February 18, 1924
This word "Bha" was followed by another kindred word "Bhal," meaning in English "all right." Whenever anyone asked her how she was, she at once said "Bhal," meaning to say "all right." This became a very peculiar word with her, because once she said "Bhal," she went on repeating this word for some time. During the repetition of this word, if anyone asked her any other question, the reply invariably was "Bhal." It was very difficult to understand what she meant by such a reply. This happened on the eighteenth of February, 1924, for the first time.
February 21, 1924
At this time, it was found that Kamala had learned to assert herself in a very mild form. She had learned to know her clothes, especially the showy-colored ones, in addition to the red color, which gained the highest place in her mind. If any of the children took a red cloth, Kamala would at once jump on her and snatch it away, meaning to show that no one except herself had any right to the red-colored cloth. She would never part with it, whether it belonged to her or not. She did this first of all on the above date.
Hearing constantly the talk about Kamala's clothes from the children and their repetition of the word "red" with regard to her clothes, some idea got into her mind; and whenever the word "red" was said, Kamala at once turned her eyes to the child who uttered it.
February 22, 1924
When some new clothes were being distributed among the children, Kamala was asked first which frock she would have. On hearing this question, Kamala pulled out a red frock. Mrs. Singh asked her why she wanted this frock. She at once replied in a drawn-out expression, "L-a-1" (the Bengali word for "red"). This was sufficient to show that she understood what she meant.
February 28, 1924
At dinner time, when Kamala was asked if she wanted anything, she at once uttered "Bha" meaning "rice."
February 29, 1924
Some of the children were taken to form a line, and Kamala was one of them. Mrs. Singh told them beforehand to say "Ami" (meaning "I") one by one, from the first child in the line to the last. There were seventeen children in the line. Every child uttered "Ami" successively, and when it came to Kamala's turn, she said "Am."
March 2, 1924, and March 11, 1924
After this, it was found that Kamala was learning the first letter of some of the children's names, especially those who used to associate with her frequently. She was asked the name of Saraju, and she answered "Soo" pointing to Saraju. This showed clearly that Kamala was trying her best to learn the names of persons and things, but her defective tongue failed to bring out the clear phonetic sound. In this way Kamala uttered "Toom" for "Toomy" in Bengali (for "I am" in English). This was on the eleventh of March, 1924. During the year 1927, Kamala could call almost all the children by the first letter, or the first two letters of their names.
February 10, 1927
At the beginning of the year 1927, on the tenth of February, it was noticed by Mrs. Singh that Kamala had entered the Orphanage bathroom and was not coming out. Mrs. Singh hastened to the bathroom and found that Kamala had been out for a movement, and after passing stools outside had come into the bathroom and was trying to wash herself by taking water from a bucket which held water. From this time, Kamala always tried to wash herself on these occasions, but could not do it perfectly well, and Mrs. Singh always had to help her.
Before Kamala could utter anything, the word "Ma" came naturally to her. She would call out "Ma" to Mrs. Singh, and then hide herself in a corner. This utterance and her behavior clearly manifested that she was commencing to like our society. In this way, when Kamala began to mix with the children freely, her vocabulary also increased rapidly day by day.
March 13, 1924
When Kamala was asked by Dewly, a girl of the Orphanage, whether she would go with her to gather fruit from the garden, she replied saying "Jab" (for "Jabo" in Bengali). The next day, when the same question was asked her by another girl named Parul, she at once said "Am-jab" (for "ami jabo" in Bengali and "I will" in English).
At this stage of her life in our midst, we found that Kamala was giving up many of her wild habits, and at the same time cultivating the idea of replacing them by human qualities to form human habits. This fact was very encouraging to us, and we attended to Kamala much more day by day.
December, 1924
Kamala again fell ill, and we got very anxious about her. The illness was fever and dysentery. During this illness, she behaved just like a human baby three years old. She would not leave Mrs. Singh for a moment. She wanted her to attend to her all the while, and Mrs. Singh was also so much taken up by her that she did not care whether it was day or night, but was at her side all the time.
One peculiarity was especially noticed during this illness: her tongue became active, and she commenced talking in a fashion that amazed us all immensely. Though the words were broken, yet she expressed herself in a wonderful way.
We found that her vocabulary increased by leaps and bounds, with small sentences. The following is a list of the important words she used with their Bengali and English equivalents. This list was kept from the very beginning.
Kamala's Words |
Bengali Equivalents |
English Equivalents |
Ud |
Ashud |
Medicine |
Doo |
Dudh |
Milk |
Bha |
Bhat |
Rice |
Dal |
Dal |
Pea Soup |
Moor |
Muri |
Parched rice |
Rut |
Roti |
Loaf or Chapatty |
Mang |
Mangsa |
Meat |
Mug |
Murghi |
Fowl |
Foo |
Phul |
Flower |
Ga |
Gach |
Tree |
Koo |
Kukur |
Dog |
Par |
Paira |
Pigeon |
Inoo |
Indur |
Mouse |
Tha |
Thala |
Plate |
Gas |
Gelash |
Glass |
Hut |
Hath |
Hand |
Dim |
Dim |
Egg |
Khel |
Khalena |
Toy |
Pak |
Pakhi |
Bird |
Go |
Goru |
Cow |
Cha |
Chagulo |
Goat |
Bil |
Biral |
Cat |
Pan |
Pan |
Betel leaf |
Zo |
Jal |
Water |
Maz |
Mach |
Fish |
Ain |
A-inah |
Mirror |
Fok |
Farak |
Frock |
Chui |
Churi |
Knife |
Bat |
Bati |
Cup |
Puz |
Pyjamah |
Pajama |
Chad |
Chador |
Wrapper |
Toop |
Topi |
Cap |
Aoo |
Alu |
Potato |
Paz |
Piyaz |
Onion |
Ghoi |
Gharu |
Clock |
Cho-Ghoi |
Chota Gharu |
Timepiece |
Ball |
Ball |
Ball |
Choi |
Chobi |
Picture |
Gho |
Ghora |
Horse |
Go-Ga |
Goru Gari |
Bullock Cart |
Gho-Ga |
Ghora Gari |
Horse carriage |
Koo |
Kua |
Well |
Bag |
Baghan |
Garden |
Bak |
Baksa |
Box |
Joot |
Juta |
Shoe |
|
Thus the vocabulary of Kamala went on increasing from the time of her illness till the end of her life.
After a few days, Kamala got all right, and a Thank Offering Service was held in which Kamala joined. She knelt down in the line with the other children at the service, and behaved admirably.
From now on, it was invariably noticed that she wanted to be dressed like the other children before going out for a stroll both evening and morning; this clearly showed that she had acquired the habit of wearing clothes, and did not like to be naked as before.
December 19, 1924
She used to put on her pajamas over her loincloth, and her frock over her pajamas. On this date it was thought necessary that her loincloth should be unripped and she would wear only the pajamas. Kamala was found very happy when the loincloth was unstitched and she helped Mrs. Singh in taking off and opening the cloth.
Here the loincloth needs some explanation, as it is. found difficult to understand the mechanism as to how it was fastened, as it required constant opening out and refixing. There was a permanent band like a belt round the waist. A long, strong band of about three inches wide was first introduced through the belt in front and folded to bring it to an equal proportion at the other end, so that both the ends came together at the end. Thus making the band double, it was introduced into the belt behind the waist in the middle, and it was stitched at first, but later it was tucked up with two or three safety pins, so that it could not be opened out. Whenever it was wetted or was spoiled by passing stool, the band was immediately removed, replacing it with another, just like the removal of the babies' napkins on these occasions. The band was kept there very loose, of course.
