Footprints Without Feet Supplementary Reader Chapter 9 Bholi

In her childhood, Sulekha suffered a head injury. It made her mentally weak and simpleton. She became a slow learner and stammered. The attack of small pox left her permanently disfigured. It affected her life badly.

The tehsildar had inaugurated a primary school for girls in Ramlal’s village to encourage the girl education. As Ramlal was a revenue-official, he was a government representative in the town. Hence, the Tehsildaar asked Ramlal to set an example for them. 

The teacher found Bholi intimidated by social pressures. She had sympathy for her. She wanted to help her overcome her fears and inhibitions. Besides, it was her duty to encourage and help the weak students individually.

Bholi’s teacher provided her the sympathy, kindness, attention and love that she needed and could get nowhere. Her own family underestimated her capabilities on account of her disabilities. She encouraged and supported Bholi. Her teacher's belief in her abilities, filled Bholi with confidence.

Her teacher’s soft and soothing voice, her faith in Bholi and her encouragement filled Bholi with the new hope of becoming a confident, respectable and learned person breaking all the barriers.

Bholi strove really hard to overcome her inferiority complex and weaknesses. She gradually got rid of her stammering. She grew to be a confident and self-respecting girl who was capable of fighting the social evils.  Thus, she fulfilled her teacher's expectations.

Bholi loved her parents very much. So, for the sake of their respect and happiness, she had accepted to marry Bishamber. When Bishamber demanded rupees five thousand as dowry and insulted her father, she refused to marry him to save Ramlal’s self respect.

When Bholi was of ten months, she fell off the cot on her head. The injury adversely affected Bholi’s mental and speaking capabilities. She could not speak till the age of five. When she started speaking finally, she stammered. Hence, people considered her a dumb cow. With her teacher’s love and care, she gained confidence. When she grew up, she was able to speak properly without any fear.

Bholi was no longer a mentally weak simpleton. She had grown to be a confident, learned, self-respecting and a bold girl. Neither she stammered, nor was she afraid of rebelling against the wrong. Thus, she was transformed into Sulekha.

Bholi’s teacher was, undoubtedly, responsible for her transformation into Sulekha. She taught her lovingly. She showed Bholi that she had faith in her abilities. Her encouragement helped her in removing all obstructions. Eventually, she emerged as a confident girl.

Bholi’s school teacher is the artist in the story, who with her kindness, caring support and encouragement raises Bholi's self-esteem and fills her with confidence. Bholi is her teacher's masterpiece because she transformed her entirely and educated her in true sense of terms. 

Bishamber was an old, lame and a rich man who had grown up children. He was mean, greedy and selfish. He was an opportunist who tried to take advantage of Bholi’s weaknesses by demanding five thousand rupees as dowry. He thought that Bholi's father, Ramlal would fulfill his demand at such a ripe time to save his family from being dishonoured.

Ramlal had been as loving, caring and attentive to Bholi as towards his other children. He was more worried about her. He was reluctant to send her to school out of concern. He also raised objections to Bishamber’s proposal. He was happy to see her great wedding. When he saw that his daughter's happiness is at stake, he immediately got ready to pay such a huge amount as dowry. Hence, it can be said that Ramlal loved his daughter Bholi.

Ramlal’s wife was a typical village woman. She was biased towards her good looking, better children. She did not care about Bholi. She had no affection for her own daughter. She advised Ramlal to send Bholi to school because she thought that her other daughter's won't get married if they go to school. She was ready to marry her off to anyone. 

Bholi was a simple, but sensitive girl. Unfortunately, she suffered from a head injury and small pox. It made her suffer all through her life. She couldn't speak till she was five. She stammered when she started speaking. The attack of smallpox had permanently disfigured her whole body leaving black pock marks.  She was a hard working and dedicated learner. With her teacher’s support, she grew to be confident, bold and independent. Seeing her teacher's faith in her abilities, she made efforts to improve herself. Her confident and bold attitude to raise her voice against a social evil proved that she was educated in true sense of terms. 

On her first day in the school, the teacher gave her a book full of pictures that were in colour. And with every picture, there was a word in big black letters.

Bholi was not afraid of her future. She decided to remain unmarried and look after her parents in their old age. She also planned to teach in the same school where she had studied. Her plan was appreciated by the teacher.

Importance of Educating Differently Abled Children

Education does not discriminate. It is important to educate every child irrespective of his or her abilities and disabilities. There are proofs that differently abled children have more capabilities than the normal children have. Nearly, three percent of our population is differently abled. If education is made accessible to all, it will only benefit the nation.
By educating such children, we can make them independent enough to be able to survive in a world of such competition and struggle. Educating them would also mean that they would be wise enough to make good choices for their future and be able to sustain themselves in times of crisis.

Yes, she finds her teacher different from the people at home. Her teacher acts very kind to her. She speaks to her so softly that it touches her heart. Nobody ever talked to her in that tone before. She encourages her to speak and pats her affectionately. She assures her that if she puts the fear out of her heart she will be able to speak like everyone else.

Thec marriage doesn't take place because Bholi denies to marry Bishamber. Actually, seeing pockmarks on Bholi's face Bishamber forces Ramlal to pay five thousand rupees as dowry. He says that if Ramlal does not pay five thousand rupees he won't marry his daughter. Being a concerned father, Ramlal gets the money to the bridegroom. When Bholi sees her father crying, she denies to marry Bishamber and asks her father to take his money back.

Bholi's real name was Sulekha. When she was a child, an accident damaged a part of her brain and the attack of smallpox left its marks on her body forever. Moreover, she could not speak properly. Other than the people of the town, her own family had no expectations from her. Throughout the lesson she remained quiet and nowhere dis she express her thoughts. But raising her voice against an evil and saving her father's self respect, she proved that she was not Bholi anymore. She was now Sulekha. 

Education is one of the most critical areas of empowerment for women. Offering girls basic education is one sure way of giving them much greater power of enabling them to make genuine choices over the kinds of lives they wish to lead. This is exactly what happened with Bholi. At first, Bholi had agreed to marry an old man because of her father’s honour, thereby placing her family’s interest over her own. However, later she refused to marry him because she saw how mean, greedy and contemptible he was. By demanding a hefty dowry, Bishamber took advantage of her bad looks and the desperateness of her father to get her married. This is why she rejected the marriage and silenced everybody who called her shameless.

Bholi is not able to speak clearly. She stammers when she speaks. She has pock marks on her face. She is neither pretty nor street-smart. She has a fear which does not let her mingle with others. That is why she is different from others. But the society does not tolerate difference easily. No one likes her and she becomes an object of neglect and laughter. They all ridicule her and make fun of her. As a result, she talks very little and has isolated herself. To add to her agony, her parents don’t treat her right. They too consider her ugly, never make new clothers for her or encourage her. Instead of supporting her and encouraging her, her mother considers her witless and calls her a dumb cow.

OR

In the poem ‘For Anne Gregory’ the poet wants to convey that inner beauty is the real beauty whereas physical appearance is changeable and it is not so important. The first speaker says to her that young men love her for her beautiful yellow hair and may be they will never love her for what she really is. To this, Anne replies that her hair colour can be changed. In fact, external beauty is all superficial and men should not love her for that. Through this reply, the poet has categorically shown his preference for internal beauty over physical appearance. Physical appearance can never give a true account of a person as it can be changed with the help of clothing, make-up and other such things but inner beauth is for real and stays with the person forever.