Question 1.

Why was Sulekha nicknamed Bholi?

Answer:
Sulekha was nicknamed Bholi because she was a simpleton. She was mentally slow and
anybody could befool her.

Question 2.
Why did Sulekha start stammering?
Answer:
Sulekha was a baby when she fell down from a cot. Her brain was damaged. She could not
speak till the age of five years. She was mentally slow and lacked confidence. That is why she
started stammering.
Question 3.
Why was Ramlal worried about Bholi and not about his other children?
Answer:
All other children of Ramlal were healthy and good looking. Bholi was the only girl who was
neither intelligent nor good looking. She was a simpleton, she stammered also. Ramlal was
extremely worried about her future.
Question 4.
Why did the Tehsildar come to Ramlal’s village? What did he ask Ramlal to do?
Answer:
The Tehsildar came to Ramlal’s village to inaugurate the primary school. He asked Ramlal to set
an example for others by sending his daughters to school.

Question 5.
What was Ramlal’s wife reaction?
Answer:
His wife was an orthodox village woman. She was against the idea of sending her daughters to
school. She thought that education would affect their marriage prospects adversely.
Question 6.
Why did she agree to send Bholi to school?
Answer:
She thought that education would ruin the marriage prospects of their daughters but Bholi was a
simpleton. There was no possibility of her marriage. So she agreed to send Bholi to school.

Question 7.
Why was Bholi reluctant to go to school with her father?
Answer:
Bholi did not know what a school was like. She had never heard about it. When her father held
her hand and told her that they were going to school, she got frightened fearing to be dragged
out of the house. So she was reluctant to go to school with her father.
Question 8.
What made her feel that she is going to a better place than her home?
Answer:
Bholi never got attention before that day. She was bathed and given a clean dress. Oil was
rubbed into her dry and matted hair. This made her feel that she was going to a better place
than her home.

Question 9.
Did Bholi enjoy her first day in school? What made her happy on this very day?
Answer:
It was a mixed day for Bholi. She was happy to see the girls of her age. She was fascinated with
the colourful pictures on the wall of the classrooms. But when the teacher asked her name she
could not answer properly and other girls laughed at her. She cried. But her teacher’s soft words
made her happy on this very day.
Question 10.
Which incident touched her heart?
Answer:
All the girls were laughing at her. The teacher called her by name in her soft and soothing voice.
This touched her heart because she had never been called in that loving way.

Question 11.
“Her heart was throbbing with a new hope and a new life”.
(i) What was the new hope and new life?
(ii) What did she relate the pictures in the school wall to?
Answer:
(i) The new hope was that she would become learned like others. People would listen to her.
She would be able to speak without stammering. Now she would not be treated as inferior to
others.
(ii) She related the pictures of the school wall with the real things around her. The goat was
black like the goat of their neighbour. The cow was just like their Lakshmi. The horse was brown
just like the Tehsildar’s horse.

Question 12.
How does she become a masterpiece?
Answer:
The teacher transformed a simpleton girl into a well-behaved and confident girl. Bholi was a
foolish and stammering girl. The teacher put in all her hard work in transforming her into a
mentally strong and well-educated girl. It was really a masterpiece of the teacher.
Question 13.
Why did Bholi look at Bishamber with cold contempt?
Answer:
Bholi looked at Bishamber with cold contempt because he had demanded 5000 to get married
to her. Bholi saw how her father got humiliated; she realised that Bishamber was greedy and
exploiting her father due to her look.

Question 14.
Why did Bishamber’s marriage with Bholi not take place?
Answer:
Bishamber’s marriage with Bholi did not take place because Bholi refused to marry a greedy
man. She also realised that Bishamber was trying to exploit her father due to her looks.
Question 15.
Why did Bholi’s parents accept Bishamber’s proposal? Give three reasons.
Answer:
Bholi’s parents were always worried about her marriage as she was not beautiful and intelligent.
Bishamber was wealthy and did not demand any dowry also. So they accepted the proposal
after a little discussion.

Question 16.
Why did Bholi talk very little as a child?
Answer:
Bholi could not speak till she was five, and when at last she learnt to speak, she stammered.
The other children would make fun of her and even mimicked her. So she used to talk very little.
Question 17.
How did Bholi react when her father caught her by the hand to take her to school? Why?
Answer:
When Ramlal caught Bholi by the hand to take her to school, she was frightened. She did not
know what a school was like. She thought her father was turning her out of the house. She
shouted in terror and pulled her hand away from her father’s grip.

Question 18.
What kind of a mother, do you think, Ramlal’s.wife was?
Answer:
Ramlal’s wife’was an uncaring and callous mother. She never showed the affection to Bholi that
she deserved as her child. She felt that the girl with pox-marks and lack of sense was a burden.
That’s why she sent her to school so that the teachers took the trouble to handle the girl. Even
when it was the matter of her marriage, the mother showed no sympathy and consented to get
her married to an old and lame man.
Question 19.
Give example from the text to show that Bholi was a neglected child.
Answer:
Due to her physical appearance Bholi was neglected by her parents. New dresses were made
for her sisters; the old dresses of her sisters were passed on to her. No one ever cared to mind
or wash her clothes. She was sent to school as her mother believed her to be a burden.

Question 20.
Why is Bholi’s father worried about her?
Answer:
Bholi’s father is worried about her as she has neither good looks nor intelligence. He did not
know how he would find a suitable groom for her.