Module: General Practice
Q17: Consider the following statements regarding the atmosphere and preparations immediately preceding the Boss's arrival:
1. The Shamnaths serve drinks before dinner specifically to appease the expected cultural habits of the American Boss and his wife.
2. The mother is strictly instructed to remain completely out of sight in the verandah while the guests are socializing and drinking in the drawing-room.
3. Mr. Shamnath feels completely relaxed and confident in his hosting abilities once the final physical preparations of the house are complete.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
2. The mother is strictly instructed to remain completely out of sight in the verandah while the guests are socializing and drinking in the drawing-room.
3. Mr. Shamnath feels completely relaxed and confident in his hosting abilities once the final physical preparations of the house are complete.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
✅ Correct Answer: A
The correct combination is statements 1 and 2. The concept tested is the extreme anxiety of performative hosting.
Structurally, the text describes Shamnath meticulously setting up the drinks and confining his mother to the verandah so she does not intrude on the Westernized cocktail hour (Statements 1 and 2). Historically, serving alcohol and hosting cocktail hours were definitive markers of cosmopolitan, Westernized status in mid-century middle-class India, contrasting sharply with traditional Indian domestic norms.
Statement 3 is incorrect because Shamnath is never relaxed; he is in a state of high-strung, palpable anxiety, obsessing over every potential detail that could ruin his promotion.
The causal reasoning for his anxiety is his precarious social position and his deep fear that his authentic, middle-class reality will leak through the facade.
Structurally, the text describes Shamnath meticulously setting up the drinks and confining his mother to the verandah so she does not intrude on the Westernized cocktail hour (Statements 1 and 2). Historically, serving alcohol and hosting cocktail hours were definitive markers of cosmopolitan, Westernized status in mid-century middle-class India, contrasting sharply with traditional Indian domestic norms.
Statement 3 is incorrect because Shamnath is never relaxed; he is in a state of high-strung, palpable anxiety, obsessing over every potential detail that could ruin his promotion.
The causal reasoning for his anxiety is his precarious social position and his deep fear that his authentic, middle-class reality will leak through the facade.