Susheela, Ujwal, Yamini, Reena, Pawan, Pari, Kirti, and Neeta are sitting…

Concept

In a circular arrangement where everyone faces the centre, right and left are reversed relative to how the seats are traced on the diagram: moving to a person's right corresponds to moving anticlockwise around the diagram, and moving to their left corresponds to moving clockwise around it. Fix one named person as a reference seat, place every other person using the exact seat-count stated in each directional clue under this convention, and use the neighbour / non-neighbour clues only after the numeric clues have narrowed the open seats.

Application

1. Fix Kirti's seat as the reference point for the whole circle.

2. Ujwal sits third to the right of Kirti; since right means anticlockwise on the diagram, place Ujwal three seats anticlockwise from Kirti.

3. Neeta sits second to the left of Kirti; since left means clockwise on the diagram, place Neeta two seats clockwise from Kirti.

4. Pawan sits second to the left of Neeta, so place Pawan two seats clockwise from Neeta's seat.

5. Kirti has two open neighbouring seats; Yamini must occupy one of them, since Yamini is Kirti's immediate neighbour.

6. Yamini must also be Pari's immediate neighbour, so check each of Kirti's two open neighbouring seats for an adjacent open seat that Pari could take. Only one of the two choices leaves a free adjacent seat for Pari, fixing both Yamini's and Pari's seats.

7. Two seats now remain, for Susheela and Reena. Reena is not adjacent to Pawan, so the seat next to Pawan goes to Susheela and the remaining seat goes to Reena, completing the circle.

8. Count three seats clockwise (to the left, per the convention above) from Pawan's seat to read off the answer.

Cross-check

• Ujwal is three seats anticlockwise (to the right) of Kirti — matches the first clue.

• Neeta is two seats clockwise (to the left) of Kirti — matches the second clue.

• Pawan is two seats clockwise (to the left) of Neeta — matches the third clue.

• Yamini sits immediately next to both Kirti and Pari — matches the fourth clue.

• Reena is not seated next to Pawan — matches the fifth clue.

As an independent check, swapping which physical direction is labelled right and left simply mirrors the whole circle; the person found three seats to the left of Pawan stays the same person under the mirrored labelling, confirming the seating is uniquely determined regardless of that convention.

Therefore, Yamini sits third to the left of Pawan.