Electronics Basics — Diodes, Transistors & Components

Why This Chapter Matters

Every RRB ALP and Technician paper, and almost every SSC paper before it, carries four to six questions from this exact bucket: famous books and their authors, important national and international days, and basic Indian art and culture. None of it needs a formula. None of it needs a diagram. It needs a strong memory and a system to stop the facts from blurring into each other, and that is exactly what this chapter builds for you.

Here is the trap almost every aspirant falls into: they read a list of "book — author" pairs the night before the exam, feel confident, and then in the hall they mix up which author wrote which book because two names sound similar or two books have similar-sounding titles. The same happens with days — students know "World Health Day" exists but write the wrong date, or confuse it with "World Population Day." This chapter is built to break those specific confusions, not just list facts. We will group things the way your memory actually works: by theme, by date pattern, by connection to something you already know. Read it once carefully, come back to the Quick Revision section twice before your exam, and this becomes one of your most reliable scoring areas — reliable because unlike a formula, a fact once locked in does not get harder under exam pressure.

1. Famous Books and Authors — The Classics Every Aspirant Must Know

Exam setters love this topic because it is compact, factual, and easy to frame as a one-line question: "Who wrote X?" or "X is the autobiography of whom?" Let's build your base with Indian authors first, since RRB and SSC papers lean heavily toward Indian writing.

Indian Authors and Their Landmark Works

Rabindranath Tagore remains the most tested Indian author in every competitive exam. He wrote Gitanjali, the collection of poems that won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, making him the first non-European to receive it. He also wrote Gora and The Home and the World, and composed the national anthems of both India (Jana Gana Mana) and Bangladesh (Amar Shonar Bangla). Remember this triple connection: Tagore, Nobel Prize, two national anthems. No other individual in the world holds that second distinction.

Mahatma Gandhi wrote The Story of My Experiments with Truth, his autobiography, originally written in Gujarati and later translated to English. Exam papers frequently ask which language it was originally written in, so note that detail carefully.

Jawaharlal Nehru wrote three major works that get tested on rotation: The Discovery of India, Glimpses of World History, and An Autobiography (also called Toward Freedom). He wrote The Discovery of India while imprisoned in Ahmednagar Fort during the Quit India movement, a detail that connects two chapters of your syllabus at once — literature and the freedom struggle.

R.K. Narayan created the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi, the setting for his best-known novels including Swami and Friends, The Guide (which won the Sahitya Akademi Award and was later made into a celebrated film), and The English Teacher.

Munshi Premchand, writing in Hindi and Urdu, gave Indian literature Godaan, Gaban, and Nirmala. He is often called the father of modern Hindi and Urdu fiction, and his stories usually center on rural poverty and social injustice, a theme worth remembering if a question describes the content rather than naming the book directly.

Chetan Bhagat, a contemporary writer, is known for Five Point Someone (the inspiration behind the film 3 Idiots) and Two States.

Arundhati Roy won the Booker Prize in 1997 for The God of Small Things, her debut novel. Kiran Desai won the Booker Prize in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss. Aravind Adiga won it in 2008 for The White Tiger. Exam trap: these three Booker wins get mixed up constantly because the years are close together. Anchor them in order: Roy 1997, Desai 2006, Adiga 2008 — Roy started it, and the next two came within the following decade.

Vikram Seth wrote A Suitable Boy, one of the longest novels published in English. Amitav Ghosh wrote The Shadow Lines and the Ibis trilogy beginning with Sea of Poppies.

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, India's "Missile Man" and eleventh President, wrote Wings of Fire, his autobiography, along with India 2020 and Ignited Minds. This is one of the most frequently tested book-author pairs in railway exams because Kalam's popularity crosses both the science and literature sections of the syllabus.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar wrote Annihilation of Caste, a speech he prepared for a 1936 event that was cancelled, later published independently, and it remains one of the most important texts on caste and social reform in India.

Sarojini Naidu, known as the "Nightingale of India," wrote The Golden Threshold, a collection of poems. She was also the first Indian woman to become President of the Indian National Congress.

Foreign Authors Frequently Asked

William Shakespeare wrote plays that show up constantly: Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear (his four major tragedies), and Romeo and Juliet. Memory hook: think "HOMe-Lear" for the four tragedies — Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Lear.

Charles Dickens wrote Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations, all set against the backdrop of Victorian-era social inequality.

Leo Tolstoy wrote War and Peace and Anna Karenina. George Orwell wrote 1984 and Animal Farm, both political allegories — 1984 warns against surveillance states, Animal Farm satirizes the Russian Revolution through farm animals. Exams sometimes ask which book uses which allegory, so keep that distinction sharp.

Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. Homer, the ancient Greek poet, is credited with the epics The Iliad and The Odyssey.

One-Word Titles That Trip Students Up

Exam trap: Papers love pairing a book title with a wrong author when both are equally famous. For instance, students often assign Discovery of India to Gandhi instead of Nehru, simply because both are freedom fighters with autobiographies. Always link the book to the specific event of its writing: Nehru wrote it in prison, and that prison detail is your anchor.

2. Important National and International Days

This is the single most scoring topic in the "static awareness" bucket because the pattern is predictable: a date, a cause, sometimes a UN-designated year. Group these by month so your revision has structure instead of a random list.

National Days (India-Specific)

26 January is Republic Day, marking the day the Constitution of India came into force in 1950, not the day it was adopted (that was 26 November 1949, celebrated as Constitution Day). This is the single most confused date pair in the entire static GK syllabus. Exam trap: adopted vs enforced — the Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into effect on 26 January 1950. Two different dates, two different days.

15 August is Independence Day, commemorating India's freedom from British rule in 1947.

2 October is Gandhi Jayanti, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, also observed globally as the International Day of Non-Violence.

14 November is Children's Day in India, marking the birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru, who was fondly called Chacha Nehru by children.

5 September is Teachers' Day, marking the birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, India's second President and a noted philosopher and educator.

23 January is Parakram Diwas, marking the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

28 February is National Science Day, chosen because it marks the day in 1928 when Sir C.V. Raman announced the discovery of the Raman Effect, the scientific finding that eventually won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.

11 July is World Population Day, and 1 July is celebrated in India as National Doctors' Day, honoring Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, born and died on that same date.

International Days You Cannot Skip

7 April is World Health Day, marking the founding anniversary of the World Health Organisation in 1948.

22 April is Earth Day, promoting environmental protection.

5 June is World Environment Day. Exam trap: students frequently swap Earth Day (22 April) and Environment Day (5 June) — both sound like they mean the same thing, but they are separate observances with separate origins.

21 June is the International Day of Yoga, first proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the UN General Assembly in 2014 and observed globally starting 2015.

8 March is International Women's Day.

1 May is International Labour Day, also called May Day, commemorating the historic struggle of workers for an eight-hour workday.

10 December is Human Rights Day, marking the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN General Assembly in 1948.

24 October is United Nations Day, marking the day the UN Charter came into force in 1945.

16 October is World Food Day, marking the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 1945.

8 September is International Literacy Day.

5 October is World Teachers' Day at the international level — note this is separate from India's own Teachers' Day on 5 September, and this exact pair is a favorite exam trap.

Memory Hook for the Day Cluster

Memory hook: picture a calendar page where each month has exactly one "big" day glued to a person or a cause: January — Republic (Constitution), March — Women, April — Health and Earth (two Aprils, two causes), May — Labour, June — Environment and Yoga, July — Population and Doctors, August — Independence, September — Teachers (India) and Literacy, October — Gandhi and UN and Food and World Teachers, November — Children and Constitution, December — Human Rights. Walking through the calendar month by month in your head during revision works far better than a flat list, because your brain already has a "container" for each month.

3. Classical Dances of India

India has eight classical dance forms, each recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and each tied to a specific state or region. This link between dance and state is exactly what exams test.

Bharatanatyam originates in Tamil Nadu and is considered the oldest of the classical forms, traditionally performed in temples. Kathak comes from Uttar Pradesh and North India generally, known for its fast spins and rhythmic footwork, and it shows influence from both Hindu temple traditions and Mughal-era court culture. Kathakali is from Kerala, instantly recognizable by its elaborate, colorful face makeup and costumes depicting characters from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Kuchipudi comes from Andhra Pradesh, named after the village where it originated. Odissi hails from Odisha, known for its sculpturesque poses that mirror temple carvings. Manipuri comes from Manipur, distinguished by its gentle, flowing movements tied to Vaishnavite themes. Mohiniyattam is from Kerala as well, meaning "dance of the enchantress," danced solo by women. Sattriya originates from Assam, developed within the Vaishnavite monasteries called sattras, and was given classical status more recently than the other seven.

Memory hook: think of India's map as a dance floor with eight spotlights. South has three (Bharatanatyam-Tamil Nadu, Kuchipudi-Andhra Pradesh, and both Kathakali and Mohiniyattam from Kerala), East has two (Odissi-Odisha, Sattriya-Assam), North has one (Kathak-Uttar Pradesh), and Manipur in the northeast completes the set. Grouping by geography beats memorizing a flat list of eight names.

Exam trap: Kathakali and Mohiniyattam are both from Kerala, and students often assign one of them to Tamil Nadu by mistake because Kathakali's name sounds close to Kathak, which is a completely different dance from Uttar Pradesh. Say the names slowly: Kath-AK is North, Kath-AKALI is Kerala.

4. UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India

India has one of the highest counts of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world, spread across Cultural, Natural, and Mixed categories. You don't need to memorize the entire growing list, but the frequently tested ones appear again and again.

Taj Mahal in Agra, built by Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, inscribed in 1983, is the most iconic and most-asked site.

Ajanta Caves and Ellora Caves, both in Maharashtra, are rock-cut cave complexes. Ajanta is known for Buddhist paintings and sculpture, while Ellora is unique for having Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain monuments carved side by side in the same complex, with the Kailasa Temple (a single rock carved top-down) as its centerpiece.

Khajuraho Group of Monuments in Madhya Pradesh is known for intricate temple carvings. Sun Temple, Konark in Odisha is built in the shape of a giant chariot with stone wheels. Hampi, in Karnataka, was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire. Qutub Minar in Delhi is the tallest brick minaret in the world. Red Fort Complex in Delhi, built by Shah Jahan, is where the Prime Minister hoists the national flag every Independence Day. Humayun's Tomb in Delhi is considered an architectural precursor to the Taj Mahal.

Among Natural sites: Kaziranga National Park in Assam protects the one-horned rhinoceros. Sundarbans National Park in West Bengal is the largest mangrove forest and home to the Royal Bengal Tiger. Western Ghats, a mountain range along India's western coast, is recognized as one of the world's biodiversity hotspots. Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks in Uttarakhand are known for alpine meadows and rare flora.

Exam trap: Ajanta and Ellora are often confused for each other since both are cave complexes in Maharashtra listed close together. Anchor the difference by religion: Ajanta is purely Buddhist; Ellora mixes Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain sites in one place.

5. Other Culture Basics Worth Locking In

Classical languages of India currently include Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, and Assamese, recognized based on antiquity and a rich body of ancient literature.

Khadi, the hand-spun cloth, became a symbol of India's freedom movement after Gandhi promoted the charkha (spinning wheel) as a tool of self-reliance and boycott of British goods.

Sangeet Natak Akademi is India's national academy for music, dance, and drama, headquartered in Delhi. Lalit Kala Akademi handles visual arts, and Sahitya Akademi handles literature. Memory hook: think of these three academies as three siblings guarding three rooms of Indian culture — sound and movement, paint and sculpture, and the written word.

Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, was first given in 1954, and the first recipients included C. Rajagopalachari, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and C.V. Raman. Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri follow in that order of precedence among the Padma awards, and this order is a favorite one-liner in exam papers: Vibhushan is highest, then Bhushan, then Shri.

Jnanpith Award is India's highest literary honor, and it is worth remembering that its first recipient in 1965 was G. Sankara Kurup, writing in Malayalam.

6. Classical Music, Fairs, and Handicrafts Worth Knowing

Indian classical music splits into two major streams, and exam papers love testing whether you know which is which. Hindustani classical music developed largely in North India, influenced over centuries by Persian and Central Asian musical traditions, and its major vocal forms include Khayal, Dhrupad, and Thumri. Carnatic classical music developed in South India and stayed closer to its ancient Sanskrit and Tamil devotional roots, with composers like Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, and Syama Sastri, together called the Trinity of Carnatic Music, standing at its center. Exam trap: students sometimes assume Hindustani and Carnatic are simply "old" and "new" versions of the same tradition; in fact they are two parallel systems that developed side by side, each with its own scales, instruments, and performance style, and a question describing Tyagaraja's compositions is testing Carnatic music specifically, not Indian classical music in general.

Among instruments, the sitar and tabla are strongly associated with Hindustani music, popularized globally by artists like Pandit Ravi Shankar, while the veena and mridangam are the signature instruments of Carnatic performances. Ustad Zakir Hussain, a globally celebrated tabla player, and Ustad Bismillah Khan, known for the shehnai, both received the Bharat Ratna, a detail worth remembering since it links a specific instrument to a specific legendary performer to India's highest civilian honor in one clean chain.

India's handicraft traditions are often tied to specific towns, and this town-to-craft link is a favorite exam pattern. Pashmina shawls come from Kashmir, woven from the fine wool of the Changthangi goat. Chikankari embroidery is associated with Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Banarasi silk sarees come from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, known for their gold and silver brocade work. Kanjeevaram silk sarees come from Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu. Blue pottery is a specialty of Jaipur, Rajasthan, and despite its Rajasthani identity, the craft actually traces its technique back to Persian and Central Asian influences that arrived through trade. Madhubani painting, characterized by intricate line work and natural dyes, comes from the Mithila region of Bihar, and it is also called Mithila painting for exactly that reason.

Memory hook: picture a craft map where each item "belongs" to one town the way a dish belongs to one kitchen: Pashmina lives in Kashmir's cold looms, Chikankari in Lucknow's needle work, Banarasi silk in Varanasi's ghats, Kanjeevaram in Kanchipuram's temple town, blue pottery in Jaipur's workshops, and Madhubani painting in Bihar's Mithila villages. Anchoring each craft to its town like a fixed home address stops them from sliding into each other during recall.

India's fair and festival calendar also carries exam weight beyond religious festivals. The Pushkar Fair in Rajasthan is a major camel and livestock fair combined with a religious gathering at the Pushkar Lake, held annually and drawing traders and pilgrims from across the region. The Kumbh Mela, held on a rotating cycle at four sites, Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik, is recognized as the largest peaceful gathering of people on Earth and was inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Exam trap: the Kumbh Mela's location rotates among exactly four cities on a fixed cycle tied to specific planetary positions in traditional astrology; a question naming any one of these four sites is still testing the same Kumbh Mela concept, so do not treat "Kumbh Mela at Haridwar" as a different fact from "Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj."

7. Freedom Struggle Literature and Slogans

Several phrases and slogans from India's freedom movement regularly appear alongside book and culture questions, since they blur the line between literature and history. "Vande Mataram," meaning "I praise thee, Mother," originates from Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel Anandamath, published in 1882, and it later became closely associated with the independence movement and was adopted as India's National Song, distinct in status from the National Anthem, Jana Gana Mana. Exam trap: National Song and National Anthem are two different, specific constitutional/traditional categories; Vande Mataram holds the status of National Song, while Jana Gana Mana, written by Tagore, is the National Anthem. Do not present them as interchangeable in an answer.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak gave the famous call "Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it," a slogan that became a rallying cry during the early twentieth-century phase of the independence movement. Subhas Chandra Bose gave the slogan "Give me blood, and I shall give you freedom" while addressing the Indian National Army. Bhagat Singh, along with Batukeshwar Dutt, is remembered for the slogan "Inquilab Zindabad" ("Long live the revolution"), a phrase originally coined by the poet Hasrat Mohani. Keeping the exact speaker of each slogan straight is a small habit that regularly earns easy marks, since these one-line matches show up constantly in general knowledge sections.

Quick Revision — One-Line Facts

• Gitanjali by Tagore won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature.
• Tagore wrote the national anthems of both India and Bangladesh.
• Nehru wrote The Discovery of India while imprisoned at Ahmednagar Fort.
• Gandhi's autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, was written originally in Gujarati.
• Wings of Fire is A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's autobiography.
• Arundhati Roy won the Booker Prize (1997) for The God of Small Things.
• R.K. Narayan's fictional town is Malgudi.
• Shakespeare's four major tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear.
• George Orwell wrote 1984 and Animal Farm.
• Republic Day (26 January) marks the Constitution coming into force in 1950.
• Constitution Day (26 November) marks the day it was adopted, in 1949.
• Teachers' Day (5 September) honors Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan's birth anniversary.
• Children's Day (14 November) honors Jawaharlal Nehru's birth anniversary.
• National Science Day (28 February) marks the discovery of the Raman Effect.
• World Health Day is 7 April; World Environment Day is 5 June.
• International Day of Yoga is 21 June, observed globally since 2015.
• Human Rights Day is 10 December, marking the 1948 UN Declaration.
• India has eight classical dance forms recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi.
• Bharatanatyam is from Tamil Nadu; Kathak is from Uttar Pradesh.
• Kathakali and Mohiniyattam both come from Kerala.
• Sattriya, from Assam, is the most recently added classical dance form.
• Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan for Mumtaz Mahal.
• Ellora has Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain monuments together; Ajanta is purely Buddhist.
• Kaziranga National Park protects the one-horned rhinoceros.
• Sundarbans is home to the Royal Bengal Tiger.
• Bharat Ratna was first awarded in 1954.
• Padma award order: Padma Vibhushan > Padma Bhushan > Padma Shri.
• Sangeet Natak Akademi covers music, dance and drama; Lalit Kala Akademi covers visual arts; Sahitya Akademi covers literature.
• Jnanpith Award is India's highest literary honor.
• 1 May is International Labour Day / May Day.

Memory Tables

Table 1 — Book and Author Quick Match

Book	Author	Key Fact to Remember
Gitanjali	Rabindranath Tagore	Won Nobel Prize in Literature, 1913
The Discovery of India	Jawaharlal Nehru	Written in Ahmednagar Fort prison
Wings of Fire	A.P.J. Abdul Kalam	His autobiography
The God of Small Things	Arundhati Roy	Booker Prize, 1997
The White Tiger	Aravind Adiga	Booker Prize, 2008
Swami and Friends	R.K. Narayan	Set in fictional town Malgudi
Godaan	Munshi Premchand	Hindi/Urdu fiction, rural themes
Annihilation of Caste	Dr. B.R. Ambedkar	Originally an undelivered 1936 speech
Animal Farm	George Orwell	Political allegory on the Russian Revolution
A Suitable Boy	Vikram Seth	One of the longest English novels

Table 2 — Classical Dance Forms and Their States

Dance Form	State of Origin	Distinct Feature
Bharatanatyam	Tamil Nadu	Oldest classical form, temple-based
Kathak	Uttar Pradesh	Fast spins, Mughal court influence
Kathakali	Kerala	Elaborate face makeup and costumes
Kuchipudi	Andhra Pradesh	Named after its native village
Odissi	Odisha	Sculpturesque, temple-carving poses
Manipuri	Manipur	Gentle, flowing Vaishnavite themes
Mohiniyattam	Kerala	Solo dance, "dance of the enchantress"
Sattriya	Assam	Developed in Vaishnavite monasteries

Table 3 — Important Days at a Glance

Date	Observance	Anchor Fact
26 January	Republic Day	Constitution came into force, 1950
26 November	Constitution Day	Constitution adopted, 1949
28 February	National Science Day	Raman Effect announced, 1928
7 April	World Health Day	WHO founding anniversary
5 June	World Environment Day	Environmental protection
21 June	International Day of Yoga	Observed globally since 2015
15 August	Independence Day	Freedom from British rule, 1947
5 September	Teachers' Day (India)	Dr. S. Radhakrishnan's birthday
2 October	Gandhi Jayanti	Also International Day of Non-Violence
10 December	Human Rights Day	UN Declaration, 1948

