Multiple choice

Karuna Verma is bewildered at

Directions: Read the passage given below and answer the question by selecting the most appropriate option.

1. Karuna Verma is bewildered. "I don't know how she did it," she says about her mother, Renu Chopra. Karuna's childhood memories are of her father leaving late for office so that, by then, her mother would be-back from work. Of her parents working in sync to make sure the kids were well taken care of .Of her mother handling kitchen and classroom with ease.

2. When her own daughter was born, Karuna too wanted to do the balancing act. But it did not turn out to be as easy as it seemed. For starters, her parents' era was different from hers. As she was living with her husband in Andheri, Mumbai, away from their families, resuming work would have meant leaving her daughter with a maid while she was away. Her daughter's formative years would be spent with an outsider, a thought that did not appeal to Karuna. She quit her teaching job in a school.

3. For a woman who was encouraged to be independent. throughout her life, the decision to quit and stay at home was a difficult one. Ironically it was her mother who urged her to quit the job and become a full-time mother. For Karuna, being a housewife is one of the tougher jobs she has had. "I have no time for myself," says Karuna. "I make sure all my personal work is done when Avni is asleep. Earlier I had a set routine. My husband and I used to wake up at 6 a.m. I would re-heat the food the maid had cooked the day before and pack it for lunch. Then we used to head off to work, and at night, we would go out. I had a lot of time to myself and for my husband then," says Karuna.

4. The routine is quite different now. Karuna has taken to cooking. She wakes up quite early and makes sure all her work is done before the baby is up. The rest of the day flies by, pandering to two-year-old Avni's needs.

Source: The Week, March 13, 2011 (Adapted)

  1. the responsibility of bringing up a daughter in a big city

  2. her mother's ability to combine her career with household work

  3. the amount of work that she has to do after becoming a mother

  4. the late hours of work that her father followed
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Karuna is bewildered (amazed and confused) about how her mother managed to combine her career with household responsibilities. The passage describes Karuna's childhood memories of her mother handling both kitchen and classroom with ease. Karuna finds this remarkable because she struggles to balance work and motherhood herself. Option A is incorrect - bewilderment is about the past, not her current situation. Option C is incorrect - the amazement is specifically about her mother, not the workload. Option D is irrelevant to the emotion expressed.

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