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Solutions

Overview

Step-by-step NCERT solutions for Bholi (Chapter 8, CBSE Class 10 English) — every question and answer worked out in full, not just the final result. You can also read the Bholi textbook chapter.

Solved

What these solutions cover

All 10 questions in Bholi are solved in the PDF. Here's what's inside, exercise by exercise:

Read and Find Out

  1. Why is Bholi's father worried about her?
  2. For what unusual reasons is Bholi sent to school?
  3. Does Bholi enjoy her first day at school?
  4. Does she find her teacher different from the people at home?
  5. Why do Bholi's parents accept Bishamber's marriage proposal?
  6. Why does the marriage not take place?

Think about it

  1. Bholi had many apprehensions about going to school. What made her feel that she was going to a better place than her home?
  2. How did Bholi's teacher play an important role in changing the course of her life?
  3. Why did Bholi at first agree to an unequal match? Why did she later reject the marriage? What does this tell us about her?
  4. Bholi's real name is Sulekha. We are told this right at the beginning. But only in the last but one paragraph of the story is Bholi called Sulekha again. Why do you think she is called Sulekha at that point in the story?
Sample

Worked examples

A question from Bholi, solved step by step.

Think about it

Bholi's real name is Sulekha. We are told this right at the beginning. But only in the last but one paragraph of the story is Bholi called Sulekha again. Why do you think she is called Sulekha at that point in the story?

The name 'Bholi' means 'simpleton' — it is a nickname that encapsulates how her family and society have always seen her: as a backward, helpless, voiceless girl of no consequence. Throughout the story she is called Bholi, reflecting how others define her by her limitations.

The name 'Sulekha', by contrast, is her real, given name — a proper, dignified name. By using it in the penultimate paragraph, the narrator signals that the transformation is now complete. Sulekha speaks in "a voice that was calm and steady", without a trace of stammer, and announces a confident life plan: she will serve her parents in their old age and teach at the same school where she learned so much.

The shift in name marks the moment Bholi fully reclaims her identity. She is no longer the simpleton the world dismissed. She has shed the label 'Bholi' through education, courage, and self-determination. Using 'Sulekha' at this precise moment is the author's way of saying that the real Sulekha — intelligent, articulate, and dignified — has finally emerged from behind the belittling nickname.

Answer: She is called Sulekha at that moment because her transformation is complete — by speaking calmly and asserting a life plan without any stammer, she has shed the 'simpleton' label and reclaimed her true, dignified identity.

All 10 questions in Bholi are solved step by step in the Solutions PDF above.

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More NCERT Solutions for Class 10

Read the Bholi textbook chapter / PDF, or browse all CBSE Class 10 English solutions.

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