Directions: Study the following information carefully and answer the question given below.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
From the sun-baked terrace of his stone dwelling in Hushe, high in the Karakoram mountains of northern Pakistan, Ghulam Rasul watched the evening shadow of Masherbrum creep across the glacial river valley. For forty-two years, Ghulam had served as a high-altitude porter and lead sirdar for international mountaineering expeditions attempting the lethal serrated ridges of K2 and Broad Peak. To foreign expedition clients, the mountains were monumental trophies to be conquered with carbon-fibre ice axes and supplementary oxygen. Yet to Ghulam and his Balti kinsmen, the giant peaks were capricious sacred beings whose frozen slopes demanded unyielding spiritual humility.
His swollen, frost-bitten knuckles and arthritic knees bore silent witness to countless bivouacs in sub-zero snow caves above eight thousand metres. Commercial guiding agencies now employed satellite-linked GPS transceivers and helicopter evacuation insurance, promising affluent amateur climbers guaranteed summits. Ghulam shook his head at these high-tech illusions. Satellites could measure atmospheric barometric pressure, but they could never teach a man to read the subtle moan of an impending serac collapse or hear the warning groan of a crevassed icefall beneath fresh powder snow. As twilight deepened into violet over the granite spires, Ghulam turned the copper prayer beads in his weathered palms, grateful not for the summits he had reached, but for the countless young climbers whose lives his cautious instincts had brought safely back from the dead.
How did Ghulam Rasul and his Balti community view the towering peaks of the Karakoram, in contrast to foreign expedition climbers?
๐ก Solution & Explanation:
Correct Answer: (A)
Core Concept: Reading Comprehension โ Detail Retrieval & Cultural Contrast
Step-by-Step Solution:
1. Paragraph 1 contrasts foreign climbers viewing peaks as 'monumental trophies to be conquered' with Ghulam and his kinsmen viewing them as 'capricious sacred beings whose frozen slopes demanded unyielding spiritual humility.'
2. Option (A) directly reflects this contrast.
3. Options B, C, and D are contradicted by the text.
Key Shortcut / Exam Tip: Note the contrast between 'trophies to be conquered' vs 'sacred beings demanding humility'.