1. What talent did their brother Raja have that developed into a career for him?
(a) He wrote poetry
(b) He drove race cars
(c) He was a great cook
(d) He sang rock and roll

2. What poet does Bim read to Raja to make him calm down?
(a) Browning
(b) Maya Angelou
(c) Byron
(d) Sylvia Plath

3. How did Raja meet Hyder Ali?
(a) At a party at the Misras house
(b) Raja was swinging on Hyder Ali's garden gate when he reurned from a ride
(c) Bim introduced them
(d) Hyder's horse ran over the boy

4. What are the names of the people everyone is talking about that summer, according to this novel?
(a) Queen Elizabeth, Gandhi, Churchill and Nehru
(b) Gandhi, Clinton, Reagan and Bush
(c) Gandhi, FDR, Churchill and Nehru
(d) Gandhi, Mountbatten, Churchill, Jinnah and Nehru

5. Why does Raja's father refuse to sign for Raja to attend his chosen college?
(a) The college Raja wants is too expensive
(b) The college he wants specializes in Islamic studies
(c) The father is jealous of the closeness between Hyder Ali and Raja
(d) The college Raja wants is not the father's alma mater

Short Answer Questions

1. What sort of birds begin their calls before daylight around the family's home?

2. How does Bim recover from grieving for Aunt Mira

3. What does Bim pull out of the desk to show to Tara that night?

4. What do Bim and the old man discuss?

5. What happened to their mother after twenty years of spending her evenings at the club?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Tara's purpose in coming to the family home?

2. How is Old Delhi different from New Delhi? Re-read the parts describing the city and note the words the author uses. Do the words create a sense of place?

3. Describe the family home and the feeling you get about it.

4. Why does Bim begin to respond to Dr. Biswas and his invitations to take her out?

5. Describe Aunt Mira's behavior in this chapter.

6. Describe how Bim sees her brother's poems now.

7. Why does Bim show the letter from Raja to Tara?

8. Why does Raja leave Bim alone to care for Baba?

9. Why do you think Bim believes she is seeing Aunt Mira's ghost in the garden?

10. How does Bim describe time? What do you think she means by this?

(see the answer keys)

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