him as children.