Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the question. But I did not want to shoot the elephant. I watched him beating his bunch of grass against his knees, with the preoccupied…

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the question.

But I did not want to shoot the elephant. I watched him beating his bunch of grass against his knees, with the preoccupied grandmotherly air that elephants have. It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him. I had never shot an elephant and never wanted to. (Somehow it always seems worse to kill large animal.) Besides, there was the beast's owner to be considered. But I had got to act quickly. I turned to some experienced-looking Burmans who had been there when we arrived, and asked them how the elephants had been behaving. They all said the same thing; he took no notice of you if you left him alone, but he might charge if you went too close to him.

The phrase 'Preoccupied grandmotherly air' signifies