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Chapter 9: Bholi (Summary, Bholi was written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (K.A. Abbas) who was a popular Indian film director, journalist and novelist, known for his works in Hindi, Urdu and other languages. This story is about a young girl named Sulekha who was popularly referred to as ‘Bholi’ for her simple nature. At ten months, she fell from her cot which caused some severe damage on her brain and she used to stammer when she learnt to talk. Bholi was born a pretty child, but she suffered from small-pox that left dark pock-marks on her face permanently. The ugly marks spoilt her appearance and people would often make fun of her due to her dullness. They would also consider her to be retarded as she stammered while speaking., Bholi’s father, Ramlal had around seven children, out of which three were sons and four were daughters. Among all daughters, Bholi was the youngest. All her siblings were hale and hearty, except young Bholi. Her parents were worried about her as to how to get her married when she would grow older. One fine day, Tehsildar Sahib had come to perform an inaugural ceremony of a primary school for girls in the village. He told Ramlal to send all his daughters to school. When Ramlal discussed with his wife, she objected and stated that nobody would marry their daughters if they were sent to school. Yet, she agreed to send Bholi to school as they were not sure if she would ever get married for her appearance or feeble-mindedness., Initially, Bholi was skeptical about going to school as she had never heard about it. However, on the first day of school, she was groomed properly and sent to school, she assumed that it was a better place than her own home. When she reached school, she was elated to see girls of her age around. She wanted to make friends but dared not to open her mouth due to stammering. However, when the class teacher smilingly asked her name, she stammered in front of the entire class and all the girls started laughing at her. This discouraged her completely. She started weeping and understood that nobody would like to be friends with her. Soon her teacher, a kind-hearted lady, encouraged her to tell her name again. She stammered yet again, but was finally able to tell her full name. Her teacher gave her a few good books with pictures and asked her to read those as it would help her to overcome her stammering habit. She also told Bholi to come to school regularly. This gave the young girl a new ray of hope and assurance of a new life., Many years passed, the village soon became a small town and saw many improvements around it. Soon, there was a marriage proposal for Bholi. The prospective bridegroom, Bishamber Nath was a limping old man with grown-up children. He was almost of Bholi’s father’s age. However, Ramlal’s family agreed for the alliance as they felt he was a well-settled fellow. Bholi’s elder sisters were however, envious of the great pomp and show at their younger sister’s wedding. However, when the groom, Bishamber was about to put the garland around the bride’s neck, a woman slowly slipped the veil from Bholi’s face. The groom was surprised to see the pock marks on her face and refused to marry her without a dowry of five thousand rupees. Bholi’s father, Ramlal somehow arranged the amount and gave it to Bishamber Nath., However, as the groom tried to garland the bride, Bholi held his hand and refused to marry such a voracious person. All the people present in the wedding were stunned to see how confidently she spoke without stuttering. The groom felt insulted and returned to his village. Later, Bholi assured her father that she would take care of him and her mother in their old age and would become a teacher in the same school where she learnt so many new and good things. Looking at this, Bholi’s teacher who was watching from a distance felt a deep sense of relief and satisfaction at Bholi’s courage and confidence that she exhibited in front of so many people., Homework, Question 1., Why was Sulekha nicknamed Bholi ?, Answer:, When Sulekha was 10 months old, she fell from the cot. By this accident, her head and some part of brain got damaged. She also stammered. She remained a backward child. Being simple, she was nicknamed Bholi., Question 2., Give examples from the text, that Bholi was a neglected child., Answer:, Bholi was quite a neglected child at home. No new clothes were made for her and she was always passed on dresses of her elder sisters. No one cared to bathe her or oil her hair or even wash her clothes. The neglect was probably due to the fact that she was the youngest in the house of seven children. It might be that she failed to draw attention and affection of her parents because of her disadvantageous looks or her physical setbacks., Question 3., Why did the other children make fun of Bholi ?, Answer:, Some part of Bholi’s brain had got damaged when she fell from a cot at the age of ten months. This made her a little backward and simpleton. She learnt to speak a little late and stammered a lot. Thus, the children made fun of her and mimicked her., Question 4., Why was Ramlal worried about Bholi and not about his other children ?, Answer:, Ramlal was more worried about Bholi because she was the weakest child in their family while her brothers and sisters were healthy. He was worried about her ugly looks because of the pock-marks all over her body and also because of her stammering. He was worried that no one would come forward to marry Bholi because of her being weak and ugly., Question 5., For what unusual reasons was Bholi sent to school ?, Answer:, The Tehsildar Sahib put the responsibility of sending the girls of the village on Ramlal, the revenue official as he was the representative of village. Ramlal had not the courage to disobey him. He also felt that there was a little chance of Bholi’s getting married due to her ugly face and lack of sense., Question 6., Why did Bholi react when her father caught her by the hand to take her to school ? How did her fear disappear after she had gone to school ?, Answer:, Bholi, the weakest child of the family, was suffering from physical disability and mental infirmity, because of which she didn’t want to go to school. But then, her teacher proved a gem to her who always provided all possible help and assistance to her and turned her into a bold and confident girl. The teacher always encouraged her and asked her to come to school daily., Question 7., How does Bholi become her teacher’s masterpiece ?, Answer:, Bholi was definitely her teacher’s masterpiece because under her guidance, she overcame her handicap of stammering. The shy and reticent child bloomed into a bold and confident girl. She was a true masterpiece because she had the courage to revolt against a social evil of dowry and refused to marry the greedy Bishamber Nath., Question 8., Why did Bholi refuse to marry Bishamber at last?, Answer:, In the end, Bholi refused to marry Bishamber because he was greedy and mean. She refused to allow him to garland her and told him that he was a contemptible person.