LETTERS
SUMMARY
A Pakistani gentleman, Mr. A .M. Qureshi, intending to visit the U.K writes on the Manager Montrose Hotel, London to reserve for him a single room from 6th to 12th February 1965. He also wants information about the most convenient way to travel from the airport to the hotel. The manager of Montrose Hotel, London informs him about the reservation and tells him that the charges for a single room with breakfast are4/s6/d, day.
About the way to come to the Hotel, he informs him that he could take a taxi directly, but it would be cheaper to travel to the south Air terminal by airport bus and then take a taxi to be Hotel. In this extract from his letter, Mr. Qureshi tell his family about his stay with the Browns during the weekend. His friend’s son, David, offers to exchange letters with guest’s son. Mr. Qureshi exhorts his son to take advantage of his offer with a view to improving his English and learning more English.
Saleem replies to David’s letter and tells him how he had been celebrating the Eid-ul-Fiter festival. He explain that this Eid comes at the end of a month of fasting and will be followed by another Eid a few weeks later.
He gives David his programme for the Eid day. Getting up early. He had a bath and put on his best clothes including some new ones. Everyone wears at least one new grammar on the occasion. He had the traditional vermicelli dish for his breakfast and went to the pologround for
congregational prayers. The prayers over the participants embraced one another and returned home where the family had delicious Moghul dishes. Then presents were exchanged and Saleem went with his brother to visit their relation. Visit like that is quite common on such a festival.
Saleem ends by requesting David to tell him about Christmas and Easter.
He tells him that Christmas is their most important festival. It is a religious festival and falls on 25th December. He says that in his family they always go to church on Christmas Eve i. e; 25th December for carols and on Christmas morning for prayers.
Parties of children go from door to door singing Christmas carols in the hope of getting a penny or two for their own pockets. Local church choirs also sing like that to collect donations for charitable purposes.
Shops are profusely decorated at Christmas and presents are exchanged on the occasion. The postal department engages special staff to cope with extra pressure.
Living rooms of all houses are decorated with the Christmas tree which is a small fir tree or big bough of it. The Christmas tree is decorated with small bells and lights. Christmas presents are collected from this tree on the Christmas morning. Little children, hang up empty stocking at the foot of their bed when they go to bed, and they wake up in the morning to find them filled up with Christmas presents.
It is very happy day for the children who spend it with relations living nearby. The family dinner with turkey and other dishes is a real treat. The afternoon is spent quietly at home listening into the Queen’s Christmas talk on the television. After tea the children play games, and the grown-ups enjoy themselves no less.
Christmas is represented as with snow but it southern England where London is situated there is no snowfall before January. Still the days are usually cold, damp and gloomy and people like Christmas because it cheers up on such a day.
The other important festival, also religious, is Easter which falls in spring but it dates undergo a change with the change of the moon. It starts on a Friday, which is called Good Friday, and lasts till the following, Monday, which is, called Easter Monday. Customarily hot crossbones are eaten on Good Friday and Easter egg on Easter Sunday.
Unlike Christmas, Easter is no time for merry making Still as Easter Monday is a public holiday, people like to go to the seaside or in the country for an outing. Sometimes, however, the journey becomes very tedious owing to traffic jams, and many people prefer to stay at home. David closes the letters with the information that Saleem’s father would be coming to visit the Browns again before he flies back home in the following week.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:
Q1. When did Mr. Qureshi arrived in London and where did he stay for six days?
Ans. Mr. Qureshi arrived in London on Monday 6th February 1961 and stayed for six days in Montrose Hotel.
Q2. About how long did Mr. Qureshi stay in Britain?
Ans. Mr. Qureshi stayed in Britain for about two months from early in February to early in. April 1965.
Q3. Briefly explain how Saleem and David came to write to each other?
Ans. During his visit to England, Mr. Qureshi went to see his English friends, the Browns. Their son David was keen to know about a life in Pakistan and offered to exchange letters with Mr. Qureshi’s son. Mr. Qureshi wrote to Saleem advising him to accept the offer which would improve his English and that is how the two boys came to write to each other.
Q4. From Saleem’s letter, how many children does Mr. Qureshi appear to have?
Ans. In this letter to David, Saleem talks of his sister and brother. It thus appears from it that Mr. Qureshi had one daughter and two sons.
Q5. Where did Saleem go to take part I Congregational prayers on Eid-ul-Fitr? Who accompanied him?
Ans. Saleem went to the pologround in Karachi in order to take part in the congregational prayers with his relatives on Eid-ul-Fitr.
Q6. What are carols and they sung?
Ans. Carols are hymns of joy. They are sung at Christmas.
Q7. Why do children in England hang up empty stockings by their bed on Christmas Eve?
Ans. English Children hang up their empty stockings at the foot of their bed in the hope that the legendary, figure, Father Christmas, will fill with Christmas presents while they are asleep. There stockings are actually filled with presents by their parents.
Q8. Would you expect to see snow if you were in London at Christmas? What sort of weather would you expect?
Ans. It rarely snows in Southern England before January. So I could not expect to see snow in London at Christmas. The weather would be very cold and gloomy.
Q9. Does Easter always fall on the some date? What is the season in Britain when I occur?
Ans. No, Easter does not always fall on the same date. It reviles with the moon but always fail on the spring.
Q10. What made the Browns decide not to drive to the seaside on Easter Monday in 1961.
Ans. The Browns decided not to drive to the seaside on Easter Monday in 1961, because on the previous Easter they had a very tedious journey owing to traffic jams.