Read the following passage and answer the question that follows by selecting the correct option:
In the quaint village of Malgudi, nestled between lush green fields and swaying palm trees, lived a man named Raghavan. He was known for his peculiar habit of collecting colourful pebbles from the riverbank every morning. The villagers, initially perplexed by this ritual, soon came to see it as a unique aspect of Raghavan’s character.
One day, as the Sun painted the sky in hues of orange and pink, Raghavan discovered a pebble
unlike any he had seen before. It shimmered with an iridescent glow, casting a magical aura around it. Intrigued, he decided to keep this special pebble in a small wooden box on his windowsill.
As days passed, rumours of the enchanted pebble spread across Malgudi, attracting visitors from neighbouring villages. They sought Raghavan’s wisdom, believing that the mystical pebble held the answers to life’s mysteries. Raghavan, a humble man, shared his insights with those who came, emphasising the beauty of simplicity and the magic within everyday moments.
Raghavan’s neighbour, Murrku, jealous of his success, decided to rob him off the pebble and sell it off to a bidder at a good price. This was important as he would be able to buy the most expensive doll for his daughter Rae on her birthday. He spent days and nights planning for the robbery and was successful in fulfilling his target. But this did not make any difference in Rae’s birthday celebration which had been complete with the simple toy made out of house- hold stuff presented to her by Raghavan. Murrku understood Raghavan’s simple philosophy of life. In the bid to get the most precious gift for his daughter, Murrku had forgotten Rae’s
birthday.
Complete the sentence:
Raghavan’s pebble was unique due to______.
Raghavan’s pebble was unique due to______.
- Its size
- Its iridescent glow
- Its shape
- Its weight
The Correct Option is B
Approach Solution - 1
In the passage provided, Raghavan's pebble is described as having an "iridescent glow." This detail emphasizes the pebble's distinctive quality that sets it apart from others. The passage describes how this glow is unlike anything Raghavan had seen before, highlighting the magical and unique nature of the pebble. Additionally, the "iridescent glow" becomes a central point of fascination for both Raghavan and the visitors from neighbouring villages, reinforcing its uniqueness.
Therefore, the correct completion of the sentence is: Raghavan’s pebble was unique due to its iridescent glow.
Approach Solution -2
The iridescent glow made Raghavan’s pebble unique, giving it a magical aura.
Context: The iridescent glow refers to a shimmering, changing color effect often seen on surfaces that reflect light in various ways. In this case, the glow made Raghavan's pebble stand out, imbuing it with an almost mystical or otherworldly quality.
Unique Characteristics of the Pebble: The iridescent glow that surrounded the pebble set it apart from ordinary stones, making it a one-of-a-kind object. This special characteristic could evoke wonder and curiosity, leading one to think of the pebble as more than just a simple rock.
Magical Aura: The magical aura suggests that the pebble is not only visually striking but also carries a sense of mystery or enchantment. Its appearance could imply that it holds special significance or power, adding to its allure and intrigue.
Final Thought: The iridescent glow and magical aura of Raghavan's pebble transform it from a mere object into something extraordinary, invoking a sense of wonder and fascination.
Why did the villagers initially find Raghavan’s pebble-collecting habit peculiar?
- They were jealous of his collection.
- They believed it brought bad luck.
- They did not understand the reason for it.
- They thought it was a waste of time.
The Correct Option is C
Approach Solution - 1
In the passage, the reason why the villagers initially found Raghavan’s pebble-collecting habit peculiar is because they did not understand the reason for it. The text describes how the villagers were "initially perplexed by this ritual," which indicates their lack of understanding.
Therefore, the correct answer is: They did not understand the reason for it.
Approach Solution -2
The villagers initially found Raghavan’s habit peculiar because they did not understand the reason for it. Over time, they saw it as a unique aspect of his character.
Context: Raghavan’s habit, which initially seemed strange to the villagers, was something they couldn’t comprehend at first. The lack of understanding led to it being viewed as unusual or even odd.
