Famous Cities and Their Nicknames: Full List

The correct answer is B, Jaipur. The capital of Rajasthan, founded in 1727 by Sawai Jai Singh II, earned the name because the old walled city was painted in a terracotta pink wash, traditionally said to have been done to welcome a royal visit in the nineteenth century, and the colour is still maintained by law in the old quarter. Option A is wrong because Jodhpur is the Blue City, named for the indigo-washed houses below the Mehrangarh fort, and is also called the Sun City. Option C is wrong because Udaipur is the City of Lakes, sometimes also called the White City and the Venice of the East. Option D is wrong because Jaisalmer is the Golden City, named for the yellow sandstone of its fort and havelis. All four Rajasthan cities carry colour names, which is exactly the trap this question sets.

The correct answer is A, Jodhpur. The houses crowded below the Mehrangarh fort in Jodhpur are washed in indigo blue, a colour traditionally associated with Brahmin households and also believed to keep interiors cool and repel insects, and the view of that blue sprawl from the fort gives the city its name; Jodhpur is also called the Sun City for its unbroken sunshine and stands at the edge of the Thar desert. Option B is wrong because Bhopal is the City of Lakes of Madhya Pradesh. Option C is wrong because Thrissur in Kerala is called the cultural capital of that state and is famous for the Thrissur Pooram. Option D is wrong because Indore is the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh and carries no colour nickname. In a paper, Jodhpur usually appears opposite Jaipur, so hold both pairs together.

The correct answer is B, Jaisalmer. The city in western Rajasthan is built of a honey-coloured yellow sandstone that turns golden in desert light, and its living fort, the Sonar Qila, rises out of the Thar desert; the nickname belongs to the stone, not to any metal trade. Option A is wrong because Amritsar is known as the city of the Golden Temple, which is a separate idea and not the Golden City. Option C is wrong because Surat in Gujarat is called the Diamond City of India for its diamond cutting and polishing industry, and also the textile city. Option D is wrong because Madurai is called the Athens of the East and the City of Festivals, for its temple and its long history. Candidates lose this mark by picking Amritsar, so separate the Golden City from the Golden Temple city.

The correct answer is B, the Manchester of India. Ahmedabad in Gujarat built up a large cotton textile industry on the model of the English mill town, and the comparison with Manchester, the cotton capital of Britain, stuck; the city is also called the Boston of India and, more recently, the Textile City. Option A is wrong because Chennai is the Detroit of India for its concentration of automobile manufacturing. Option C is wrong because Bengaluru is the Silicon Valley of India, as well as the Garden City and the Electronic City. Option D is wrong because Jamshedpur is the Pittsburgh of India and the Steel City, for the Tata works founded there. Papers also use the regional variants of the same name, Kanpur as the Manchester of North India and Coimbatore as the Manchester of South India.

The correct answer is B, Chennai. The capital of Tamil Nadu and its surrounding belt hold a very large share of India's car, commercial vehicle and auto component manufacturing and export, which is why it is compared with Detroit, the historic motor city of the United States; Chennai is also called the Gateway of South India. Option A is wrong because Pune, though it too has vehicle plants, is called the Oxford of the East and the Queen of the Deccan. Option C is wrong because Gurugram is a corporate and services hub in Haryana, not a motor city nickname. Option D is wrong because Jamshedpur is the Steel City, named for the Tata iron and steel works, and is also called the Pittsburgh of India. In a question of this shape the distractors are always other industrial cities, so attach each nickname to its one industry.

The correct answer is B, Kochi. The port on the Malabar coast of Kerala was the first European settlement in India and remained the chief trading harbour of the spice coast, which earned it the title Queen of the Arabian Sea; it is also the base of the Southern Naval Command and of the Cochin Shipyard. Option A is wrong because Mumbai carries the names Gateway of India, City of Seven Islands, Financial Capital of India and City of Dreams, but not this one. Option C is wrong because Panaji, the capital of Goa, is on the Mandovi and old Goa is instead called the Rome of the East. Option D is wrong because Mangaluru is a port of coastal Karnataka without this nickname. The pair to carry is Kochi as Queen of the Arabian Sea and Mumbai as the Gateway of India.

