A Letter to God’ is a story of extreme faith in God. A natural calamity leaves Lencho, a hard-working farmer, in distress. The farmer writes a letter to God asking him to send money. The chapter concludes in a very ironic situation.
Important Question and Answers
Q. Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow:
Lencho’s soul was filled with sadness. When the storm had passed, he stood in the middle of the field and said to his sons, “A plague of locusts would have left more than this. The hail has left nothing. This year we will have no corn.”
- The hailstones completely destroyed his crops which made him very:
- perverse and reckless
- reckless and dejected
- reckless and depressed
- dejected and depressed
- He shared his sorrow with _________.
- A plague of __________ would have left more than this.
- This year they will have:
- a bumper crop
- a good crop
- a heavy crop
- no corn
Answer
- dejected and depressed
- his son
- locust
- no corn
Q. What was Lencho expecting from the God? What did he receive? Why?
Ans. Lencho expected God to send him the hundred pesos he asked for. However he received only seventy pesos which had been collected by the Postmaster through contribution made by the post office employees.
Q. Explain the qualities of the post office employees?
Ans. The post office employees represented the people who believed in helping others. They were kind and helpful. They cooperated with each other and contributed to their best of the capability just to keep Lencho’s faith in God alive. They had love, concern, compassion and empathy for Lencho.
Q. Why would you not agree with Lencho calling them ‘a bunch of crooks’?
Ans. Lencho was not at all justified in calling them ‘a bunch of crooks’ because they helped him by collecting money and understanding Lencho’s unshakable faith in God. Each one of them parted with some money for the act of charity which ‘a bunch of crooks’ would never do.
Q. Why was Lencho angry when he received the letter?
Ans. When Lencho received the letter, he opened the envelope. He, at once, became angry on counting the amount in it. There were only seventy pesos in the envelope, whereas he had asked for one hundred.
Q. How did the postmaster help Lencho? OR What did the postmaster do to keep the faith of Lencho?
Ans. The postmaster collected money from the post office employees, he himself also contributed his share and sent the money-order to Lencho in God’s name to keep his faith.
Q. Where was Lencho’s house situated? Why did he sit seeing the sky?
Ans. Lencho’s house was situated on the crest of a low hill in the valley. The whole day he sat seeing the sky because he knew that his fields needed downpour or at least a shower and he was waiting to see the signs of rain.
Q. How was Lencho’s life affected by the rain?
Ans. Lencho was a hard working farmer. He lived with his family on the crest of a low hill. He was going to get a very good crop this year. His field needed only a downpour. The rain started. But within a very short time, the rain turned into hailstones. It destroyed his crop completely. Thus the rain affected his life badly.
Q. What did Lencho compare the raindrops to? Why?
Ans. Lencho compared the raindrops to new coins. He called the big drops ‘ten cent pieces’ and the smaller ones as ‘five cent pieces’. His field needed rain badly. The raindrops increased his hopes of a good harvest. That is why, he called them so.
Q. What were Lencho’s feelings when the hailstorm stopped?
Ans. Lencho was filled with utter sadness when the hailstorm stopped. He was troubled to see the corn which was totally destroyed. Nothing was left in the fields. He and his family had to go hungry without corn.
Q. How did Lencho’s hope change to despair?
Ans. Lencho was waiting for a shower of rain that his field needed. But his hope for good rain vanished when the wind changed into hailstorm. It destroyed everything. So, Lencho’s hope changed to despair as his family would face starvation.
Q. What were Lencho’s feelings when he found the letter with money in it? What did he do after opening the letter?
Ans. In the beginning, Lencho was very happy and satisfied to receive the letter. But when he counted the money and found it less, he became very angry. He wrote another letter to God, demanding thirty more pesos.
Q. What did Lencho call the raindrops? How did he value them?
Ans. Lencho called the big drops the ten cent coins and little ones of five cents. He called them so because his fields needed the rain for a good harvest. They were going to give him money.
Q. Why did Lencho become angry when he counted the money?
Ans. Lencho became angry when he counted the money because the money was not hundred pesos which he had demanded. It was only seventy pesos. Lencho had firm faith in God. Moreover, he knew that God could not make a mistake or deny his request.
Q. What did Lencho write in his second letter?
Ans. When Lencho found thirty pesos less, he wrote a second letter to God to send him the remaining amount, but not through the mail as he felt that the employees of the post office were a bunch of crooks.
Q. In the lesson ‘A Letter to God’, what moral values does the postmaster display in his behaviour?
Ans. The Postmaster first laughed looking at the letter which had a strange address. But soon he became serious. He was surprised at the faith that Lencho had in God. He wanted his faith to be intact in God. The Postmaster was a kind and compassionate fellow. He tried to keep Lencho’s faith in God intact by collecting the amount for him. He was an empathetic and softhearted fellow who cared for Lencho. He displayed good leadership qualities by asking each Post office employee to contribute to his extent. The Postmaster himself gave a part of his salary and also requested his employees and a few friends to contribute for the good cause as a charity. He encouraged to perceive others in a more positive light. He was a man who fostered a sense of community building and spreaded positivity which helps in creating a healthy society.