Practice MCQs

Q1. Who wrote the autobiography Wings of Fire? (a) Jawaharlal Nehru (b) A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (c) Mahatma Gandhi (d) Rabindranath Tagore

Q2. Gitanjali, which won the Nobel Prize in Literature, was written by whom? (a) R.K. Narayan (b) Rabindranath Tagore (c) Sarojini Naidu (d) Munshi Premchand

Q3. Which fictional town serves as the setting for most of R.K. Narayan's novels? (a) Malgudi (b) Kashi (c) Ayodhya (d) Panchvati

Q4. Republic Day is celebrated on 26 January to mark which event? (a) Independence from British rule (b) Adoption of the Constitution (c) The Constitution coming into force (d) Formation of the Constituent Assembly

Q5. Teachers' Day in India is celebrated on the birth anniversary of which person? (a) Jawaharlal Nehru (b) Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (c) Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (d) Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Q6. Which classical dance form originates from Tamil Nadu? (a) Kathak (b) Odissi (c) Bharatanatyam (d) Manipuri

Q7. The Discovery of India was written by Jawaharlal Nehru while he was where? (a) At his Allahabad residence (b) Imprisoned in Ahmednagar Fort (c) Studying in England (d) Touring the Soviet Union

Q8. Which of the following pairs is correctly matched (book and author)? (a) 1984 — Leo Tolstoy (b) Animal Farm — George Orwell (c) War and Peace — George Orwell (d) Anna Karenina — Charles Dickens

Q9. World Environment Day is observed on which date? (a) 22 April (b) 5 June (c) 7 April (d) 16 October

Q10. The Kathakali dance form, known for its elaborate face makeup, belongs to which state? (a) Tamil Nadu (b) Karnataka (c) Kerala (d) Andhra Pradesh

Q11. Which author won the Booker Prize in 1997 for The God of Small Things? (a) Kiran Desai (b) Arundhati Roy (c) Jhumpa Lahiri (d) Aravind Adiga

Q12. The Ellora Caves in Maharashtra are unique because they contain monuments of which religions together? (a) Only Buddhist (b) Buddhist and Hindu only (c) Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain (d) Only Jain

Q13. Which award ranks highest among India's Padma awards? (a) Padma Shri (b) Padma Bhushan (c) Padma Vibhushan (d) All three are equal in rank

Q14. The Sangeet Natak Akademi is India's national academy for which fields? (a) Literature only (b) Visual arts only (c) Music, dance, and drama (d) Science and technology

Q15. Sattriya, the most recently recognized classical dance form of India, originates from which state? (a) Manipur (b) Odisha (c) Assam (d) West Bengal

Answer Key

Q	Answer	Reason
1	(b)	A.P.J. Abdul Kalam wrote Wings of Fire as his autobiography.
2	(b)	Tagore's Gitanjali won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature.
3	(a)	Malgudi is R.K. Narayan's recurring fictional South Indian town.
4	(c)	Republic Day marks the Constitution coming into force on 26 January 1950, not its adoption.
5	(b)	Teachers' Day (5 September) honors Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan's birth anniversary.
6	(c)	Bharatanatyam is the classical dance form native to Tamil Nadu.
7	(b)	Nehru wrote The Discovery of India while imprisoned in Ahmednagar Fort.
8	(b)	George Orwell wrote both Animal Farm and 1984; Tolstoy wrote War and Peace and Anna Karenina.
9	(b)	World Environment Day falls on 5 June; Earth Day is the separate 22 April observance.
10	(c)	Kathakali, known for elaborate makeup, comes from Kerala, distinct from Kathak of Uttar Pradesh.
11	(b)	Arundhati Roy won the 1997 Booker Prize for her debut novel.
12	(c)	Ellora uniquely houses Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain monuments in one complex; Ajanta is purely Buddhist.
13	(c)	Padma Vibhushan is the highest of the three Padma awards, followed by Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.
14	(c)	Sangeet Natak Akademi covers music, dance, and drama; Sahitya Akademi handles literature and Lalit Kala Akademi handles visual arts.
15	(c)	Sattriya, originating in Assam's Vaishnavite monasteries, was the latest form given classical status.