The correct answer is B, Alappuzha. Also written Alleppey, the town is laced with canals, lagoons and backwater channels crossed by houseboats, and the comparison with Venice is said to have been made by Lord Curzon; it is the home of the Nehru Trophy snake boat race. Option A is wrong because Kollam, the old Quilon, is known as the cashew capital of India. Option C is wrong because Kozhikode, the old Calicut, is remembered as the port where Vasco da Gama landed in 1498 and is called the City of Spices. Option D is wrong because Thalassery is known for its cuisine and for an old English fort, not for canals. Udaipur in Rajasthan is sometimes also called the Venice of the East, and papers exploit that overlap, so read whether the question names Kerala or Rajasthan.

The correct answer is B, Kolkata. The capital of West Bengal is called the City of Joy, a name made popular by Dominique Lapierre's book, and the City of Palaces for the grand colonial mansions built when it was the capital of British India; it is also called the Cultural Capital of India. Option A is wrong because Lucknow is the City of Nawabs, known for its courtly manners and its Awadhi cuisine. Option C is wrong because Mysuru is called the City of Palaces in a local sense and also the Sandalwood City, but the standard examination answer for both names together is Kolkata. Option D is wrong because Hyderabad is the City of Pearls and the City of Nizams, and its technology district is called Cyberabad. Where two cities can claim one name, pick the one that also fits the second name in the question.

The correct answer is B, the Coal Capital of India. Dhanbad sits on the Jharia coalfield, the chief source of coking coal for Indian steel plants and notorious for an underground fire that has burned for decades, and the city also holds the old Indian School of Mines, founded in 1926. Option A is wrong because the Steel City is Jamshedpur, also in Jharkhand, named for the Tata iron and steel works. Option C is wrong because the copper belt of the region lies around Ghatsila and Mosaboni in East Singhbhum, not at Dhanbad. Option D is wrong because mica is associated with Koderma, called the mica capital. Jharkhand alone supplies several nickname questions, so keep Dhanbad for coal, Jamshedpur for steel, Koderma for mica and Jaduguda for uranium.

The correct answer is B, Pune. The Maharashtra city earned the title from its long list of colleges, its university and its old tradition of Sanskrit and English learning, which drew students from across western and southern India; it is also called the Queen of the Deccan. Option A is wrong because Varanasi is the City of Temples, the Holy City and the City of Ghats, and although it is sometimes called the Oxford of India for the Banaras Hindu University, the Oxford of the East in Indian general knowledge is Pune. Option C is wrong because Kolkata is the City of Joy, the City of Palaces and the Cultural Capital of India. Option D is wrong because Aligarh is known for the Aligarh Muslim University and for its lock industry, not for this title. Read the options with care, since Varanasi is placed here precisely to confuse.

The correct answer is B, New York. The phrase came into use among jazz musicians and racing writers in the United States in the early twentieth century and was later taken up as a tourism slogan for New York City, which is also called the City of Skyscrapers and the Empire City. Option A is wrong because London is called the Old Smoke or simply the Smoke, after its historic coal fogs. Option C is wrong because Chicago is the Windy City, named for the wind off Lake Michigan and, by some accounts, for the talk of its politicians. Option D is wrong because Toronto is called the Queen City in Canada. World nicknames are asked as often as Indian ones, so pair the Big Apple with New York, the Windy City with Chicago and the City of Light with Paris.

The correct answer is B, Rome. The capital of Italy was called the Eternal City by Roman poets who believed the city would last whatever happened to its empire, and the Seven Hills, the Palatine, Capitoline, Aventine, Caelian, Esquiline, Quirinal and Viminal, are the heights on which the ancient city grew. Option A is wrong because Athens is called the City of Violet Crown and, in a transferred sense, lends its name to Madurai as the Athens of the East. Option C is wrong because Jerusalem is called the Holy City. Option D is wrong because Istanbul was Constantinople and is called the city on two continents; Lucknow, not Istanbul, is sometimes called the Constantinople of the East. The Eternal City and the Seven Hills always point to one answer, which makes this an easy mark once learnt.