Initial Perception: At first, the villagers couldn’t grasp the purpose or reason behind Raghavan’s habit. Their unfamiliarity with it caused them to view it with suspicion or confusion, seeing it as something out of the ordinary.
Evolution of Perspective: Over time, however, the villagers began to see the habit not as peculiar but as a unique aspect of Raghavan's personality. This shift in perspective allowed them to appreciate his individuality, recognizing that what was once seen as odd was, in fact, an important part of his character.
Final Thought: The change in the villagers’ perception of Raghavan’s habit highlights how time and understanding can transform something initially considered strange into a valuable part of one's identity.
What did Raghavan do with the enchanted pebble?
- He sold it to the highest bidder.
- He displayed it in the village square.
- He kept it in a small wooden box.
- He threw it back into the river.
The Correct Option is C
Approach Solution - 1
In the passage, Raghavan discovered a unique pebble with an iridescent glow. Intrigued by its beauty, he decided to keep this special pebble. According to the passage, Raghavan chose to store the pebble in a small wooden box on his windowsill. This decision reflects his appreciation for its unique qualities and his intent to preserve it carefully.
Therefore, based on the passage, the correct answer is: He kept it in a small wooden box.
Approach Solution -2
Raghavan kept the enchanted pebble in a small wooden box on his windowsill because of its iridescent glow and magical aura.
Context: Raghavan’s pebble is described as being enchanted, with an iridescent glow and a magical aura. These extraordinary characteristics made the pebble a significant object to him, and he chose to keep it in a safe and special place.
Why the Wooden Box? The small wooden box likely served as a protective enclosure for the pebble, preserving its mystical qualities. By placing the pebble on his windowsill, Raghavan ensured that it was both secure and visible, allowing its iridescent glow to shine through the window and catch the light.
Magical Qualities: The iridescent glow and magical aura of the pebble suggested it held a special, perhaps otherworldly, significance. Keeping it in such a prominent position may have been Raghavan's way of honoring its mysterious power and ensuring it remained part of his daily life.
Final Thought: The enchanted pebble, with its glowing and magical properties, became a cherished object for Raghavan, and placing it in a wooden box on his windowsill allowed it to shine in both a literal and metaphorical sense.
What symbolic meaning might the iridescent glow of the enchanted pebble hold in the context of the narrative?
- Power and authority
- Enlightenment and wisdom
- Love and compassion
- Misfortune and tragedy
The Correct Option is B
Approach Solution - 1
The iridescent glow of the enchanted pebble symbolically represents "Enlightenment and wisdom" in the narrative. This is inferred from the context where Raghavan, who embodies simplicity and insight, becomes a source of wisdom for villagers when they seek answers to life's complexities, believing in the mystical power of the pebble. The narrative supports this meaning by showing that the pebble, with its mesmerizing glow, draws people to Raghavan, who communicates the importance of finding magic in everyday moments and the value of a simple life.
Thus, the pebble's glow transcends material worth, offering a metaphor for inner enlightenment and the wisdom imparted by the protagonist's humble demeanor.
Approach Solution -2
The iridescent glow of the pebble symbolizes enlightenment and wisdom, as it attracts people seeking answers to life’s mysteries.
Context: The iridescent glow of the pebble is not just a visual phenomenon but serves as a symbol of deeper meanings such as enlightenment and wisdom. Its shimmering light draws people who are searching for understanding and answers to the complex questions of life.
Symbolism of the Glow: The iridescent glow can be interpreted as representing clarity, insight, and the illumination of the mind. Just as light reveals what is hidden in darkness, the glow of the pebble symbolizes the uncovering of truth and knowledge.
Attraction of Seekers: The pebble’s glow attracts individuals who are on a quest for answers to life's mysteries. Its mystical aura beckons those in need of guidance, indicating that it holds more than just physical beauty—it serves as a beacon for those seeking wisdom and understanding.
Final Thought: The iridescent glow of the pebble serves as a powerful metaphor for enlightenment, drawing those who seek to uncover the deeper truths of existence and find clarity in the midst of life’s uncertainties.
