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 tone of the narrator in the given passage is _______________________.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → nostalgic and sad
The narrator looks back fondly on the days when grown men flew kites, the Nawab joined in, and Mehmood was well-known throughout the city. Against this he sets the present: the kite shop is gone, people hurry, and "no one visited him". Fond memory of the past is nostalgia, and the sense of loss makes the tone sad.
Example: Looking at old school photographs always makes him nostalgic.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: impersonal and factual — Incorrect. Contradicted: the passage is full of feeling: delicate things like kites and daydreams "trampled underfoot", the old man neglected. It is not a plain report of facts.
Option 2: bitter and impatient — Incorrect. Not mentioned: the narrator regrets the change but shows no anger or impatience; the old man remains "dreaming in the sun".
Option 4: celebratory and personal — Incorrect. Only partly true: the past is recalled warmly, but the passage ends on loneliness and indifference, not celebration.