Bholi’s real name was Sulekha but she was called Bholi, the simpleton as she was a backward child. She was the fourth daughter of Numberdar Ramlal who had seven children. Bholi remained a backward child due to an injury in her head when she was ten months old. She was fair and pretty at birth but when she was two years old, she had an attack of smallpox which left deep black marks all over her body. She started speaking only when she turned five but she stammered when she spoke and as a result she was always mimicked or made fun of by the other children. Therefore, Bholi talked very little. Unlike Ramlal’s other children, she was not healthy and strong. She was frightened at first when her father wanted to take her to school. But when she was bathed and given new clothes to wear, she began to believe that she was being taken to a place better than her home. Bholi did not know what exactly a school was and what happened there, but when she saw girls like her present there, she was glad. She hoped that one of those girls would become her friend. In the class when her teacher asked her name, she tried to say but the girls started laughing when she stammered. She cried and kept her head down throughout the class. When her teacher called out her name softly after the class was over, she was very touched because no one had every spoken to her in such soft voice. The teacher was very encouraging and friendly to her and this made her gain confidence to speak. She started seeing a ray of hope for a new life. After years of gaining education and with the help of her teacher, Bholi turned into a confident girl. She no longer stammered and could speak properly. She even had the courage to refuse marrying the lame old man because he was greedy and asked money from her father to marry her. On seeing her father worried about her marriage, she said that he need not worry as she would teach in the same school where she learnt so much and would take care of him and her mother in their old age.\xa0