How did Raghavan’s perspective on life impact the visitors who came seeking his wisdom?
- They were disappointed by his simplicity.
- They mocked him for his beliefs.
- They left Malgudi disheartened.
- They found solace in his wisdom.
The Correct Option is D
Approach Solution - 1
Raghavan’s perspective on life had a profound impact on the visitors who came seeking his wisdom in Malgudi. His emphasis on the beauty of simplicity and the magic within everyday moments allowed these visitors to find solace. The special pebble, which was believed to hold the secrets to life, was merely a medium through which Raghavan shared his insights. This enchanting narrative portrays how people derived comfort and understanding from Raghavan's humble and simplistic outlook, which resonated with them, providing respite from their life's complexities.
Given these insights and the comprehension of Raghavan's influence on the visitors, the correct answer to the question of how Raghavan's perspective impacted them is: They found solace in his wisdom.
Approach Solution -2
Raghavan’s simple yet profound wisdom gave comfort and enlightenment to the visitors who came seeking answers.
Context: Raghavan’s wisdom is described as both simple and profound, suggesting that it is accessible yet deeply meaningful. His ability to offer comfort and enlightenment to those in search of answers shows the power of humble yet insightful guidance.
Simple Yet Profound Wisdom: Raghavan’s wisdom was not based on complex ideas but on the clarity and depth of understanding. His words were straightforward, yet they resonated with those who heard them, providing comfort in times of uncertainty and offering profound insights into life’s questions.
Comfort and Enlightenment: Visitors seeking answers were drawn to Raghavan because his wisdom had the power to ease their minds and illuminate the paths they sought to understand. His words acted as a guiding light, offering clarity and solace to those in need of direction.
Final Thought: Raghavan’s ability to provide both comfort and enlightenment through his simple yet profound wisdom highlights the importance of clarity, kindness, and insight in helping others navigate life’s mysteries.
After possessing the enchanted pebble, Murrku realizes that:
- Love and care is less important than expensive gifts.
- Expensive items can compensate for forgetfulness.
- It is important to have followers like Raghavan.
- Everyday moments have magic.
The Correct Option is D
Approach Solution - 1
In the passage, Murrku goes through a transformative realization after possessing the enchanted pebble. Initially, he believes that obtaining an expensive gift (the pebble) will boost his social standing or provide happiness. However, his experience at Rae's birthday, where a simple toy made by Raghavan outshines the expensive gift, teaches him a valuable lesson. He comes to understand the philosophy that Raghavan lives by: the magic and significance of everyday moments and simplicity in life. Thus, Murrku realizes that it is not lavish gifts or wealth that bring joy or meaning but the simple, cherished moments we often overlook.
Given the options provided, the correct understanding that Murrku gains is best summed up as: Everyday moments have magic.
Approach Solution -2
Murrku realizes that the real joy lies in everyday moments, as shown when Rae found happiness with a simple handmade gift.
Context: In this passage, Murrku comes to the realization that true happiness doesn't necessarily come from grand or material possessions but can be found in the simplicity of everyday moments. This is exemplified when Rae experiences joy from something as simple as a handmade gift.
Realization of True Joy: Murrku's realization reflects the idea that life’s most meaningful pleasures often lie in the small, everyday experiences rather than in extravagant or complex things. Rae's happiness with a handmade gift serves as a perfect illustration of this idea, as the joy comes not from the gift's value but from the thought and personal touch behind it.
The Power of Simplicity: Rae's contentment with something simple yet meaningful shows how the smallest acts of kindness or the most basic gifts can bring immense joy. It’s a reminder that happiness can be found in the simplicity of human connections and personal gestures.
Final Thought: Murrku’s realization that true joy comes from everyday moments encourages us to find value in the simple, often overlooked aspects of life, reminding us that happiness can be found in the most unexpected places.
