he outcasts were not allowed to mount the
platform surrounding the well, because if
they were ever to draw water from it, the
Hindus of the three upper-castes would
consider the water polluted. Nor were they
allowed access to the nearby brook as their
use of it would contaminate the stream. They
had no well of their own because it cost a
lot of money to dig a well in a hilly town.
Perforce they had to collect at the foot of
the upper-caste Hindu well and depend on
the bounty of some of their superiors to
pour water into their pitchers. More often
than not there was no upper-caste Hindu
present. Most of them were rich enough
to get the water-carriers to supply them
with plenty of fresh water every morning
for their baths and kitchens, and only those
came to the well who were either fond of
an open-air bath or too poor to pay for the
water-carriers’ services. So the outcasts had
to wait for a chance to bring some uppercaste
Hindu to the well, for luck to decide
that he was kind, for fate to ordain that
he had time — to get their pitchers filled
with water. They crowded round the well,
congested the space below its high brick
platform, morning, noon and night, joining
their hands in servile humility to every
passer-by; cursing their fate, and bemoaning
their lot, if they were refused the help they
wanted; praying, beseeching and blessing, if
some generous soul condescended to listen
to them, or to help them.
When Sohini reached the well, there were
already about ten other outcasts waiting. But
there was no one to give them water. She
had come as fast as she could to the well,
full of fear and anxiety that she would have
to wait her turn since she could see from
a distance that there was already a crowd.
She didn’t feel disappointed so much as
depressed to realise that she would be the
eleventh to receive water. She had sensed the
feeling in her brother’s soul. He was tired.
He was thirsty. She had felt like a mother
as she issued from her home to fetch water,
a mother going out to fetch food and drink
for her loved ones at home. Now as she
sat in a row with her fellow sufferers, her
heart sank. There was no sign of anyone
passing that way who could be a possible
benefactor. But she was patient. She had
in her an inbred fortitude, obvious in her
curious reserve, in her docile and peaceful
bearing.
Which word in the passage means the same
as 'courage'?
A Reserve
B Benefactor
C Fortitude
D Perforce
sorry I don't know anything
Ans 1: