Question 167
MediumOriginal questionWhen Diya's little brother got a new bicycle for his birthday, Diya decided to hate it.
It was red, with a bell and a basket and on the handles, and it had been bought new, from the shop. Diya's own bicycle had belonged to a cousin, and before that to another cousin, and before that, her father claimed, to somebody in the Mughal army. Its bell had been silent for years.
For a week she did not look at the red bicycle. She did not say it was nice. When Kabir rode it round the , ringing the bell, she went inside and shut the door.
On the eighth day, Kabir came to find her. He had fallen off twice that morning, and his knee was .
"It goes too fast," he said, near tears. "And it . Yours doesn't wobble."
Diya looked at him. She thought of all the things she could say. Then she went out to the courtyard, held the back of his seat, and ran beside him up and down until her legs hurt and he stopped wobbling.
That evening her father found the two of them oiling the chain of the old bicycle together.
"I thought you hated his bicycle," he said.
"I did," said Diya. "It's hard to hate something when you're holding it up."
Why does the writer say the old bicycle may once have belonged to "somebody in the Mughal army"?
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
"Her father claimed" shows this is his playful exaggeration: the bicycle has been passed down so often it seems ancient.
Worth noting
Bicycles did not exist in Mughal times; the line is a joke.
- Concept
- Recognising humorous exaggeration
- Typical timeTypical
- 45 s
- Your timeYours
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