Top Questions on Reading Comprehension
Meta is recalibrating content on its social media platforms as the political tide has turned in Washington, with Mark Zuckerberg announcing last week that his company plans to fire its US fact-checkers. Fact-checking evolved in response to allegations of misinformation and is being watered down in response to accusations of censorship. Social media does not have solutions to either. Community review — introduced by Elon Musk at X and planned by Zuckerberg for Facebook and Instagram — is not a significant improvement over fact-checking. Having Washington lean on foreign governments over content moderation does not benefit free speech. Yet, that is the nature of the social media beast, designed to amplify bias.
Information and misinformation continue to jostle on social media at the mercy of user discretion. Social media now has enough control over all other forms of media to broaden its reach. It is the connective tissue for mass consumption of entertainment, and alternative platforms are reworking their engagement with social media. Technologies are shaping up to drive this advantage further through synthetic content targeted precisely at its intended audience. Meta’s algorithm will now play up politics because it is the flavour of the season.
The Achilles’ Heel of social media is informed choice which could turn against misinformation. Its move away from content moderation is driven by the need to be more inclusive, yet unfiltered content can push users away from social media towards legacy forms that have better moderation systems in place. Lawmakers across the world are unlikely to give social media a free run, even if Donald Trump is working on their case. Protections have already been put in place across jurisdictions over misinformation. These may be difficult to dismantle, even if the Republicans pull US-owned social media companies further to the right.
Media consumption is, in essence, evidence-based judgement that mediums must adapt to. Content moderation, not free speech, is the adaptation mechanism. Musk and Zuckerberg are not exempt- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
According to the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, commodities available for consumption are not inherently negative things. Baudrillard tried to interpret consumption in modern societies by engaging with the ’cargo myth’ prevalent among the indigenous Melanesian people living in the South Pacific. The Melanesians did not know what aeroplanes were. However,they saw that these winged entities descended from the air for white people and appeared to make them happy. They also noted that aeroplanes never descended for the Melanesian people. The Melanesian natives noted that the white people had placed objects similar to the aeroplane on the ground. They concluded that these objects were attracting the aeroplanes in the air and bringing them to the ground. Through a magical process, the aeroplanes were bringing plenty to the white people and making them happy. The Melanesian people concluded that they would need to place objects that simulated the aeroplane on the ground and attract them from the air. Baudrillard believes that the cargo myth holds an important analogy for the ways in which consumers engage with objects of consumption.
According to Baudrillard, the modern consumer ”sets in place a whole array of sham objects, of characteristic signs of happiness, and then waits for happiness to alight”. For instance, modern consumers believe that they will get happiness if they buy the latest available version of a mobile phone or automobile. However, consumption does not usually lead to happiness. While consumers should ideally be blaming their heightened expectations for their lack of happiness, they blame the commodity instead.
They feel that they should have waited for the next version of a mobile phone or automobile before buying the one they did. The version they bought is somehow inferior and therefore cannot make them happy. Baudrillard argues that consumers have replaced ’real’ happiness with ’signs’ of happiness. This results in the endless deferment of the arrival of total happiness. In Baudrillard’s words, ”in everyday practice, the blessings of consumption are not experienced as resulting from work or from a production process; they are experienced as a miracle”. Modern consumers view consumption in the same magical way as the Melanesian people viewed the aeroplanes in the cargo myth. Television commercials also present objects of consumption as miracles. As a result, commodities appear to be distanced from the social processes which lead to their production. In effect, objects of consumption are divorced from the reality which produces them.- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
CONVERSATION ANALYSIS: Read the following transcript and choose the answer that is closest to each of the questions that are based on the transcript.
Lucia Rahilly (Global Editorial Director, The McKinsey Podcast): Today we’re talking about the next big arenas of competition, about the industries that will matter most in the global business landscape, which you describe as arenas of competition. What do we mean when we use this term?
Chris Bradley (Director, McKinsey Global Institute): If I go back and look at the top ten companies in 2005, they were in traditional industries such as oil and gas, retail, industrials, and pharmaceuticals. The average company was worth about $250 billion. If I advance the clock forward to 2020, nine in ten of those companies have been replaced, and by companies that are eight times bigger than the old guards.
