The Letter

The Letter

                                By Dhumketu

 

Analysis :

·      The story ‘The Letter’ is written by Dhumketu Gaurishankar Govardhanram Joshi who writes with his pen name Dhumketu. It is an account of the life of a father, Ali and his unfathomable love for his daughter.

·      The story highlights mental condition and emotions of a father and his desperate wait for his daughter’s letter, which concludes with the ironical end that the letter arrives only after his death and is laid on his grave.

·      The story makes us understand that a father suffers hugely in absence of his daughter describing his desperate wait for her letter that leads to the life of loneliness, grief, anxiety and helplessness.

·      The letter written by Jim clearly states there are better ways to resolve ways. It also highlights that sports and festivals may unite people across the boundaries and war divides humanity causing loss of lives and property and making children orphans and wives widows.

·      The chapter successfully gives a beautiful message of love, kindness and compassion for the family as well as other creatures. It beautifully and impactfully helps us imbibe the values like concern, empathy, compassion, understanding, love and trust for the creatures in this universe.

·      The chapter explores beautifully the theme of love and trust between a father and his daughter.

·      It is about a father who is in pain as he doesn’t get the letter of his daughter, but is determined to get it. It helps him have the recognition and acknowledgement of his cruel behaviour towards birds as a hunter and he tries to change his ways and behaviour towards all the creatures.

·      The story helps the readers learn their mistakes and develop the sensitivity, sensibility and understanding among family members especially the parents and children.

 

Summary

‘The Letter’ is an emotional story of an old man named Ali who is all alone and waiting for a letter from his daughter, Miriam. But unfortunately, he receives that letter only after his death.

In the early morning when cold and biting wind was blowing, Ali walked through the town to the post office. Except for some women singing and working on the grinding mill, a dog’s bark, a workman going early to work and a bird’s disturbed chirrup, there was deathly silence in town. Most people were sleeping due to effect of cold. Ali was shivering and walking on his old staff. When, he reached the Post Office, a beautiful building with newest style, he was filled with the joy of a pilgrim on seeing the pilgrimage. Ali went in quietly and sat there on a bench in the verandah, waiting for his daughter’ letter. This has been his daily routine for last five years.

The people at the post office during their routine work would call out names such as Commissioner, Police Superintendent, Diwan Saheb and many other names and flung the letters to the waiting postmen. Sometimes, in between a post man in his jesting voice would call, ‘Coachman Ali!’ The old man would get up, expressing gratitude to God would ask for his letter. Then, the clerk would call out the name ‘Gokul Bhai’ and scold Ali calling him a mad man. Others used to laugh at him. The clerk told the postmaster that Ali is mad as he comes every day for his letter but letter never comes.

Ali has been a clever shikari in his young age. He derived pleasure to look at the terrorised faces of young birds after getting separated from family and the eyes of dying birds. He couldn’t stay for a day without hunting. His sharp eyes could see birds hidden among leaves and the hare hidden in the yellow brown scrub and in another moment, they were shot dead. He would also go for fishing. His life suddenly took a new turn when his only child, his daughter, Miriam left him after getting married with a soldier in the Punjab regiment. For the last five years he got no news of his daughter but he was living only to receive his daughter’s letter. Now, he understood the meaning of love and separation and could no longer enjoy hunting. Loneliness of his life made him reflect that the whole universe is built up through love and that the grief of separation is inescapable. From that day, with immense hope and faith, he is always the first to arrive at the post office that became his place of pilgrimage. People laughed at him. Even though there was no letter for him, they would call out his name to see him jump up and come to the door. Still, he came every day, and went away empty handed.

The post-master with serious face was inexpressive as a pumpkin, and with the features of village schoolmasters, office clerks or postmasters. At the end of day, Ali got up and saluting the post-office left the place. The post-master asked the clerk if he is mad. Clerk agreed and told that he comes every day whatever the weather is. The postman told, mad men are strange people. Then everybody started talking about and giving examples of mad people. They discussed about a postman in Ahmedabad making little heaps of dust, another going to the river and pouring water on a stone, a madman pacing up and down all the time, one declaiming poetry and another slapping himself and crying. The post master felt, mad-men are like the poets.

