Vishu, Pooja, Vishakha, Rani and Ram are sitting in a straight line. Pooja is third from the extreme right end. Vishu is second to the left of Pooja. Vishakha is to the right of Pooja. Rani is third to the right of Ram, and Ram is the immediate neighbour of Vishu. Who is sitting in the middle position of the line?

Introduction / Context:
This is a linear seating arrangement question involving five persons in a row. Several positional clues are provided, including phrases like third from the extreme right, second to the left, immediate neighbour and third to the right. The objective is to determine who occupies the central, or middle, seat in the row. Such problems are very common in reasoning sections of competitive exams and require careful stepwise placement of individuals.

Given Data / Assumptions:
- Persons: Vishu, Pooja, Vishakha, Rani and Ram. - Pooja is third from the extreme right end. - Vishu is second to the left of Pooja. - Vishakha is to the right of Pooja. - Rani is third to the right of Ram. - Ram is the immediate neighbour of Vishu. - We assume there are exactly five seats in a straight row.

Concept / Approach:
The approach is to fix positions using absolute clues first, then fill in remaining positions using relative clues. Since we know that Pooja is third from the extreme right in a row of five seats, Pooja must be in the middle seat. Once Pooja is placed, we can locate Vishu, Ram, Rani and Vishakha step by step using the given left, right and neighbour relationships. After filling all five positions, we simply identify who occupies the central seat, which we already know from the first step, but verifying the whole arrangement confirms our answer.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Label the seats from left to right as positions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Step 2: Pooja is third from the extreme right. In a five seat row, the seat positions from the right are 5 (first), 4 (second) and 3 (third). Therefore, Pooja must sit at position 3, which is the middle. Step 3: Vishu is second to the left of Pooja. Moving two seats left from position 3 lands at position 1. So Vishu sits at position 1. Step 4: Ram is the immediate neighbour of Vishu. Since Vishu is at position 1, his only neighbour is at position 2. Therefore, Ram sits at position 2. Step 5: Rani is third to the right of Ram. Starting from Ram at position 2, the seats to his right are positions 3 (first), 4 (second) and 5 (third). Thus, Rani sits at position 5. Step 6: Vishakha is to the right of Pooja, meaning her seat has a position greater than 3. The only remaining unoccupied seat is position 4, so Vishakha must sit at position 4. Step 7: The final arrangement from left to right is Vishu (1), Ram (2), Pooja (3), Vishakha (4) and Rani (5). The middle position is seat 3, which is occupied by Pooja.

Verification / Alternative check:
Check that all conditions are satisfied by the final arrangement. Pooja is indeed third from the right, as seats from the right are Rani (1st), Vishakha (2nd) and Pooja (3rd). Vishu is at position 1, which is two seats to the left of Pooja at position 3. Ram at position 2 is the immediate neighbour of Vishu at position 1. Rani at position 5 is three seats to the right of Ram at position 2. Lastly, Vishakha at position 4 is to the right of Pooja at position 3. Since all clues match, the arrangement is correct.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
- Ram is at position 2, not in the middle. - Vishakha is at position 4, which is right of the middle seat. - Rani is at position 5, at the extreme right, not in the centre. - Vishu is at the extreme left at position 1, also not in the middle. Only Pooja occupies the central seat, so the other options cannot be correct.

Common Pitfalls:
Learners sometimes misinterpret phrases like third from the extreme right and mistakenly place that person at the second or fourth position. Another typical mistake is to forget to number the seats and mentally juggle positions, which makes errors in left and right moves more likely. Also, some candidates assume more than five seats or leave gaps, which breaks the structure of the puzzle. Drawing a simple row, labelling positions and placing persons step by step is a robust method to avoid these errors.

Final Answer:
The person sitting in the middle position of the line is Pooja.