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In the story, ‘The Letter’ the postmaster called Ali ‘a pest’. Do you find his comment, justified? Explain.
Ali was very familiar figure for post office because he used to go to there daily. He would go and sit at a particular bench every day, waiting for his name to be called out. On one day, he had come to the post office after several days as he had fallen ill. He enquired for his letter from the postmaster. The postmaster, who was in a hurry to leave, lost his temper on Ali and called him a pest. Ali was not at all a pest; it was just that he came after many days so he was curious to know whether a letter had come for him.
Answer the following in about 150 words:
Imagine Ali writes a letter to one of his friends about what he does before his death. Write that letter on his behalf.
Dear Friend Shakeel,
I have been ill from last several month and feeling fed up with my illness. I would no longer be alive. Before dying I would like to express my feeling to you that’s why I am writing this letter to you.
Happy memories are a source of joy when one is old and about to die. When I grew old, I gave up hunting as I could now understand the pain of getting separated from a loved one. Life had changed for me. My only daughter got married and left me.
I after being separated from my daughter realized that the whole world is made of love and the pain of separation is unbearable. I have spent these days in trying to realise the anguish, pain and suffering of a father who had been waiting anxiously for his daughter's letter for last five years. I have visited every day to post office in search of a letter from my daughter. I am leading my life in the pain and grief of separation. I am undergoing a deep sorrow and feeling restlessness and tired. I think I have lived my life.
Now, I think I should stop writing with hoping of your good health and condition. It might be my last letter to you. I request you to keep the letter of my daughter protected; if you find it deliver at my address.
Yours loving friend
Ali
Ali did not come to the Post Office for several days as ____.
he had given up hope
he was upset by the Post Master's rebuke
he was unwell and able to walk to the Post Office
he was busy hunting
C.
he was unwell and able to walk to the Post Office
Who was Ali? Where did he go daily?
Ali was a coachman and an old man who was waiting for his daughter's letter to him, so he went to the Post Office daily.
'Ali displays qualities of love and patience.' Give evidence from the story to support the statement.
Ali hoped that one day he will receive a letter from her daughter. So he went to the Post Office daily for five years and asked the Post Master if there was a letter from her daughter Miriam. He was insulted and humiliated by the employees but he always ignored them. He gave a clerk five gold guineas and requested him to deliver the letter, if it would come, to his grave.
How do you know Ali was a familiar figure at the Post Office?
Ali had been visiting the Post Office everyday for five years to ask for his daughter's letter. Everyone knew him. The Post Office had become a place of pilgrimage for him as he used to wait there for long, pray and hope to receive his daughter's letter.
Why did Ali give up hunting?
Ali was a clever hunter. His eyes were very sharp that he could see a creature hidden behind the shrubs. Ali's eyes would catch the sight of his ears and in the next moment it was died. He enjoyed the bewildered terror of the young partridges. But now he had understood the meaning of love and separation. His daughter had left him and was living with her husband. And the father wanted to hear from her before he dies.
What impression do you form of the postmaster after reading the story, 'The Letter'?
The postmaster was haughty, insensitive and ill-mannered towards Ali. He couldn't understand how important the daughter's letter was for the old man. But the day his daughter fell ill, he got worried and searched the pile of letters, hoping that he would get a letter from her, saying she is well. Seeing an envelope that he expected to be the letter from her daughter was addressed to the Coachman Ali. He was shocked to see the letter and that day he realised the worth of it for the man and his years' of hope to get it.
The postmaster says to Ali, 'What a pest you are, brother!' Do you agree with the statement? Give reasons for your answer.
For several days he had not come to the post office and everyone was curious to know what had stopped him. But he came at last and again asked the postmaster if he had his daughter's letter or not. The postmaster was in hurry, got pissed off at him and called him a pest. I don't agree with the statement as he couldn't understand the pain of the old man and insulted him.
'Ali came out very slowly, turning after every few steps to gaze at the post office. His eyes were filled with tears of helplessness, for his patience was exhausted, even though he still had faith.' Why were Ali's eyes filled with tears of helplessness? What had exhausted his patience but not his faith?
Ali was waiting for her daughter's letter for five years and he was growing older and weak. After few days of ill health, he came again to the Post Office in hope to see the letter if it had come in his absence. And there was no letter for him. His eyes filled with tears of helplessness as he knew that he was near to his death. This exhausted his patience but not his faith as he still believed that the letter would arrive soon.
'Tortured by doubt and remorse, he sat down in the glow of the charcoal sigri to wait.' Who is tortured by doubt and remorse? Why? What is he waiting for?
The Post Master was tortured by doubt and remorse because he failed to understand the anxiety of the old man and insulted him. The newly-awakened father's heart made him spend the whole night of restless anxiety, in hope to receive the letter from her daughter.
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