Key Concepts & Formulas

10 Practice MCQs

1. Who authored the book Ignited Minds? Options:
   A) Dr. Manmohan Singh
   B) Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
   C) Dr. Vikram Sarabhai
   D) Dr. Homi Bhabha

Answer: B) Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
Solution: Ignited Minds (2002) is a motivational classic by the “Missile Man”.
Shortcut tip: Kalam = Inspirational titles (Wings of Fire, Ignited Minds, India 2020).
Concept tag: Indian autobiographies & motivational literature

2. Match the book to the author: 1) The Immortals of Meluha 2) The Palace of Illusions 3) The Guide Options:
   A) Amish Tripathi, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, R.K. Narayan
   B) Amish Tripathi, Anita Desai, R.K. Narayan
   C) Chetan Bhagat, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, R.K. Laxman
   D) Amish Tripathi, Jhumpa Lahiri, Mulk Raj Anand

Answer: A) Amish Tripathi, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, R.K. Narayan
Solution: Shiva Trilogy starts with Meluha; Palace of Illusions retells Mahabharata from Draupadi’s view; The Guide is Narayan’s Sahitya-Akademi winner.
Shortcut tip: “Amish” = Myth-fiction; “Divakaruni” = Feminine epics; “Narayan” = Malgudi.
Concept tag: Contemporary Indian English fiction

3. Which of the following pairs is INCORRECT? Options:
   A) One Indian Girl – Chetan Bhagat
   B) The Blue Umbrella – Ruskin Bond
   C) The Shadow Lines – Amitav Ghosh
   D) Namesake – Vikram Seth

Answer: D) Namesake – Vikram Seth
Solution: The Namesake is by Jhumpa Lahiri; Vikram Seth wrote A Suitable Boy.
Shortcut tip: Jhumpa = Diaspora Bengali tales; Vikram = Verse & door-stop novels.
**Concept tag: Author–book pairing traps

4. Who won the Jnanpith Award 2022 for Sanskrit literature? Options:
   A) Shankha Ghosh
   B) Satya Vrat Shastri
   C) Madhav Kaushik
   D) Ramdarash Mishra

Answer: B) Satya Vrat Shastri
Solution: Prof. Shastri became the first Sanskrit writer to receive the 58th Jnanpith (announced 2022, conferred 2023).
Shortcut tip: First Sanskrit Jnanpith → Satya Vrat Shastri (2022).
Concept tag: Indian language awards

5. The 2023 Booker Prize was won by which novel? Options:
   A) The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
   B) Prophet Song
   C) Shuggie Bain
   D) Girl, Woman, Other

Answer: B) Prophet Song
Solution: Irish author Paul Lynch’s dystopian work won.
Shortcut tip: Current year Booker → Irish author Paul Lynch.
Concept tag: International literary awards

6. Wise & Otherwise is a collection of short stories by: Options:
   A) Sudha Murty
   B) Anuja Chauhan
   C) Kiran Desai
   D) Shashi Tharoor

Answer: A) Sudha Murty
Solution: Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty’s 2002 anthology.
Shortcut tip: Sudha Murty = Simple, real-life stories with moral touch.
Concept tag: Indian women authors

7. Who wrote the philosophical treatise Ananda Math? Options:
   A) Rabindranath Tagore
   B) Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
   C) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
   D) Michael Madhusudan Dutt

Answer: C) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Solution: Contains “Vande Mataram”; published 1882.
Shortcut tip: Bankim = Vande Mataram origin.
Concept tag: Bengali Renaissance literature

8. The Alchemist was originally written in: Options:
   A) Spanish
   B) Portuguese
   C) Italian
   D) English

Answer: B) Portuguese
Solution: Paulo Coelho, Brazilian author, wrote O Alquimista in Portuguese (1988).
Shortcut tip: Coelho = Portuguese → global bestseller.
Concept tag: Foreign bestsellers translated to English

9. Identify the author of Why I Am A Hindu: Options:
   A) Pranab Mukherjee
   B) Shashi Tharoor
   C) Arun Shourie
   D) Subramanian Swamy

Answer: B) Shashi Tharoor
Solution: 2018 non-fiction explaining Hinduism & critiquing Hindutva.
Shortcut tip: Tharoor = Erudite English + India-centric non-fiction.
Concept tag: Political & religious non-fiction

10. I Do What I Do is associated with which Indian economic policymaker? Options:
    A) Raghuram Rajan
    B) Urjit Patel
    C) Bimal Jalan
    D) YV Reddy

Answer: A) Raghuram Rajan
Solution: Collection of speeches & essays during his RBI tenure (2013-16).
Shortcut tip: Rajan = “I Do What I Do” (rhyming title).
Concept tag: Economic memoirs

5 Previous Year Questions

[RRB NTPC 2021] Who is the author of The Accidental Prime Minister? Options:
A) Sanjaya Baru
B) Vinay Sitapati
C) P.C. Parakh
D) Natwar Singh

Answer: A) Sanjaya Baru
Solution: Baru was media adviser to PM Manmohan Singh; memoir published 2014.
Shortcut tip: “Accidental” → Sanjaya Baru (insider account).
Concept tag: Political memoirs

[RRB Group-D 2019] The Story of My Experiments with Truth was originally written in: Options:
A) Hindi
B) English
C) Gujarati
D) Sanskrit

Answer: C) Gujarati
Solution: Gandhi wrote Satya Na Prayogo in Gujarati; later translated by Mahadev Desai into English.
Shortcut tip: Gandhi’s autobiography → Gujarati first.
Concept tag: Autobiography language

[RRB JE 2019] Match: A) A Brief History of Time B) The Test of My Life C) Straight from the Heart Options:

1. Kapil Dev 2. Stephen Hawking 3. Yuvraj Singh
   A) 2, 3, 1
   B) 1, 2, 3
   C) 3, 1, 2
   D) 2, 1, 3

Answer: A) 2, 3, 1
Solution: Hawking-cosmology; Yuvraj-cancer comeback; Kapil-cricket memoir.
Shortcut tip: “Brief” = Science; “Test of My Life” = Yuvraj’s cancer battle.
Concept tag: Sports & science autobiographies

[RRB NTPC 2017] Train to Pakistan is written by: Options:
A) Mulk Raj Anand
B) Khushwant Singh
C) Bipan Chandra
D) Amrita Pritam

Answer: B) Khushwant Singh
Solution: 1956 novel set in Mano Majra village during Partition.
Shortcut tip: Partition classic → Khushwant Singh.
Concept tag: Indian English novels

[RRB ALP 2018] Who among the following has NOT won the Nobel Prize in Literature? Options:
A) Gabriel García Márquez
B) Bob Dylan
C) Taslima Nasrin
D) Harold Pinter

Answer: C) Taslima Nasrin
Solution: Bangladeshi writer Nasrin is controversial but never a Nobel laureate.
Shortcut tip: Dylan (2016) & Márquez (1982) are laureates; Nasrin = activist, not Nobel.
Concept tag: Nobel trivia

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