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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. As Mir Nihal hurries to Babban Jan's on Friday night, what does he hear both a song and a poem about?
(a) Faith.
(b) Death.
(c) Love.
(d) Old age.

2. During the discussion of alchemy, what does Kambal Shah say would happen if everyone had equal wealth?
(a) People would learn to love one another more sincerely.
(b) People would have the leisure to draw closer to God.
(c) People would become vain and forget God.
(d) People would find another kind of hierarchy to follow.

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

4. While Asghar and Begam Waheed are talking about their childhood, what can Asghar hear in the background?
(a) Pigeons cooing.
(b) His aunts arguing.
(c) Qawwals singing.
(d) Street vendors shouting.

5. What is implied by the snippet of poetry that Mir Nihal thinks about at the end of Part II, Chapter 1?
(a) His mental state is much more precarious than others realize.
(b) He understands that his love for Babban Jan is impious.
(c) He is unlikely to recover well from any further disappointments.
(d) He wishes that he felt about Begam Nihal the way he feels about Babban Jan.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Part II, Chapter 4, what thought makes Mir Nihal suddenly feel guilty and stop eating?

2. What hobbies does Mir Nihal pursue in Chapter 5?

3. Why does Asghar go to see Mushtari Bai in Chapter 11?

4. What word do the older people like Begam Nihal use to refer to the place where they live?

5. What caused Ahmed Ali to be unable to return to India?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the trick Mir Nihal plays on his neighbor with his pigeons.

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

3. When Asghar sees the sad-looking old man on the street, what realization does he have about his own life, and why?

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

5. What suggestion does Begam Jamal make to Begam Nihal about Asghar?

6. What criticisms does Mir Nihal make about his son Asghar in Chapter 1?

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

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

9. 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?

10. How did Asghar come to be raised in Bhopal?

(see the answer keys)

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