Books and Authors Questions and Answers

Answer: A

My Years with Indira Gandhi was written by P.C. Alexander.

He was her principal secretary from 1981 to 1985 and later governor of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, and the book records the last years of her prime ministership from inside the office.

Answer: C

The Guide is by R.K. Narayan.

R.K. Laxman, the cartoonist who created the Common Man, was his younger brother and illustrated several of his books.

Answer: A

Steve McQueen is credited here with inventing the bucket seat in 1969.

The actor was a serious amateur racing driver who finished second at Sebring in 1970 with a broken foot, and did much of his own driving in Bullitt and Le Mans.

Answer: B

India Wins Freedom was written by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

It is his account of the years leading to independence and partition. Thirty pages were sealed at his insistence for thirty years, and released only in 1988.

Answer: C

India of Our Dreams was written by M.V. Kamath.

Kamath was a journalist and editor of the Illustrated Weekly of India, and later chairman of Prasar Bharati.

Answer: C

In Custody was written by Anita Desai, published in 1984.

It follows a Hindi lecturer's attempt to interview a great Urdu poet, and is as much about the decline of Urdu in independent India as about the two men. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

Answer: C

It is Jules Verne.

Around the World in Eighty Days, published in 1873, follows Phileas Fogg's wager and turns at the end on the day gained by travelling eastward, which no character had counted.

Answer: A

It is Uttara.

Buddhadeb Dasgupta's 2000 film about two wrestlers in a Bengal railway village won him the Silver Lion for direction at Venice. Krantiveer, Mohra and 1942: A Love Story are Hindi commercial films by other directors.

Answer: B

Wings of Fire was written by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, with Arun Tiwari, in 1999.

It is his autobiography up to 1992, covering his boyhood in Rameswaram and his work on the SLV-3 launch vehicle and the Agni and Prithvi missiles.

Answer: C

Unhappy India was written by Lala Lajpat Rai, published in 1928.

It was a reply to Katherine Mayo's Mother India, which had attacked Indian society to argue that Indians were unfit for self-government. Gandhi called Mayo's book a drain inspector's report.