Sulekha, Called Bholi
The first line gives a name and takes it away.
Her name was Sulekha — but since childhood everyone had called her Bholi, the simpleton.
↳ Watch for the name 'Sulekha'. It returns once, on the last page.
📚 Chapter Learning Kit
Bholi · Class 10 English · Footprints Without Feet
English 3 topics 135 leveled MCQs 60 flashcards 4 games Free
Shared by a Veda teacher · Generated with Veda AI · Oct 2026
⚡ Veda Bites
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The whole idea, one bite at a time
Veda Bites are swipeable micro-lessons — each one teaches exactly one idea. Here's a taste from this kit; the app has the full deck.
How She Became 'Bholi'
Four misfortunes, in order.
↳ She talked very little, which everybody took for stupidity.
Before the Smallpox
She was pretty once.
At birth the child was very fair and pretty.
↳ Nobody in the story ever says that out loud.
Taken by the Hand
She had no idea what a school was.
Ramlal took her by the hand and set out. Bholi was frightened — she did not know what a school was like.
↳ The terror in this scene is the terror of not being told.
Like the Cow Lakshmi
What she thought was happening.
She remembered the old cow, Lakshmi, who had been turned out of the house and sold.
↳ A set question — and the answer shows what she believed her family thought of her.
Not for Her Sake
Why the clean dress?
The reason given: the teachers and the other schoolgirls must not think badly of the family.
↳ And she does not know that, which makes it worse.
📖 Smart notes
What you'll study, topic by topic
1
Sulekha, Whom Everyone Called the Simpleton
A fall from a cot, an attack of smallpox and a stammer are enough to turn Sulekha into 'Bholi' — the family's unmarriageable fourth daughter. When a girls' school opens in the village and the Tehsildar tells her father t…
- Her name was Sulekha, but from childhood everybody called her Bholi — the simpleton, which the glossary defines as a foolish person who is e…
- At ten months she fell from her cot on to her head, and perhaps some part of her brain was damaged; she remained a backward child, and the n…
- She had been fair and pretty at birth, but an attack of smallpox at the age of two left only her eyes untouched and marked the rest of her b…
~26 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
2
The First Day at School
A terrified child is bathed, given a clean dress and taken by the hand to a place she cannot imagine. She is laughed at, she cries — and then a teacher says her name in a voice nobody has used to her before, and promises…
- Bholi was frightened because she did not know what a school was like. She remembered the old cow Lakshmi, who had been turned out of the hou…
- Her father's reason for dressing her well was social, not affectionate: the teachers and other schoolgirls must not think badly of the famil…
- New clothes had never been made for her. She wore her sisters' old dresses, and nobody troubled to wash or mend them; today she was given a…
~27 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
3
The Wedding, and the Voice That Came Back
Years later a lame grocer of about fifty agrees to marry Bholi without a dowry — until he sees her face and demands five thousand rupees. Her father pays. Then the bride throws the garland into the fire and speaks, for t…
- Years passed. The village became a small town with a cinema under a tin shed, a cotton ginning mill and a railway station where the mail tra…
- Bishamber Nath was a well-to-do grocer with a big shop, a house of his own and several thousands in the bank — and he asked for no dowry. Bu…
- Bholi's mother accepted him at once: forty-five or fifty is no great age for a man, and it was lucky that he came from another village and d…
~28 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
❓ Leveled MCQ practice
Try the smart MCQs from this kit
135 questions laddered from warm-up to topper-level, each with an explanation. A taste:
What is Bholi's real name?
Beginner
A Sulekha
B Champa
C Mangla
D Radha
Show answer & explanation
Sulekha
The other three are her sisters.
What does the nickname 'Bholi' mean in the story?
Intermediate
A The simpleton — a foolish person easily tricked by others
B The youngest child of a large family
C A girl with a beautiful face
D One who speaks very little
Show answer & explanation
The simpleton — a foolish person easily tricked by others
The glossary gives the meaning directly.
What happened to Sulekha when she was ten months old?
Intermediate
A She fell off her cot on to her head, possibly damaging part of her brain
B She caught smallpox and nearly died
C She was left with a neighbour for several weeks
D She began to walk unusually early
Show answer & explanation
She fell off her cot on to her head, possibly damaging part of her brain
She remained a backward child afterwards.
What did the attack of smallpox do to her?
Intermediate
A It left only her eyes untouched and covered her body with deep black pock-marks
B It damaged her hearing permanently
C It weakened her legs so that she limped
D It made her unable to speak for the rest of her life
Show answer & explanation
It left only her eyes untouched and covered her body with deep black pock-marks
She was two years old at the time.
🃏 Flashcards
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60 flashcards in this kit — the app reviews them with spaced repetition so the right card returns on the right day.
🎮 Learning games
Play your way through this kit
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Word Match
True False
Fill Blank
Word Scramble
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