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Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. Saheb-e-Alam, whose name means 'lord of the universe', scrounges every morning for gold in the garbage dumps of Delhi's neighbourhoods. He came as a child from Dhaka, where storms had swept away his family's fields. He now lives in Seemapuri, a settlement on the periphery of Delhi but miles away from it metaphorically. Ten thousand ragpickers live in Seemapuri in mud structures with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, with no sewage or running water. They have ration cards but no permits. 'Food is more important for survival than an identity,' the author notes. To Saheb's parents garbage is a means of survival; to the children, the author observes, it is wrapped in wonder, for a stray rupee or a ten-rupee note can light up their eyes. One winter morning the author finds Saheb watching young men play tennis behind a club fence. He is wearing discarded tennis shoes — even shoes with a hole are 'a dream come true' for one who has walked barefoot. Later Saheb takes a job at a tea stall for Rs 800 a month and meals. His face, the author notes, has lost the carefree look; the steel canister he now carries belongs to the shop owner. Saheb is no longer his own master. Adapted from Anees Jung, 'Lost Spring: Stories of Stolen Childhood'. Q2. The phrase 'miles away from it metaphorically' suggests that Seemapuri is
AGeographically very far from Delhi
BWithin Delhi's geographical limits but far removed in conditions, services and dignity of life
CAn island town
DA foreign country
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: B. Within Delhi's geographical limits but far removed in conditions, services and dignity of life
'Metaphorically' signals the figurative gap (poverty, lack of services, social exclusion). Geographically Seemapuri is on the periphery — but in living conditions it is 'miles away' from urban Delhi.
Related questions
Read: 'A young boy of the new generation, in school uniform and shoes, threw his bag on a Read the short passage: 'For thirty years the ragpickers have lived in Seemapuri without iThe expression 'slog through the day' MOST nearly meansThe idiom 'roof over one's head' refers to'Perpetual' in 'perpetual state of poverty' MOST nearly means'A person who picks up rags or other waste for a living' is best described by the one wordChoose the correct active-to-passive transformation of: 'Saheb carries the steel canister.Choose the BEST rewrite of: 'Despite of his hard work, Saheb earns very less.'