Class – X
Characters
Ali
Lakshmi Das
The Postmaster
Miriam
Gokul Bhai & other officials
Ali
Past
Co
skilled hunter
sharp – eyes
Present
and successful
hmcan
cruel
no value for relationship
life changed after daughter’s
marriage
kind
a true picture of boundless
faith and love
indefinite patients
determined
coming to post office
regularly for five years
hopeful
silently bore the taunts
died unsung and unfulfilled
Postmaster
Past
haughty
arrogant
unfeeling official
inexpressive face
short tempered
called Ali ‘a pest’
Laskshmi Das:clerk at post office by profession
fear of God
fulfilled promise
decent fellow
relived from burden
Present
loving
caring
understands Ali’s
feelings
tortured by doubt and
remorse
no longer ill – tempered
called Ali ‘a brother’
Miriam:Ali’s daughter
married to a soldier into his regiment in the panjab
no contact with Ali from last five years
her seperation changed Ali’s life totally
Gokul Bhai and other officials:unfeeling person
called Ali ‘a mad’
unconcerned with Ali’s feelings
lacked humanity
made fun of Ali
`
Lakshmi Das
Ali
Phases T
Ali was going to post office
The clerks and other officials made fun of him
Post of Ali (hunter in a jungle)
Miriam’s marriage – turning point of life
Postmaster’s rude attitude and calling Ali ‘a pest’
Ali’s last visit (Lakshmi Das gold guinea
Post master’s ajony
Ali’s appearance as a ghost
Post master and Lakshmi Das placing letter on Ali’s grave
Summary
Old Coachman Ali could be seen going along the road early in the morning.
On such chilly mornings people would be lying asleep wrapped in silence.
Pulling his tattered clothes and shivering in cold, he walked tiredly supporting
himself on his old stick.
After sometime, he reached the building of post office for others, it
had become a place of pilgrimage for Ali. He would arrive there early in the
morning everyday and occupy a particular seat in a particular corner of the
Varandah. He had been waiting there anxiously for a letter from his employees
made fun of him. Even though there was no letter for him, they would call out
his name for the fun of seeing him jump up and come to the door. But with
boundless faith and infinite pafience, he came everyday and went away empty
– handed.
In his youth, Ali had been a clever hunter. He had became very skilled
in and habitual of hunting. He was a fine pointman also. No sooner did he see
a bird or animal than it would be as good as in his bag. But now the evening of
his life was drawing in. He had left his old ways.
Ali’s only child Miriam had married and left him. For the least five years. Ali had no
news of his daughter for whom he had been living then. He could no longer enjoy the
old pleasure of his hunting days. He came to know that grief of separation was
unavoidable from that day he used to come around five every morning to the postoffice to receive a letter from Miriam. One day the post master asked his colleagues if
that man was mad. A clerk replied that he had been coming there everyday but he
hadn’t got any letter. The postmaster was convinced that the man was really mad.
For several days Ali did not come to the post office. No one tried to guess the
reason. At last he came again and could not breathe properly. He asked postman about
Miriam’s letter. The postmaster lost his temper and called Ali ‘a pest’ and asked him to
go away. Ali came out but eyes had exhausted.
Ali gave five golden guineas to a clerk Lakshmi Das and requested him to
deliver his daughter’s letter at his grave after his death. Ali told him that it was his last
day on earth. Ali was never seen again.
One day, trouble come to the postmaster. His daughter lay ill in another town.
He was anxiously waiting for news of her but there was no letter seeing the mail, he
found one letter addressed to Ali was shocked. He called the clerk Lakshmi Das and
told him to search for Ali and give him that letter.
The postmaster remained worried all night for his daughter news. He got up at 3 at
night and went to sit in the post-office. Then he understand Ali’s feelings. As the stroke
of five, he heard a soft knock on the door and found Ali bent double with age. But he
seemed unearthly. The postmaster shrank back in fear and astonishment. Soon he
disappeared. In the meantime Lakshmi Das came and told him that the old Ali had died
three years ago. He was surprised as Miriam’s letter was lying near the desk. Then
Lakshmi Das narrated the last into.
Now a change came in his attitude. That evening both the Postmaster and
Lakshmi Das went to Ali’s grave. They laid the letter on it and turned back. The
postmaster now realised and understood Ali’s anxiety. He was tortured by doubt and
remorse. He sat in his chair to wait for the news of his daughter.
Key Words:Cheerless existence
dull life
Bewildered terror
terrifying fear
Make a game of him
made fun of
Pest
an annoying person
Haughty temper
proud nature
Precious relic
a valuable object, custom or belief surviving
from an earlier lame
a game of him
making fun of a person (Ali)
Tortured by remorse
troubled by regret