AP State Syllabus 8th Class English Solutions Chapter 1C A Letter to a Friend
Comprehension
Answer the following questions
1.How did Suresh and Ramesh spend their time?
ans:Suresh and Ramesh enjoyed their childhood days in Manikonda village. Every day they played gilli-danda, hide and seek and kabaddi in their garden. They played in the moonlight. They enjoyed listening to the tales told by their grandpa. Thus they spent their time joyfully
2.Why did Ramesh family move to the city?
ans:Ramesh family moved to the city as both Ramesh and his wife got jobs in the city (Hyderabad). They got jobs in software companies
3.What change did you observe in Ramesh?
ans:Ramesh enjoyed his childhood days along with his friend Suresh in Manikonda village. There were so many unforgettable, joyous occasions in their childhood. They leisurely spent their time enjoying the beauty of the nature. But now he is not happy in city. He is annoyed at his busy city life. He is the man of disgust. Ramesh family members hardly find time to sit together. They have forgotten their family. They work like machines. They have missed the joy of the family, their company and many things in the busy life
4.Do you think Ramesh is happy in the city? Why?
ans:No. I dontthink Ramesh is happy in the city. He thinks that his city life is very disgusting. Both Ramesh and his wife work at software companies. They dontfind any time to sit together. They are always busy. They work with computers, think like computers and live like computers. They have forgotten their family. Ramesh recalls all the joyous occasions he had during his childhood. He thinks that he has missed his relatives, the joy of the family, their company and many things in his busy life. He thinks that their flat is their world, just like a well for a frog
5.What made Ramesh write to Suresh?
ans:As Ramesh had a meeting in his office, he didntmeet his friend Suresh during his visit to Hyderabad the previous week. So, he wrote a letter apologizing for his not meeting Suresh
Proect work
Observe any five families in your neighbourhood and draw your conclusions, ad¬vantages and disadvantages of living in a joint/nuclear family?
ans:I observed five families living in our neighbourhood. All the families are nuclear ones that consist of a man, his wife and their children
In the present society the concept of the joint family system has been gradually breaking up. In its place a new system of nuclear family has aroused. I think both types of families have their own merits and demerits. The joint family system is a feature of
agricultural societies.
Collective living, collective planning and collective share in family wealth are the traditional features of the joint family. We can see the division of labour in a joint family. The joint family preserves the traditions, customs and values and passes them down to the next generations. With the passage of time, the joint family system has disintegrated, giving rise to the nuclear family system
The nuclear family consists of a man, his wife and their children. Job opportunities available in the cities become the main cause of the disintegration of the joint family system. For a number of reasons, a joint family system doesntexist in the cities. There is a lack of living space in the cities. It is difficult to accommodate all the members of a joint family in a single house in the city. The cost of living is very high in the cities
The increasing individualistic and independent attitudes of grown up children give rise to the nuclear family system. Now, we see advantages and disadvantages of living in both the families
Advantages of living in a joint family
- Joint family helps the younger ones to develop social virtues like co-operation, sympathy, sacrifice, affection, selfless service, obedience and broad minded nature
- Each member of a joint family is given work according to his or her capacity. Hence, we find division of labour in a joint family
- There is more affection and love among family members
- Joint family affords ample leisure to its members
- Joint family acts as an agency of social control
- In the joint family the children the employed, the sick, the aged and the handicapped are well taken care of
- We find sharing of sorrowness in a joint family
Disadvantages of living in a joint family
- There is no privacy
- There is no financial independence
- There is a chance for disharmony due to generation gap
- There may be chances for conflict between males and females and the young and the old due to diverse temperaments
Advantages of living in a nuclear family
- Nuclear family provides more privacy
- The members of a nuclear family have financial independence and stability
- The members of a nuclear family have more freedom
- The members of a nuclear family find no stress and discomfort
Disadvantages of living in a nuclear family
- If both the parents are employees, they find no time to care for the children
- The members of a nuclear family feel insecure
- There may be extra expenses in a nuclear family
- The members of a nuclear family lose the support and experience of the elders
- There is no sharing of sorrows
A Letter to a Friend Summary in English
Ramesh wrote this letter to his friend Suresh apologizing for his not meeting him during his visit to Hyderabad the previous week. Ramesh is a computer programmer at Microsoft, Hyderabad and his wife is a System Analyst at Dell, Hyderabad. He is annoyed at his busy city life. Both Ramesh and his wife work with computers, think like computers and live like computers. Their child always plays computer games never caring for anyone
Ramesh is very unhappy in the city. He recalled the memorable days of his childhood in his letter. Ramesh and Suresh enjoyed their childhood days in Manikonda village. They played together in their garden in the moonlight. Theirs was a big family
Their grandpa used to tell them tales. They played gill-danda, hide and seek and kabaddi. They went for swimming every Sunday. Ramesh remembered how their Padmanabhaiah Sir appreciated them when they got the first prize in District Science Fair
Their picnic to Koil Sagar and their tour of Srisailam were memorable. Ramesh couldntforget the roaring of the Krishna River at the dam. They enjoyed the festivals such as Dasara, Deepavali, etc. along with their uncle and aunt. Ramesh thought of his grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters ... sometimes. He thought that they missed them all. They missed the joy of the family, their company and many things in their busy life. At present they are living in this unreal world. They have lost their real life
A Letter to a Friend Glossary
faded (adj): pale
hardly (adv): almost never
disgusting (adj): extremely unpleasant
appreciated: understand the worth of
company (n): the fact of being with somebody else and not alone
affection (n): a feeling of liking for a person