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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Part I, Chapter 3, what does the narrator point out there are "ever so many" of, "young ones and old ones" (14)?
(a) Beggars.
(b) Muezzins.
(c) Vendors.
(d) Imams.

2. Who is Mehro Zamani?
(a) The Nihals' servant.
(b) A dancing girl.
(c) Asghar's love interest.
(d) The Nihals' daughter.

3. Why did Mir Nihal forbid Asghar to study at Aligarh?
(a) Mir Nihal does not have the money for Aligarh's tuition.
(b) Mir Nihal thinks that the curriculum at Aligarh is too difficult for Asghar.
(c) Mir Nihal has heard that Aligarh admits female students.
(d) Mir Nihal thinks that studying at Aligarh will alienate his son from Islam.

4. What is the main idea of the epigraph on the book's title page?
(a) The people of Delhi should push harder to end colonial rule.
(b) Delhi has undergone a significant decline under colonial rule.
(c) The Indian people must hold the British to account for their cruelty.
(d) Despite its colonial status, Delhi remains an important world capital.

5. What does Asghar tell Begam Waheed he will do if he cannot marry Bilqeece?
(a) Renounce his family.
(b) Commit suicide.
(c) Move far away.
(d) Marry a dancing girl.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Part II, Chapter 5, what do the friends agree is the missing ingredient in the Jama Masjid prescription?

2. Who is the poet who wrote the words to the song that Gul Bano sings?

3. What does Mir Sangi claim his cousin accidentally succeeded in making silver from?

4. What is implied by the snippet of poetry that Mir Nihal thinks about at the end of Part II, Chapter 1?

5. What advice does Bari give Asghar about his love life?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Mir Nihal is at the procession for the Coronation, in Chapter 8, what contrast does he see between the crowd at Jama Masjid in 1857 and the one around him at the procession?

2. What contrast do Begam Jamal and Begam Nihal make between the processions held by Mughal emperors and their expectations for the procession about to be held by the English?

3. What are three reasons that Begam Nihal decides to advocate for Asghar with Mir Nihal?

4. At the end of Chapter 6, what ironic contrast does the narrator describe between what is happening in the Nihal house and the music they can hear coming from outside the house?

5. How is Babban Jan's mother affected by her death, and what does Mir Nihal tell the woman about her concerns?

6. What do Khwaja Ashraf Ali, Mir Nihal, and Hakim Bashir argue about, and what story does Khwaja Ashraf Ali tell to end the argument?

7. What did the ironsmith teach Mir Nihal to find, and how did he teach him to find it?

8. What does the reader learn in Chapter 3 about Mir Nihal's real reason for working at the lace shop, and how does this shed light on his feelings about his family?

9. In what way were E. M. Forester and Virginia Woolf involved in the publication of Twilight in India?

10. Describe Mir Nihal's Afghan friend, Kambal Shah.

(see the answer keys)

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