Question

Read the extract beginning from -
“Her name was Sulekha..... find bridegrooms for them.” Narrate this extract in short, making Sulekha (Bholi) the narrator. Write it in your notebook. Begin with “I was named Sulekha __________________ ”

Answer 1

“I was named Sulekha but since my childhood, everyone has been calling me Bholi, the simpleton. I am the fourth daughter of Numberdar Ramlal. When I was ten months old, I had fallen off the cot and hit my head. Perhaps, it had damaged some part of my brain. That was why, I remained a backward child and came to be known as Bholi, the simpleton.

At birth, I was very fair and pretty. But when I was two years old, I had an attack of smallpox. Only my eyes were saved. But my entire body was permanently disfigured by deep black pockmarks. I could not speak till I was five and when at last I learnt to speak, I stammered. The other children often made fun of me and mimicked me. As a result, I talked very little.

My father, Ramlal, has seven children, three sons, and four daughters and I am the youngest of them. Ours has been a prosperous farmer’s household and there has always been plenty to eat and drink. Unlike me, my brothers and sisters were healthy and strong. My brothers had been sent to the city to study in schools and later in colleges. Of my sisters, Radha, the eldest had already been married. My second sister Mangla’s marriage had also been settled. My father would now think of my third sister, Champa. They were good looking, healthy girls. And it was not difficult to find bridegrooms for them.