Subject: English

Topic: Against all odds

Grade: VII

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Read the story:
The little country schoolhouse was heated by an old-fashioned, pot-bellied coal stove.
A little boy had the job of coming to school early each day to start the fire and warm
the room before his teacher and his classmates arrived.
One morning, they arrived to find the schoolhouse engulfed in flames. They dragged
the unconscious little boy out of the flaming building more dead than alive. He had
major burns over the lower half of his body and was taken to a nearby county hospital.
From his bed, the dreadfully burned, semi-conscious little boy faintly heard the doctor
talking to his mother. The doctor told his mother that her son would surely die – which
was for the best, really – for the terrible fire had devastated the lower half of his body.
But the brave boy didn’t want to die. He made up his mind that he would survive.
Somehow, to the amazement of the physician, he did survive. When the mortal danger
has passed, he again heard the doctor and his mother speaking quietly. The mother
was told that since the fire had destroyed so much flesh in the lower part of his body,
it would almost be better if he had died, since he was doomed to be a lifetime cripple
with no use at all of his lower limbs.
Once more, the brave boy made up his mind. He would not be a cripple. He would
walk. But unfortunately from the waist down, he had no motor ability. His thin legs just
dangled there, all but lifeless.

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Read the story:
Ultimately, he was released from the hospital. Every day, his mother would massage
his little legs, but there was no feeling, no control, nothing. Yet his determination that
he would walk was as strong as ever.
When he wasn’t in bed, he was confined to a wheelchair. One sunny day, his mother
wheeled him out into the yard to get some fresh air. This day, instead of sitting there,
he threw himself from the chair. He pulled himself across the grass, dragging his legs
behind him.
He worked his way to the white picket fence bordering their lot. With great effort, he
raised himself up on the fence. Then, stake by stake, he began dragging himself along
the fence, resolved that he would walk. He started to do this every day until he wore a
smooth path all around the yard beside the fence. There was nothing he wanted more
than to develop life in those legs.
Ultimately, through his daily massages, his iron persistence and his resolute
determination, he did develop the ability to stand up, then to walk haltingly, then to
walk by himself – and then – to run.
He began to walk to school, then to run to school, to run for the sheer joy of running.
Later in college, he made the track team.
Still later in Madison Square Garden this young man who was not expected to survive,
who would surely never walk, who could never hope to run – this determined young
man, Dr Glenn Cunningham, ran the world’s fastest mile**!

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 Who was Anandibai Joshi?

• Anandibai Gopalrao Joshi (31 March 1865

– 26 February 1887) was the first Indian
female physician. She was the first woman
from Bombay presidency of India to study
and graduate with a two-year degree in
western medicine in the United States.

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 Her childhood

Anandibai Joshi was born into a family of impoverished

Marathi landlords in 1865 in Kalyan, Maharashtra. At the
age of 9, she was married to a widower 20 years her
senior, Gopalrao Joshi, who worked as a government clerk.
He was progressive for his times and was a supporter of
women’s education.

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 Marriage and Life
• At the age of 14, Anandibai gave birth to a child who
lived for only 10 days due to lack of medical care. This
inspired her determination to become a physician and
help other women in similar situations. When attempts to
enroll her in missionary schools did not work out,
Anandibai and Gopalrao Joshi moved to Calcutta
(erstwhile Kolkata) where she learnt to read and write in
Sanskrit, as well as English.

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 Marriage and Life
• For the next step, they decided to look for a medical
college in the West as Anandibai felt Ayurvedic
knowledge and midwifery was not nearly enough to help
with complicated pregnancies and births and because
there was no institute of Western medicine that accepted
women in India.

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 Education

A letter was sent to Royal Wilder, a well-known American missionary,

stating Anandibai’s ardent desire to study medicine and inquiring for
a job for Gopalrao in the United States. This letter was published in
the Princeton’s Missionary Review where it caught the eye of a New
Jersey resident Theodicia Carpenter, who decided to help Anandibai.
Through her, Anandibai and Gopalrao met a physician couple called
the Thornborns who suggested a medical college for Anandibai and
also helped her when she arrived in the US. Theodicia and Anandibai
later developed a close friendship, starting from even before she left
for the US and addressed each other as ‘aunt’ and ‘niece’.

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 Education in US

• Gopalrao could not secure a position for himself in the US. Anandibai
left India in 1883 with two acquaintances of the Thornborns. There, she
applied to be enrolled in the medical program of the
Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. At the age of 19, she
started her medical education and three years later, at the age of 21,
graduated with an MD in obstetrics. Her MD thesis was titled
‘Obstetrics Among the Hindu Aryans’ where she incorporated
elements from both Western medicine and Ayurveda.

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 If you were the first doctor in India, write down two
things that you would like to do.

____________________
____________________
____________________
____________________
___________
___________

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 Fill in the blanks with the correct word.
1. Anandibai was born in ________________ near Bombay Presidency.
2. At the time of her birth, she was named as____________________.
3. Gopalrao was a _______________ at the post office.
4. At the age of ____________ ,she gave birth to a baby boy.
5. ________________ read the letter written by Gopalrao.
6. Gopalrao was accompanied by ________________ for the convention.
7. ___________________ sent a congratulatory message.

1. Kalyan
2. Yamuna
3. clerk
4. 14
5. Theodicia Carpenter
6. Pandita Ramabai
7. Queen Victoria

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 Match the columns

Column A Column B
a. 31 March 1865 i. Received convocation
b. 1883 ii. Anandibai passed way
c. June 1883 iii. Anandibai was born
d. 11 March 1886 iv. Reached America
e. 26 February 1887 v. Husband was transferred

a-iii, b-v, c-iv, d-i, e- ii

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 Answer the following questions
•Describe Anandibai’s childhood.
Anandibai was born on 31st March 1865, in Kalyan, a small town
near Bombay Presidency. At the time of her birth, her family
named her Yamuna. She belonged to a family of landlords who
had lost their wealth. She was married at the age of 9 to Gopalrao
Joshi.
•Who was Gopalrao Joshi?
Gopalrao Joshi was married to Anandibai. He was a widower and
was almost twenty years older to her. He worked as a clerk in the
post office.
•What did Gopalrao teach Anandibai after marriage?
Gopalrao taught Anandibai Sanskrit and English after marriage.
• Why did Anandibai decide to be a doctor?
At the age of 14, Anandibai delivered a baby boy. But the baby
died because of insufficient medical care. This made her decide to
be a doctor so that no one could ever lose their loved ones.

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 Answer the following questions
• What did Gopalrao write in a letter to Royal Wilder?
Gopalrao wrote a letter to Royal Wilder about his wife’s desire to
study medicine in America and inquired about a suitable job for
himself in America.
•Who was Theodicia Carpenter? How did she help Anandibai?
Theodicia Carpenter was a resident of Roselle, New Jersey who
read the letter published by Wilder in his publication. She was
impressed by Anandi’s desire to become a doctor. She was
touched by her husband’s support and encouragement. So, she
wrote a letter to her offering accommodation in America.
•What did Anandibai want to do after she came back to India?
Anandibai was offered a job as a doctor at the female ward at the
Albert Edward hospital, Kolhapur. She decided to come back and
accept the offer.
• Why did the Ayurvedic doctor refuse to treat Anandibai?
The Ayurvedic doctor refused to treat Anandibai because she had
crossed all limits of decency by travelling aboard.

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