The Letter Summary

CBSE Notes for The Letter Summary - Chapter 3

Coachman Ali is very old and sick and has been regularly visiting the post office for the last five years. Unfavorable weather and failing health don’t deter him. He religiously visits the post office every day in the hope of receiving a letter from his daughter Miriam, his only child, who had got married to a soldier and left him. Getting a letter from Miriam becomes the most important mission for him and every day Ali is the first one to arrive and the last one to leave, but no letter ever comes for him. Every day he goes back dejected and empty-handed.

Everyone at the post office considers him mad and derives pleasure in tormenting him. Coachman Ali had been a famous shikari and a crack shot in his yesteryears. When Miriam left him and did not respond, he realized the pain of suffering and separation. So he gave up hunting altogether. One day Ali is in very bad physical condition and reaches the post office with great effort. This makes him impatient and an argument takes place with the postmaster. The postmaster has his own preoccupations, he becomes irritated and calls Ali ‘a pest’. Please refer The Letter Summary for more revision notes.