Bholi's teacher had a sense of satisfaction that an artist feels when contemplating the completion of her masterpiece. What was her
masterpiece? Why was she satisfied?
Answers
Explanation:
Question 1.
Little Sulekha could not speak till she was five, and when at last she learnt to speak, she stammered. The other children often made fun of her and mimicked her.
(a) What did Sulekha later on come to be known as?
(b) Why did children make fun of her?
(c) What does the word ‘mimicked1 mean?
(d) What part of speech is ‘often’?
Answer:
(a) Sulekha later on came to be known as Bholi.
(b) Children made fun of her because she stammered while speaking.
(c) The word ‘mimicked’ means to copy the speech of others.
(d) It is an adverb.
Question 2.
She remembered how a few days ago their old cow, Lakshmi, had been turned out of the house and sold. “N-n-n-n No, no-no-no,” she shouted in terror and pulled her hand away from her father’s grip.
(a) Why did Bholi shout in terror?
(b) Why did she remember ‘Lakshmi’ ?
(c) What is the antonym of ‘forgotten’ in the extract?
(d) The present tense of ‘sold’ is
Answer:
(a) Bholi shouted in terror as she thought that her father was turning her out of her house.
(b) She remembered her cow ‘Lakshmi’ because ‘Lakshmi’ had also been turned out of the house a few days ago.
(c) ‘‘remembered’ is the intonym of ‘forgotten’ in the extract.
(d) Its present tense is ‘sell’.
Question 3.
The lady teacher who was in class was saying something to the girls but Bholi could understand nothing.
(a) Where was Bholi ?
(b) Why could she understand nothing?
(c) What is the antonym of ‘everything’ in the extract?
(d) The opposite of ‘lady teacher’ would be
Answer:
(a) Bholi was in the classroom in village school.
(b) She could not understand anything as it was her first day at school.
(c) ‘nothing’ is the antonym of ‘everything’ in the extract.
(d) ‘Male Teacher’ would be its opposite.
Question 4.
He said to Ramlal, “As a revenue official you are the representative of the government in the village and so you must set an example to the villagers. You must send your daughters to school.” [CBSE 2015]
(a) Who is ‘he’?
(b) What example does ‘he’ want Ramlal to set?
(c) What does the word ‘revenue’ mean?
(d) What part of speech is the word ‘an’ in the extract?
Answer:
(a) ‘He’ is the Tehsildar.
(b) The Tehsildar wanted Ramlal to send his daughters to the village school so that other villagers will follow his example by sending their daughters to the school too.
(c) It means ‘tax’.
(d) It is an article.
Question 5.
Then she began to cry and tears flowed from her eyes in a helpless flood. She kept her head down as she sat in her corner, not daring to look up at the girls, who, she knew, were still laughing at her. [CBSE 2015]
(a) Who is ‘she’?
(b) Why were the girls laughing at her?
(c) What does the word ‘daring’ mean?
(d) What is the opposite of ‘laughing’?
Answer:
(a) ‘She‘ is Sulekha, also known as Bholi.
(b) The girls were laughing at her because she had stammered while speaking her name when asked by the teacher.
(c) It means ‘wanting’.
(d) It is ‘crying’.
Question 6.
And in her smiling eyes was the light of a deep satisfaction that an artist feels when contemplating the completing of her masterpiece.
(a) What satisfaction did the teacher have?
(b) Who was the ‘masterpiece’?
(c) Find a word from the extract which means ‘thinking deeply’.
(d) What is the opposite of ‘deep’?
Answer:
(a) The teacher had the satisfaction of seeing her pupil (Bholi) turn into a bold girl willing to fight for her rights.
(b) Bholi was the ‘masterpiece.’
(c) ‘Contemplating ’ from the extract means ‘thinking deeply.
(d) Its opposite is ‘superficial’.
Short Answer Type Questions [2 Marks each]
Question 1.
Why is Sulekha called ‘Bholi’?
Answer:
Sulekha is called ‘Bholi’ because she is a simpleton due to her suffering some brain damage after falling off a cot when she was ten months old. As a result, she is not as smart as children of her age.
Question 2.
What happened to Bholi when she was two years old ?
Answer:
Bholi fell a victim to small pox at the age of two years. Her face and body became full of pock marks. She was still fortunate as her eyes had remained untouched and were fine.
Question 3.
How did Bholi react when the teacher asked her name?
Answer:
Bholi stammered when she spoke and could not tell her name completely when the teacher asked her to do so. So, she broke into tears.
Question 4.
Bholi was fascinated by the walls of the classroom. Why?
Answer:
The walls of the classroom had bright and colourful pictures of a horse, a goat, a parrot and a cow. They all looked familiar to Bholi and were like the ones in the village. That is why she was fascinated to see those pictures.
Question 13.
The last line of the text talks about an artist and the masterpiece. Elaborate.
Answer:
The ‘artist’ is the teacher and the ‘masterpiece’ is Bholi. It was her teacher who had turned Bholi into a strong and independent girl who was aware of her place in social.