Read the given passage and answer the six questions that follow.

When I was in my late teens and still undecided about which language I should write in, he told me that the language one is born into, one’s mother tongue, can be the only possible medium of creative expression. For most of his life, my father, Sripat Rai, had been a Hindi editor and critic. Off and on, he translated writings into English from Hindi. He was fond of saying that a failed writer becomes a critic. The weight of his literary expectation came, eventually, to rest on me. He seemed happy that I was showing an inclination for writing.

“She will go far,” he told my mother after reading the first story that I sent him from Melbourne. My father’s pronouncement on the mother tongue stayed with me when I later started writing fiction in Hindi. Another thing that I barely acknowledged even to myself was that I felt something like shame whenever I thought of writing in English. It seemed wrong for a granddaughter of Premchand even to be thinking so. Our family had a certain linguistic pride. I knew that Premchand was famous, but I had not at that time realised the extent of his popularity. The fact that I was the granddaughter of Premchand, followed me everywhere.

Everyone had a story to tell about their personal engagement with his fiction — the shopkeeper, the long time cook in my father’s Delhi house, a tea vendor, etc. The list was long, for there was practically no one who had not read something by him that had moved them. However, it was this very ubiquity, the reverence and love that he inspired in people, that made of him something too large for me to comprehend in the early years of my life. It led also to the strange feeling that, without having read him and just by being related to him, I had somehow inhaled his writing. The reading happened much later.

Q)  Choose a statement which is not true with respect to the passage:

The correct option is: Her family was chauvinistic about the English language.

Explanation:

To find the statement that is not true according to the passage, let us analyze each option against the text:

1. "The author felt pressurized to write in Hindi because of her father."
The passage mentions that the author's father, Sripat Rai, told her that "the language one is born into, one’s mother tongue, can be the only possible medium of creative expression." The author also notes, "The weight of his literary expectation came, eventually, to rest on me." Thus, she did feel a sense of expectation/pressure regarding writing in her mother tongue (Hindi). This statement is true based on the text.

2. "She felt obligated to carry on the legacy of Premchand"
The text states, "It seemed wrong for a granddaughter of Premchand even to be thinking so [writing in English]. Our family had a certain linguistic pride." Being Premchand's granddaughter followed her everywhere, creating a sense of obligation to honor his legacy. This statement is true based on the text.

3. "Her family was chauvinistic about the English language."
The passage indicates that the family had a "certain linguistic pride" associated with their mother tongue (Hindi) and the legacy of Premchand. The author felt "something like shame" whenever she thought of writing in English, indicating that the family valued their native language over English, rather than being chauvinistic (excessively/prejudicially loyal) in favor of the English language. Therefore, this statement is not true.

4. "She was in awe of the extensive reach of her grandfather’s writings."
The passage describes how practically everyone she encountered (a shopkeeper, the cook, a tea vendor) had read and been moved by Premchand's fiction. She mentions "this very ubiquity, the reverence and love that he inspired in people, that made of him something too large for me to comprehend," showing she was indeed in awe of his reach. This statement is true based on the text.

Consequently, the statement that is incorrect and represents the correct choice is: "Her family was chauvinistic about the English language."