For several days Ali had not come to the post-office. Noone had enough sympathy or understanding to think about him and the reason. At last, he came, he was weak and on his face were clear signs of approaching end. When he asked about letter from Miriam, the postmaster was in a hurry and shouted at him saying that nobody would eat his letter when it comes and he walked off hastily. Ali’s eyes were filled with tears of helplessness. His patience was exhausted but his faith was intact. Ali, giving five golden guineas to the clerk requested him to keep his letter on his grave whenever it came as the day was his last day. There were tears in Ali's eyes. Ali was never seen again, and no one troubled to inquire after him.

One day, the postmaster’s daughter lay ill in the town, and he was anxiously waiting for news of her well being. Among the post, there was a letter addressed to Coachman Ali. The post master became sad and anxious. He called Lakshmi Das and told him about the letter for Ali and asked him to find out Ali. That day he did not receive his letter and decided that he would hand over Ali’s letter himself. Now, the postmaster understood Ali's heart and had sympathy for him who had been sad and anxious in the same way for the last five years.

The next morning at five he heard the knock and expected Ali to be there. He opened the door and saw Ali leaning on a stick with tears in his eyes. His eyes had a light so unearthly that the postmaster got scared. He handed him the letter. But, suddenly he disappeared. Lakshmi Das, the clerk was shocked to hear the postmaster call out the name of Coachman Ali who had now been dead for three months. The letter was found lying near the door. The postmaster was perplexed, whether he had really seen Ali or it was Lakshmi Das. The daily routine began and the clerk read out the addresses. The postmaster now watched the letters as each contained a warm, beating heart and not as envelopes and postcards. In the evening Lakshmi Das and the postmaster went to Ali's grave and laid the letter on it. Now, the newly-wakened father's heart in him scolded him for not understanding Ali's anxiety. He was tortured by doubt and remorse when he was waiting for his daughter’s letter while sitting near the charcoal sigri. He repented as he should have been more sympathetic and helpful towards Ali. He was no longer ill-tempered.

Themes

•       The story highlights the theme of love, empathy and understanding towards all the creatures alike through the characters of Ali and the post master.

•       It explores beautiful relation of love & trust between father & daughter. Even after waiting for 5 years in vain Ali’s faith was intact. Post master changed due to his love for his daughter.

•       The chapter conveys that the whole universe is built up through love and grief of separation is inescapable. Ali left hunting as he could not see the young birds terrorised and separated.

 

Message

•       The chapter successfully gives a beautiful message of empathy, love, understanding and compassion for family as well as other people. We need to understand other people’s pain. We must not react before knowing the entire truth.

•       The story helps us imbibe the values like empathy love and kindness. We need to be kind towards all the creatures in the universe. Before doing harm to them we must think of their pain as we do for ourselves.

  

Important Question Answers

Q . Why did Ali give up hunting?

Ans. Ali gave up his passion for hunting because he grew old and weak physically in his later days. Though he lost his youthful stamina and energy, yet the instincts of hunting were still present in him. Truthfully, the main and the most important reason to leave hunting was his separation from his daughter after her marriage. His loneliness made him realise the pain of young birds after getting separated from family. Therefore, he stopped hunting as it causes separation. He understood, the universe is built through love.

Q. What had exhausted Ali’s patience but not his faith?

Ans. Ali was getting old and weak. His constant weakness took away   all his strength and stamina. He was also losing his patience due to his old age and weakness. It was impossible for him now to make a daily visit to the Post Office for his daughter’s letter.

He realised that his days were few, so his eyes were filled with tears. Though his physical infirmities and the shadow of approaching death exhausted his patience, yet they could not dampen his spirits and shake his faith. He believed that one day his daughter’s letter would certainly come so he gave 5 guineas to the clerk to deliver the letter to his grave. His faith won and the letter came for him.