A Letter to God is the first chapter of Class 10 English Literature Book, First Flight. This chapter is about a man who had faith in God. He grew crops in the field and was waiting for the crops to be harvested. Unexpectedly, a hailstorm came which destroyed all his crops. This causes pain to him and he expects God to help him financially because he will not be able to earn anything that year. He was dependent on the crops for his survival.
He writes a letter to God asking him to help with 100 pesos so that he can survive in this bad phase of life. He used the postal service to deliver his letter to God. The letter then reaches the post office and all the staff laughs after reading the letter. They then share the matter with the postmaster of the post office. He was a kind person and did not want Lencho to lose hope in God. So, he comes up with a plan. He collects some amount of money from all the employees and also adds his own share to the amount.
Lencho demanded for 100 pesos in the letter. Though they could not make 100 pesos but collected an amount more than half. When Lencho reads that letter, he thinks that god can not cheat him. He went to the post office and says that God had sent 100 pesos only. He blames the post office staff and calls them a bunch of crooks. He thinks that the office employees have stolen the money from the letter.
A Letter To God Class 10 English NCERT Solutions
Question 1: What did Lencho hope for?
Ans: Lencho eagerly waited for the rain showers as the rain was very necessary for his crops.
Question 2: Why did Lencho say that the raindrops were like ‘new coins’?
Raindrops have been compared to new coins because the raindrops will help him in harvesting his crops. Without rainfall, his crops would have been wasted and he hoped that he will get good money after harvesting and selling his crops in the market. So, the raindrops have been compared to the new coins.
Don’t Miss: Class 10 English NCERT Solutions Bholi Summary
Question 3: How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s field?
It was raining smoothly and all of a sudden hail started. The hails destroyed his fields as it hailed for around 1 hour. He had never expected this to happen. All the hard work was wasted by hails.
Question 4: What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?
Lencho felt depressed as all his crops were destroyed because of those hails. He thought that even a locusts would not have caused that much of loss to his crops as caused by the hailstorm. He also expressed that they are not going to have corn this year, which is a sad thing.
Question 1: Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?
Lencho believed that God could see everything and help his followers. He wrote a letter to God asking for financial help of 100 pesos so that he could live peacefully till the crops are sown again.
Question 2: Who read the letter?
The letter was first read by the postman of that area. The postman laughed a lot when he saw a letter actually written to God. He then took the letter to the postmaster and he also went through the letter written by Lencho.
Question 3: What did the postmaster do then?
The postmaster did not want Lencho to lose faith in God. So, he came up with an idea. He took a part of his own salary and also took some money from the employees. He collected an amount a bit more than half of what Lencho had demanded. He closed the envelope and signed it as God so that Lencho’s feelings are not hurt.
Thinking About The Text: A Letter to God NCERT Solutions
Question 1: Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?
Ans 1: Lencho had full faith in his God and this could be noticed by the following points shared below:-
- Lencho wrote, “God, if you don’t help me, my family and I will go hungry this year.”
- “But in the hearts of all who lived in that solitary house in the middle of the valley, there was a single hope: help from God.
- All through the night, Lencho thought only of his one hope: the help of God, whose eyes, as he had been instructed. see everything, even what is deep in one’s conscience.
- ” No, God could not have made mistake, nor could he have denied Lencho what he had requested”
So, these were some of the lines from the story which describes the faith of Lencho in God.
Question 2: Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter ‘God’?
The postmaster was very kind. He did not want Lencho to lose hope in God. So, he decided to send some money from his own salary and asked employees to offer something from their salaries. Though, they could not make 100 pesos, what Lencho had demanded. He knew that Lencho was expecting a quick reply and financial help from God. He thought that by doing so he will help Lencho in keeping his faith in God.
Don’t Miss: Nelson Mandela Long Walk to Freedom Summary Class 10
Question 3: Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not?
Ans 3: No. Lencho did not try to find out who had sent the money to him as according to him God himself had sent the money. He had full faith in his God. He knew that it was only his God who could help him in this tough time.
Question 4: Who does Lencho think had taken the rest of the money? What is the irony of the situation?
Ans 4: Lencho thought that the rest of the money was taken by the office employees. The irony of the situation is that he was blaming the same people who helped him. He thought that the post office staff was a bunch of crooks who had cheated him and stole the rest of the money.
Question 5: Are there people in the world like Lencho? What kind of person do you think Lencho was? You may select appropriate words from the options below:-
Greedy | Naive | Stupid | Ungrateful | Selfish | Comical | Unquestioning
Ans: Not all people are like Lencho. He was an educated person but still, he had a hope that his letter will reach God. He had full faith in God. He can be called as a naive and unquestioning person according to his beliefs.
Question 6: There are two kinds of conflicts in the story: between humans and nature and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?
Ans: Yes, two kinds of conflicts have been depicted in this story. The first conflict can be seen between humans and nature. Lencho was waiting for his crops to be harvested. All of a sudden a hailstorm comes and destroys all his crops. This causes a lot of grief and pain to Lencho. He had faith in God and wanted God himself to help him financially in this bad phase. So, this destruction by nature caused a conflict between nature and man.
The second example is when Lencho reaches the post office to collect his letter. The postmaster was a kind person. He did not want Lencho to lose his faith in God. So, he asked all the employees to collect some money from their own salaries and also added his own share. Postmaster did a good job but Lencho blamed the post office staff and called them a bunch of crooks. This shows that humans don’t have trust in each other and this leads to conflict.
Thinking About Language
Question 1: There are different names in different parts of the world for storms, depending on their nature. Can you match the names in the box with their descriptions below, and fill in the blanks? You may use a dictionary to help you.
gale, hurricane, whirlwind, tornado, cyclone, typhoon
1. A violent tropical storm in which strong winds move in a circle: __ __ c __ __ __ __
2. An extremely strong wind: __ a __ __
3. A violent tropical storm with very strong winds: __ __ p __ __ __ __
4. A violent storm whose center is a cloud in the shape of a funnel: __ __ __ n __ __ __
5. A violent storm with very strong winds, especially in the western Atlantic ocean: __ __ r __ __ __ __ __ __
6. A very strong wind that moves very fast in a spinning movement and causes a lot of damage:
__ __ __ __ l __ __ __ __
Answer:
1. Cyclone
2. Gale
3. Typhoon
4. Tornado
5. Hurricane
6. Whirlwind
Relative Clauses Practice
Join the sentences given below using who, whom, whose, which as suggested.
1. I often go to Mumbai. Mumbai is the commercial capital of India. (which)
2. My mother is going to host a TV show on cooking. She cooks very well. (who)
3. Lencho prayed to God. His eyes see into our minds. (whose)
4. These sportspersons are going to meet the President. Their performance has been excellent. (whose)
5. This man cheated me. I trusted him. (whom)
Answer:
1. I often go to Mumbai, which is the commercial capital of India.
2. My mother, who cooks very well, is going to host a TV show on cooking.
3. Lencho prayed to God, whose eyes see into our minds.
4. These sportspersons, whose performance has been excellent, are going to meet the President.
5. This man, whom I trusted, cheated me.
So, these were A Letter to God NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Literature book, First Flight. Don’t forget to follow Careeradvice4u on Facebook. Stay tuned for more NCERT Class 10 Solutions for English
Leave a Reply