Bholi - Story of a village girl.

This story is all about a simple village girl named Bholi. Her real name was Sulekha. But fate deceived her and when she was ten months old, she fell off the cot damaging some part of her brain. As a result, she could pick up speech only after she was five years old, but she stammered. Later on, when she was two years old, she had an attack of small pox that left her with blank spots all over the body. The other children often made fun of her and mimicked her. Therefore, she talked very little.

Numberdar Ramlal has seven Children in all-three sons and four daughters. Bholi was the youngest. All other were healthy and strong except Bholi. Bholi was seven years old when a primary school opened in their village. The tehsildar came to perform the opening ceremony of the school. He told Ramlal that as a revenue official and as a representative of the government in the village, he should send his daughter to the school and set an example before the villagers. When he consulted his wife about the issue, his wife did not agree with him. Yet she decided to send Bholi to the school.

The next day, Bholi was given a bath, and a new dress to wear. Her mother makes her hair and then she was sent to the school. When her father left her in the school, she sat in a corner in the class. When her teacher asked her name, she stammered and the children started laughing. At this Bholi started weeping. But the teacher’s voice was soft and soothing. It encouraged her a lot and finally she could tell her full name. Then the teacher told her that if she would come daily to school, she would speak without a stammer and one day she would become the most educated girl in the village. Then no one will dare to laugh at her. Then they will listen to her carefully. She would rock the world and everyone would be jealous of her.

After hearing these lines from her teacher she became happy and satisfied.

Years passed and the village now turned into a small town. One night Ramlal consulted his wife about the proposal made by Bishamber, a grocer in the neighbouring village. His wife readily agreed to it. Bholi was also listening this conversation. The day of her marriage came. When the bridegroom was about to garland her, some lady pulled her veil down showing her face to him. The bridegroom had a quick glance at her face and noticed pox marks on her face. At this, he asked Ramlal to give him five thousand rupees as dowry in order to marry that ugly girl. After having some arguments, her father Ramlal handed over the money to bridegroom Bishamber. But Bholi could not control her feelings and asked her father to take money back from him as she did not want to marry that old lame and greedy person. Everybody was surprised because Bholi was not stammering at all. The bridegroom went back with his baraat. Ramlal could not lift his head due to shame and grief. He told Bholi that no one will marry her now. But Bholi said to him that she would serve her parents in their old age and teach in the same school where she had learnt so much.

Moral of the story is that no one is perfect, we should face our problems rather than cry and never be afraid of it. This story also teaches us that bad person should never be encouraged as they can do any bad thing for their greed.

This story is an extract from "Bholi" of K. A. Abbas, an Indian author (1914-1987).