And this new batch of companies comes from these new arenas or competitive sectors. In fact, they’re so different that we have a nickname for them. If you’re a fan of Harry Potter, it’s wizards versus muggles.
Arena industries are wizardish; we found that there’s a set of industries that play by very different set of economic rules and get very different results, while the rest, the muggles (even though they run the world, finance the world, and energize the world), play by a more traditional set of economic rules.
Lucia Rahilly: Could we put a finer point on what is novel or different about the lens that you applied to determine what’s a wizard and what’s a muggle?
Chris Bradley: Wizards are defined by growth and dynamism. We looked at where value is flowing and the places where value is moving. And where is the value flowing? What we see is that this set of wizards, which represent about ten percent of industries, hog 45 percent of the growth in market cap. But there’s another dimension or axis too, which is dynamism. That is measured by a new metric we’ve come up with called the ”shuffle rate.” How much does the bottom move to the top? It turns out that in this set of wizardish industries, or arenas, the shuffle rate is much higher than it is in the traditional industry.
Lucia Rahilly: So, where are we seeing the most profit?
Chris Bradley: The economic profit, which is the profit you make minus the cost for the capital you employ is in the wizard industries. It’s where R&D happens; they’re two times more R&D intensive. They’re big stars, the nebulae, where new business is born.- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
- On the first day of January 2025, the Indian Meteorological Department [IMD] announced that 2024 was the hottest year on record. A study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water shows that nearly eight out of ten Indians live in districts that are at risk of either a flood, a cyclone, or a drought. Nearly twenty three States in India are heatwave-prone. In the summer of 2024, India recorded more than 44,000 cases of heatstroke and over 300 heat-related mortalities, as per the bulletin of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Water reservoirs and the energy demand that keeps India powered are impacted too. During a ten-day long heatwave in Delhi, peak power demand was 16% higher than the previous year.
- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
- What is a classical dance ?
A dance which is created or choreographed and performed according to the tenets of the Natya Shastra is called a classical dance. The two broad aspects of classical dancing are the tandava and the lasya. Power and force are typical of the tandava; grace and delicacy, of the lasya. Tandava is associated with Shiva, and lasya with Parvati. Dance which is pure in movement is called nritta, and dance which is interpretative in nature is called nritya. A dancer in the classical tradition has to have years of training before he or she can begin to perform on the stage.
What are the main schools of classical dancing ?
Bharata Natyam, Kathakali, Manipuri, Kathak. Bharata Natyam is the oldest and most popular dance-form of India. Earlier, it was known by various names. Some called it Bharatam, some Natyam some Desi Attam and some Sadir.
The districts of Tanjore and Kanchipuram of Tamil Nadu were the focal points in the development of Bharata Natyam. It was danced as a solo performance by devadasis (temple dancers) on all auspicious occasions. Later, kings and rich people lent their patronage to it and it started shedding its purely sacred character.- Maharashtra Class X Board - 2025
- English
- Reading Comprehension
Questions Asked in CUET exam
- A and B can complete a task in the ratio 3:2. If together they complete the task in 20 days, how long will A alone take?
- CUET (UG) - 2025
- Time and Work
Identify the part of the sentence that contains a grammatical error:
Each of the boys have submitted their assignment on time.- CUET (UG) - 2025
- Subject-Verb Agreement
- If \( 3 \times 4 = 25 \), \( 5 \times 2 = 27 \), \( 6 \times 3 = 39 \), then what is \( 7 \times 5 = ? \)
- CUET (UG) - 2025
- Logical Reasoning
Rearrange the following parts to form a meaningful and grammatically correct sentence:
P. a healthy diet and regular exercise
Q. are important habits
R. that help maintain good physical and mental health
S. especially in today's busy world- CUET (UG) - 2025
- Sentence Arrangement
- Rearrange the parts to form a logical sentence:
A) the city's new policy
B) has significantly improved
C) air quality
D) over the past year- CUET (UG) - 2025
- Sentence Arrangement