Answer the following questions briefly in your own words: Ashamanja Babu lived in a small flat in Bhowanipore. A clerk in the registry department of Lajpat Rai Post Office, Ashamanja Babu was fortunate as he could walk to his office in seven minutes flat without having to fight his way into the buses and trains of Calcutta. He lived a rather carefree life as he was not the kind of person to sit and brood about what might have been had fate been kinder to him. On the whole, he was quite content with his lot. Two Hindi films and fish twice a week — these were enough to keep him happy. The only thing that perturbed him at times was his lack of companionship. A bachelor with few friends and relatives, he often wished he had a dog to keep him company. It need not be a huge Alsatian like the one owned by the Talukdars, who lived two houses down the lane; it could be any ordinary little dog which would follow him. On a cloudy day marked by a steady drizzle, Ashamanja Babu went to the market in Hashimara to buy some oranges. At one end of the market, beside a stunted kul tree, sat a man. As their eyes met, the man smiled. Was he a beggar? His clothes made him look like one. Ashamanja Babu noticed at least five sewn-on patches on his trousers and jacket. But the man didn’t have a begging bowl. Instead, by his side was a shoe-box with a little pup sticking its head out of it. ‘Good morning!’ said the man in English. Ashamanja Babu was obliged to return the greeting. "Buy dog? Dog buy? Very good dog." The man had taken the pup out of the box and had put it down on the ground. ‘Very cheap. Very good. Happy dog.’ The pup shook the raindrops off its coat, looked at Ashamanja Babu and wagged its minuscule two-inch tail. Ashamanja Babu moved closer to the pup, crouched on the ground and stretched out his hand. The pup gave his ring finger a lick with its pink tongue. Nice, friendly dog. ‘How much? What price?’ ‘Ten rupees.’ A little haggling and the price came down to seven rupees. Ashamanja Babu paid the money, put the pup back in the shoe-box, closed the lid to save it from the drizzle, and turned homewards, forgetting all about the oranges. — Ashamanja Babu’s Dog by Satyajit Ray
Why did Ashamanja Babu forget about his oranges?
Topic: Comprehension — inference
Answer
Because buying the puppy had driven everything else out of his mind. He had gone to the market only to buy oranges, but the pup was the one thing he had long wished for, and once he had bought it, paid for it and settled it safely in the shoe-box, he was so delighted and preoccupied that he simply turned homewards without remembering what he had come for.
An INFERENCE question: the passage states the fact ("forgetting all about the oranges") but never explains it. You must supply the reason.
Two elements, one mark each:
- he had gone to the market specifically for oranges
- the excitement of acquiring the puppy — the very thing he had been longing for — displaced it entirely
Connect it back to the opening of the passage if you can: the dog was what he "often wished" for, which is precisely why getting one would drive an errand out of his head. Linking the end of a passage to its beginning is what examiners mean by reading with understanding.