Question

Direction: Read the passage and answer. Ten friends sit in two opposite rows of five each. North-facing row: Venkat, Manohar, Ravi, Prasanth, Tilak. South-facing row: Vidya, Maya, Divya, Keerthi, Anu (not in order). Other facts: Manohar sits opposite a friend using a Ford and that friend is at an extreme; Ravi sits second to the right of Manohar; the Honda user is not Ravi; Venkat sits exactly in the middle of Ravi and the Nissan user (who is not Manohar); Keerthi is not at an extreme, uses Tata, and sits opposite a Fiat; the Maruthi user sits opposite the person immediately left of Keerthi; the Toyota user (not Anu) sits opposite Prasanth; Tilak is not at an extreme, sits opposite the Chevrolet user, and that Chevrolet user is adjacent to Divya and to the Mahindra user; Vidya uses neither Chevrolet nor Toyota. Who uses the Mahindra car?

• A. Venkat
• B. Anu
• C. Vidya
• D. Divya

Hint:

In two-row facing arrangements, first lock the extremes and any “opposite” pairs tied to car types. Then use “adjacent to X and Y” constraints to fence in the few candidate seats and eliminate by the brand restrictions.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Fix Manohar and Ravi on the North row.
Manohar faces the friend with a Ford at an extreme. If Manohar were at the right extreme, “second to the right of Manohar” would be impossible. Hence Manohar sits at the left extreme on the North row and Ravi sits second to his right (middle position).

Step 2: Locate Tilak and the Chevrolet seat.
Tilak is not at an extreme and sits opposite the Chevrolet user. Hence the South seat opposite Tilak is Chevrolet. The statement further says this Chevrolet user is adjacent to Divya and to the Mahindra user. Therefore, the two seats adjacent to Chevrolet (on the South row) are Divya and the Mahindra user.

Step 3: Use the extreme and Toyota constraints on the South row.
The friend facing Manohar (South–extreme) is Ford. Therefore that extreme South seat cannot be Mahindra. Hence among the two seats adjacent to Chevrolet, the extreme one must be Divya, and the Mahindra user must be on the other side of Chevrolet (a non-extreme seat).
Also, Prasanth faces the Toyota user, and the Toyota user is not Anu. Vidya uses neither Toyota nor Chevrolet. Thus, Vidya is eligible for the non-extreme South seat next to Chevrolet (the only one among those two that is neither Toyota nor Chevrolet nor the extreme Ford seat).

Step 4: Check Keerthi’s Tata/Fiat condition.
Keerthi is not at an extreme and uses Tata, opposite a Fiat. This fits consistently with Step 3 only if the non-extreme neighbour of Chevrolet (the one we identified for the Mahindra user) is not Keerthi. Hence that non-extreme neighbour must be Vidya.

\[ \boxed{\text{Mahindra\ is\ used\ by\ Vidya.}} \]