Write the summary of the chapter 'The Letter' by Dhumaketu.
Answers
‘The Letter’ written by Dhumaketu is the story of an old coachman whose daughter Miriam, married a soldier and went to live with him. Ali missed her and gave up hunting after he realized the pain of separation. Five years passed, but he kept on waiting for Miriam’s letter. He went to the nearby post-office daily in the hope of getting a letter from her. But no letter ever came for him. Rather the clerks and other officials made fun of him. They would call out his name in mischief and when Ali would go to the window they would laugh at him.
Ali used to feel bad about all this. The postman started taking him to be a mad man. But Ali, not bothering about all this, returned every day to the post-office just to hear a word from his daughter or about her well-being. Towards the end of his life, his ill-health prevented him from visiting the post-office daily.
He couldn’t breathe properly. So, one day, when he visited the post-office, he told one of the clerks to do him a favour by forwarding Miriam’s letter to his grave. He offered him five golden guineas for this. There were tears in his eyes. He was never seen after that and then nobody bothered to enquire about him. Time passed.
One day, the postmaster had a problem. His daughter, who lived in another town, fell ill. He anxiously waited for news of her but there was none. It was at this moment that he was reminded of Ali and his anxiety of getting a letter from his daughter.
This realisation made him truly repentant of his rude behaviour towards Ali. Meanwhile there was a letter addressed to Ali. He decided to hand over the letter to Ali himself at 4 o’clock. That night the postmaster could not sleep. At five, he heard a soft knock at the door. He opened the door only to find Ali standing there.
The postmaster handed him the letter. Ali immediately disappeared. Just then, Lakshmi Das, the clerk who had taken the guineas from Ali, came there and saw the postmaster talking to someone. He was astonished to hear Ali’s name and so informed the postmaster that Ali had died three months ago.
The postmaster could not believe this. That evening, both of them went to visit coachman Ali’s grave and placed the letter there. Now, the postmaster realised the value of human feelings and emotions in terms of letters and envelopes. Now, they were not mere postcards but much more than what anyone could realize.
Answer:
What do the boy write to send the post