Read the passage given below and answer the questions (Q. Nos. 143–150) that follow:
The next morning, as I was about to leave the city, I saw peacocks on every tree, rock and hill. Their movements had the same peace, the same grace and the same beauty. As the evening shadows deepened, the air was filled with the song of peacocks. I thought they were there to both welcome and bid me farewell.
Whenever I recall that trip, my mind is filled with the images of those peacocks. I am surprised. Did I really see so many of them? Did the peacocks of Rajasthan actually come out to greet me? I wonder how they are now.
I try to imagine that city now, but all I can see is a picture of desolation. Shocked and disturbed, I am neither able to see the peacocks nor hear their song. Where have they all disappeared? In which corner of the world are they hiding? Suddenly, I have a vision of a lonely peacock on a distant hill. He seems battered and bruised. I walk quickly toward him but, before I can reach the hill, he rises into the sky screaming with terror and disappears.
Where has he gone? Where are his companions, those countless peacocks? Why is he sitting alone on that hill, the very picture of desolation? Why is he so despondent, so terrified? The sight of that dejected, bewildered peacock suddenly brings to mind another image of desolation that I had forgotten. On the far edge of a dark, oil-soaked sea, I see a forlorn duck covered with foul effluents, watching the waves in disbelief. Till yesterday, the sea was ambrosia, today it is poison. The wings of the duck are so heavy with slime that he can no longer fly. Poison flows through the veins in his body.
Choose the word nearest in meaning to ‘desolation’.
Correct Answer :
Barrenness
Solution :
The correct option is Barrenness.
Step-by-step Explanation:
1. Analyze the Context:
In the passage, the author uses the word "desolation" in the phrase: "I try to imagine that city now, but all I can see is a picture of desolation." Later, the author connects it with a lonely, battered peacock, describing it as "the very picture of desolation", and mentions a "forlorn duck covered with foul effluents" on the edge of a dark, oil-soaked sea. This context describes a state of emptiness, ruin, destruction, and lifelessness.
2. Define 'Desolation':
"Desolation" refers to a state of complete emptiness, loneliness, ruin, or destruction. It describes a place or state that is bleak, lifeless, and empty.
3. Evaluate the Options:
- Pessimism: A tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen; a mental attitude. This is not the nearest meaning of desolation.
- Fertility: The quality of being fertile; ability to produce abundant vegetation or crops. This is the opposite of desolation.
- Barrenness: The state of being bleak, lifeless, empty, or unable to support growth or life. This directly aligns with the idea of a ruined, empty, and lifeless state ("desolation").
- Despair: The complete loss or absence of hope. While related to the emotional state of desolation, "desolation" as used to describe a place (a city or landscape) is nearest in meaning to the physical state of emptiness and lifelessness, which is "barrenness".
Therefore, the word nearest in meaning to 'desolation' is Barrenness.
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