View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Besides their money, what does Begam Nihal like about Meraj's family?
(a) They are related to Begam Waheed's in-laws.
(b) They have connections abroad.
(c) The father is an important religious leader.
(d) The sisters are all well-married.

2. What is significant about the year that Begam Nihal compares the summer's heat to?
(a) It is the year of the Mughal overthrow of the Delhi Sultinate.
(b) It is the year of the Indian Mutiny.
(c) It is the year in which the East India Company established its first trading station.
(d) It is the year of the first meeting of the Indian National Congress.

3. What caused Ahmed Ali to be unable to return to India?
(a) The partition of India and Pakistan.
(b) His decision to renounce his Indian citizenship.
(c) The Indian government's anger over his writings.
(d) The outbreak of World War I.

4. What is the Jama Masjid?
(a) A mosque built by Shah Jahan.
(b) A military fort taken over by the English.
(c) A public square in the center of Delhi.
(d) A marketplace next to a former Mughal palace.

5. During the conversation about their childhood, what does Asghar imply about his father?
(a) Mir Nihal was the father of Dilchain's child.
(b) Mir Nihal has a gambling problem.
(c) Mir Nihal is not as religious as he claims to be.
(d) Mir Nihal used to beat Asghar.

6. What is the "prescription written on the southern gate of the Jama Masjid" a recipe for (88)?
(a) An antidote to poison.
(b) A powerful charm.
(c) A "universal elixir."
(d) Gold.

7. What do the adults tell the children causes dust storms?
(a) One of the children has told an elder a lie.
(b) The heat is trying to chase the rain away.
(c) The ifrit are rising up from their underground caves.
(d) The jinns are getting ready to celebrate a wedding.

8. What is ironic about Asghar's characterization of their days in Bhopal as "happy" (35)?
(a) The two stories he recalls from that time are not really happy ones.
(b) The reader is aware that Asghar is not really capable of happiness.
(c) He has repeatedly told Bundoo how unhappy he was in Bhopal.
(d) Begam Waheed argued against him being sent to live with her.

9. In the story about Mir Jamal's pigeons, what does Mir Jamal refuse to do?
(a) Fly his pigeons with amateurs and hobbyists.
(b) Take part in any matches held at the Durbar.
(c) Keep the pigeons that his flock captured.
(d) Train his pigeons to fly from a carriage roof.

10. When Begam Waheed tells her mother that Asghar is in love with Bilqeece, what does Begam Nihal accuse Bilqeece's mother of?
(a) Using Asghar to elevate her family.
(b) Scheming with Begam Waheed.
(c) Lying to Asghar about their family.
(d) Putting a spell on Asghar.

11. What does Asghar's strategy seem to be in bringing up the death of Begam Waheed's husband?
(a) He wants to remind her of how important her marriage was to her and compare this with his own feelings about marriage.
(b) He wants to make her feel emotionally vulnerable so that she gratefully recalls how much she has always relied on him.
(c) He wants to trigger her yearning to be with her family so that she will be feeling especially loving toward him.
(d) He wants to flatter his sister for her courage and then elicit her pity because people do not respect him as they respect her.

12. Why does Mir Nihal not go into work on Saturday after a cat attacked his pigeons?
(a) The shop is closed for the weekend.
(b) He is too sad about the pigeons.
(c) He no longer sees a point in working.
(d) He is exhausted and sleeps all day instead.

13. What does Bari tell Mushtari Bai she should do for him and Asghar?
(a) Dance.
(b) Sing.
(c) Make some food.
(d) Play the rubab.

14. What point does the narrator make in Part II, Chapter 7 about the living descendants of Bahadur Shah?
(a) There are very few left alive.
(b) They are the rightful rulers of India.
(c) They have fallen far down in the social order.
(d) They are considered enemies by the British occupiers.

15. What is Molvi Dulhan dressed like in Part II?
(a) A woman.
(b) A prince.
(c) An imam.
(d) An Englishman.

Short Answer Questions

1. What causes Mir Nihal to be so depressed that he does not fly his pigeons one afternoon in Chapter 2?

2. To whom does Sheikh Mohammad Sadiq wish to marry his niece?

3. What does Asghar tell Begam Waheed he will do if he cannot marry Bilqeece?

4. What is the main idea of the epigraph on the book's title page?

5. Where does Mir Nihal go on most evenings after dinner in Part I?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 849 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample