Q1.
Imagine you are the farmer. Write a letter to your friend about the incident and the decision of the Panchayat.
You may begin as follows:
My dear friend,
Something happened last week, which I want to tell you. I wanted to buy a well ...
Answer
How to write this letter, step by step:
- Put your address and the date at the top right of the page.
- Begin with the greeting the book gives you: My dear friend,
- First paragraph — what happened. You bought the field, then the well, and then the neighbour stopped you.
- Second paragraph — what you did. You went to the village chief and she called a Panchayat meeting.
- Third paragraph — the judgment. Write the chief’s decision in your own words.
- Fourth paragraph — how you felt, and one line asking after your friend.
- End with Your loving friend, and your name.
Remember while writing: you are the farmer, so use I, me and my all through. The letter is about something already over, so use the past tense — bought, stopped, went, said.
Sample answer:
Rampur Village
20 August 20__
My dear friend,
Something happened last week, which I want to tell you. I wanted to buy a well. You know how hard I have worked on my two fields. This year the crop was good, so I bought a third field. There was a well right next to it, and my neighbour agreed to sell it to me. I paid him the full price and I was very happy, because at last my fields would have water all the year round.
The very next morning I went to the well with my bucket. My neighbour was standing there. He would not let me draw even one bucket of water. When I asked him why, he said, “I sold only the well to you, not the water. The water still belongs to me.” I did not know what to do. I had paid for the well, but I could not use it.
I did not quarrel with him. I went to our village chief and told her everything. She fixed a day for a meeting of the Panchayat. On that day the members gathered under the big banyan tree, and almost the whole village came. Both of us were called. I explained my side, and my neighbour repeated his story. The members and the villagers tried to make him see sense, but he would not change his mind.
Then the Panchayat gave its judgment, and it was wonderful. The chief said that it was true that only the well had been sold. My neighbour smiled at that. But then she said that if the water was still his, he had no business keeping his water in my well, and that he must remove it or use it all up at once — or else the water would belong to the owner of the well. He could say nothing after that. He had to pay a fine and say sorry to me.
I shouted with joy, my friend. I have my well and my water, and I have learnt that a cheat is caught by his own words. Do write and tell me how your family is, and how your paddy is doing this year.
Your loving friend,
Ramu
20 August 20__
My dear friend,
Something happened last week, which I want to tell you. I wanted to buy a well. You know how hard I have worked on my two fields. This year the crop was good, so I bought a third field. There was a well right next to it, and my neighbour agreed to sell it to me. I paid him the full price and I was very happy, because at last my fields would have water all the year round.
The very next morning I went to the well with my bucket. My neighbour was standing there. He would not let me draw even one bucket of water. When I asked him why, he said, “I sold only the well to you, not the water. The water still belongs to me.” I did not know what to do. I had paid for the well, but I could not use it.
I did not quarrel with him. I went to our village chief and told her everything. She fixed a day for a meeting of the Panchayat. On that day the members gathered under the big banyan tree, and almost the whole village came. Both of us were called. I explained my side, and my neighbour repeated his story. The members and the villagers tried to make him see sense, but he would not change his mind.
Then the Panchayat gave its judgment, and it was wonderful. The chief said that it was true that only the well had been sold. My neighbour smiled at that. But then she said that if the water was still his, he had no business keeping his water in my well, and that he must remove it or use it all up at once — or else the water would belong to the owner of the well. He could say nothing after that. He had to pay a fine and say sorry to me.
I shouted with joy, my friend. I have my well and my water, and I have learnt that a cheat is caught by his own words. Do write and tell me how your family is, and how your paddy is doing this year.
Your loving friend,
Ramu
What makes this a good letter: it tells the events in the order they happened; it uses the farmer’s own voice; it puts the judgment in simple words instead of copying the book line by line; and it ends by asking about the friend, which is what a real letter always does.