SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 16 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 10 of 75

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

What is the theme of Avni Doshi’s Burnt Sugar, shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2020?

(a)Romantic tale in pre-independence India
(b)Political thriller in Delhi
(c)Complex mother-daughter bond
(d)Historical fiction on India-Persia trade

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Burnt Sugar is about Antara and her mother, Tara. In Pune, Antara must care for Tara, whose memory is failing from suspected early-onset Alzheimer's.

Tara neglected and abused Antara as a child, so caring for her forces Antara to face her contempt. That strained bond is the book → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Romantic tale in pre-independence India — The novel is not a romance. Its centre is a daughter caring for the mother who neglected her as a child.
(b)
Political thriller in Delhi — Its setting is Pune, not Delhi, and it is a family story, not a political thriller.
(d)
Historical fiction on India-Persia trade — There is no trade history in it. The story is a daughter, Antara, and her mother, Tara, whose memory is failing.

Concept

Avni Doshi's novel was published in India in 2019 as Girl in White Cotton and in the UK in 2020 as Burnt Sugar.

It was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, which went to Douglas Stuart's Shuggie Bain.

The same novel carries two titles, Girl in White Cotton in India and Burnt Sugar in the UK, so a question may use either.

Key facts

Burnt Sugar was first published in India in 2019 as Girl in White Cotton.
It was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize.
Douglas Stuart's Shuggie Bain won the 2020 Booker Prize.
The novel is set in Pune.

Study next

Indian and Indian-origin writers on Booker shortlists and longlistsThe Booker Prize and the International Booker Prize: what each rewardsBooker-winning books by Indian authors, such as The White Tiger

Common traps

Guessing a historical or political theme from the author's Indian setting. Burnt Sugar is a family drama in Pune.
Not recognising the book under its Indian title, Girl in White Cotton.

Booker questions are also asked at 19 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.10 (Sleeping on Jupiter, longlisted in 2015) and 17 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.10 (The White Tiger, the 2008 winner).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Current events — all 232 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.