NCERT Solutions for English Porse Class 10 Chapter 1

NCERT Solutions for Class 10
English (First Flight)
Chapter 1– A Letter to Gof

1. What did Lencho hope for?
Answer: Lencho was a farmer. The only thing he desired and prayed for were showers for his field of ripe crop, so that it could harvest well. If the showers did not come, the crop would die, and it would lead to a big loss.
2. Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’?
Answer: Lencho had planted corn crops that were ready to be harvested. The crops still required some rain to provide a proper harvest. Since his profit depended on the rain, he called the raindrops ‘new coins.’ Also, he represented big drops as ten cents and smaller ones as fives.
3. How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s fields?
Answer: The season welcomed good rains and Lencho was certain he would get a good harvest this time. But the rains soon turned into storms and were accompanied by winds and hailstorms. The harsh weather destroyed his crops completely.
4. What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?
Answer: Lencho had to see the ripe harvest getting destroyed in front of his eyes because of the hailstorm. His soul was filled with sadness at the sight of his damaged crop. The lack of harvest meant shortage of food and money which would make survival difficult for the family. All he could see was a dark, gloomy future ahead.
5. Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?
Answer: Amidst the adversityLencho was in, he still had faith in God. He believed that God from the heaven above, had seen him suffering and would ease his pain. His faith was so strong that he wrote a letter to God stating that he wanted a hundred pesos to cultivate a new crop again, as the previous crop was destroyed by the hailstorm.
6. Who read the letter?
Answer: The postmaster read the letter since the letter had an address that was too absurd.

7. What did the postmaster do then?
Answer: When the postmaster first saw the address, he laughed at the stupidity the sender did. But after that he thought it may imply something serious and hence out of curiosity checked the letter. After going through the letter, the feelings of the writer really touched him, and he decided to help the writer somehow. For this, the postman contributed a part of his salary, and collected some money from his acquaintances, friends and relatives, and sent it to the writer of the letter(Lencho).
8. Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?
Answer: Lencho had blind faith in God, and he was sure God would address his problem. He was not surprised to find the letter with money in it.
9. What made him angry?
Answer: After he received the letter, he started counting the money that God sent him. On counting he found out that he had received only seventy pesos. Since he demanded a hundred pesos and did not receive the exact amount, he was furious. But he trusted God and knew God would not turn him down, so he concluded that the post office employees stole his money.
10. Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?
Answer: Lencho had blind faith and trust in God, and he knew he would address and find a solution to all his problems. The following sentences from the story tells us about the same:
a. 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.
b. 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.
c. “God,” he wrote, “if you don’t help me, my family and I will go hungry this year.”
d. God could not have made a mistake, nor could he have denied Lencho what he had requested.
e. He wrote ‘To God’ on the envelope, put the letter inside and, still troubled, went to town.
f. It said: “God: of the money that I asked for, only seventy pesos reached me. Send me the rest since I need it very much.”
11. Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter ‘God’?

Answer:  Humans always had faith in God, and they rely on him for their problems. But Lencho’s faith was beyond anyone else’s. He wrote a letter to God and demanded money from him as if asking a friend for financial assistance. Since the postmaster was touched by Lencho’s letter to God, he wanted Lencho to maintain the faith he had in the almighty, hence, he sent him seventy pesos and signed the letter as God.
12. Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not?
Answer: No, Lencho had trust and faith in God. When he received the letter, he was so sure that it was sent by God that he did not even bother to find out who actually sent the amount to him. He was so sure about it that he even went to the post office to fight with the postmaster about the amount being less than a hundred pesos because he knew God will not leave his wish partially unfulfilled.
13. Who does Lencho think has taken the rest of the money? What is the irony in the situation? [Remember that the irony of a situation is an unexpected aspect of it. An ironic situation is strange or amusing because it is the opposite of what is expected.]
Answer: Lencho blames the postmaster for stealing money from his envelope that was sent by God since he received thirty pesos less than asked. The irony of the situation was that it was not God who actually sent him the amount but the postmaster himself, whom he was accusing of the crime.
14. Are there people like Lencho in the real world? What kind of a person would you say he is? You may select appropriate words from the box to answer the question.
Greedy Naive Stupid Ungrateful Selfish Comical Unquestioning
Answer: Humans as a civilization have always worshiped or looked upon a greater power for assistance during challenging times but Lencho’s faith was beyond comprehension. I do not think people like him exist in the world who would actually write a letter to God and demand him for money. He was very naive and unquestioning in his reasoning by displaying such blind faith in God.
15. There are two kinds of conflict in the story: between humans and nature, and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?
Answer: Lencho’s destruction of crops by nature is a sheer display of power that nature has over us. His crops were ripe and ready for harvest but were destroyed by the hailstorm and he could not do anything about it apart from cursing his luck and blaming God for it. He was very gloomy after the incident and had no resort other than writing a letter to God, complaining about the same and asking him to compensate.
Conflict between human and human is displayed by the conflict the postmaster and Lencho had. The postmaster felt bad for Lencho for having written a letter to God and having such blind faith in him. He did not want to shatter his hope and hence collected seventy pesos for him and sent it under the name of God. His good deed was not reciprocated well by Lencho, and he accused him of stealing money from his envelope. It shows the deep distrust humans have amongst themselves.
16. Look at the following sentence from the story. Suddenly a strong wind began to blow and along with the rain very large hailstones began to fall. ‘Hailstones’ are small balls of ice that fall like rain. A storm in which hailstones fall is a ‘hailstorm’. You know that a storm is bad weather with strong winds, rain, thunder and lightning.
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, whirlwind, cyclone, hurricane, tornado, typhoon
1. A violent tropical storm in which strong winds move in a circle: _ _ c _ _ _
Answer: Cyclone
2. An extremely strong wind: _a_ _
Answer: Gale
3. A violent tropical storm with very strong winds: _ _ p_ _ _ _
Answer: Typhoon
4. A violent storm whose centre is a cloud in the shape of a funnel: _ _ _n_ _ _
Answer: Tornado
5. A violent storm with very strong winds, especially in the western Atlantic Ocean: _ _r_ _ _ _ _ _
Answer: Hurricane
6. A very strong wind that moves very fast in a spinning movement and causes a lot of damage: _ _ _ _l_ _ _ _
Answer: Whirlwind
17. Notice how the word ‘hope’ is used in these sentences from the story:

(a) I hope it (the hailstorm) passes quickly.
(b) There was a single hope: help from God.
In the first example, ‘hope’ is a verb which means you wish for something to happen. In the second example it is a noun meaning a chance for something to happen.
Match the sentences in Column A with the meanings of ‘hope’ in Column B.