Madam Rides the Bus

Summary

This is a story about the first bus journey of an eight-year-old girl, Valli. She is a curious girl. She has a strong desire to go to the nearest town riding on a bus. She saves money for this purpose. When she has money for the ticket, she boards the bus. She enjoys her first bus journey. She does not get down the bus in the town. She remains sitting. She pays another thirty paise for the return ticket and reaches home back.

Comprehension Questions

Answer the following questions in 30-40 words:

1. What was Valli’s favourite pastime? 

Valli’s favourite pastime was to stand in the front doorway of her house. She did not play like most other children because there were no playmates of her age on her street. Watching the street also gave her many unusual experiences which were equally enjoyable.

2. Why did Valli not get off from the bus when it stopped at the bus stand?

Valli’s sole purpose was to enjoy the bus ride. She neither had the money to buy anything from the shops at the town nor the courage to get down among strangers.

3. Why did Valli listen to the conversations? What did she get from them? 

Valli was anxious to know more and more about the bus journey as he desired to ride from her village to the nearest town. She listened to the neighbours and people who regularly used the bus. She was collecting the necessary details from them to plan out her bus journey. Such details could help her in her mission.

4. How did Valli react when the conductor called her ‚a very grown-up madam?‛

The bus conductor teased Valli by calling her ‘a very grown-up madam’. Valli reacted sharply saying that she was not a madam. She reminded him that he had not yet given her ticket. The conductor mimicked her tone and said, ‘I’ll remember.’ Everyone laughed and gradually Valli too joined in the laughter. 

5. Why didn’t Valli get off the bus when the bus stopped at the town? 

Valli’s destination, the nearest town from her village, had come. Everyone got off except Valli. The conductor reminded that her destination had come and she should get off the bus. Valli told that she was going back on the same bus. She handed thirty more coins to the conductor and asked for the ticket. She just felt like having a bus ride again. 

6. What dampened Valli’s enthusiasm during the return journey? 

During her return journey, Valli saw a young cow lying dead by the side of the road. She was the same, lovable and beautiful cow that she saw only a little while ago. Now, it looked so horrible and frightening as it lay there. The sight dampened her enthusiasm and she stopped looking outside.

Answer the following questions in 100-120 words:

1. Justify the statement with instances that Valla was a mature girl and ahead of her age. 

Valli was an eight-year-old village girl. She had no playmates. Her favourite pastime was to stand at the doorstep and watch things and people. She not only satisfied her curiosity but also gained new experiences. Her strongest desire was to take a bus-ride. She meticulously planned for it — gathered information about the distance, time and ticket cost. She resisted the temptation to buy peppermint, toys or a ride on the merry-go-round in order to save 60 paise for the bus journey. She boarded the bus without anyone’s help, refused a free treat by the conductor and didn’t talk to strangers. This shows her commanding, confident and independent nature. This also shows her determination and maturity at such a little age. 

2. Valli’s journey to the city is also her induction into the mystery of life and death. Elaborate. 

Valli gets introduced to the mystery of life and death on her first bus journey in the outside world. She was wonderstruck and enjoyed the beauty of the outside world. She clapped, laughed and enjoyed when she saw a young cow running in the middle of the road in front of the bus. The driver sounded the horn to warn it but the more he honked, the faster it galloped. Valli found it funny and amusing. She laughed till tears came into her eyes. On her way back, she saw the same cow lying dead on the road. Some fast speeding vehicle must have hit it. It was a horrible sight. It looked quite frightening to see the lifeless cow. The image of the dead cow haunted her, dampening her spirits and made her sad.

3. Who was Valli? What was her overwhelming desire? 

Valli was an eight-year-old girl. She was a curious girt. She wanted to know many things. She did not have playmates of her own age. Her favourite pastime was standing in the front doorway of her house to see what was happening outside. The most fascinating thing of all was the bus that passed through the street each hour. The bus travelled between her village and the nearest town. The sight of the bus was a source of unending joy for Valli. It was a great joy for her to watch new sets of passengers every time the bus passed through the street. As she watched the bus day after day, she developed a wish to have a ride on that bus. Her wish became stronger and stronger until it was an overwhelming desire. 

4. What did Valli notice after she boarded the bus? 

Valli looked around in the bus. It had a soft and comfortable seat. It had a beautiful clock above the windscreen. The overhead bars shone like silver. Then she tried to look outside. She found her view cut off by a curtain that covered the lower part of her window. So she stood on her seat to enjoy the scene outside. The bus was going along the bank of a canal. She saw palm trees, mountains and the blue sky. On the other side, there were green fields. Suddenly an elderly man warned Valli not to stand on the seat. He called her a child and said that she could fall and get hurt. But Valli did not care. She told him proudly that she was not a ‘child’. She had paid the full fare like the others. The conductor told the man that Valli was a grown-up madam. Valli looked at the conductor angrily and said that she was not a madam.

Questions from the text book. Thinking about the Text

1. What was Valli’s deepest desire? Find the words and phrases in the story that tells you this.
Valli’s deepest desire was to ride on the bus she saw every day. The sentences in the story which depict this are as follows: ‚Day after day she watched the bus, and gradually a tiny wish crept into her head and grew there: she wanted to ride on that bus, even if just once. This wish became stronger and stronger until it was an overwhelming desire.‛

2. How did Valli plan her bus ride? What did she find out about the bus, and how did she save up the fare? 

Valli planned that she would take the one o’clock afternoon bus, reach the town at one forty-five, and be back home by about two forty-five. She found out that the town was six miles from her village. The fare was thirty paise one way. The trip to the town took forty-five minutes. On reaching the town, if she stayed in her seat and paid another thirty paise, she could return home on the same bus. She had carefully saved whatever stray coins came her way, resisting every temptation to buy peppermints, toys, balloons, and the like, and finally, she had saved sixty paise.

3. What kind of a person is Valli? To answer this question, pick out the following sentences from the text and fill in the blanks. The words you fill in are the clues to your answer. 

(i) 'Stop the bus! Stop the bus!'  And a tiny hand was raised commandingly. 

(ii) 'Yes, I simply have to go to town,' said Valli, still standing outside the bus. 

(iii) 'There’s nobody here who’s a child,' she said haughtily. I’ve paid my thirty paise like everyone else.‛ 

(iv) 'Never mind,' she said, 'I can get on myself. You don’t have to help ‚I’m not a child, I tell you,‛ she said, irritably. 

(v) 'You needn’t bother about I can take care of myself,' Valli said, turning her face toward the window and staring out. 

(vi) Then she turned to the conductor and said, ‚Well, sir, I hope to see you again.‛ For Valli, the bus journey probably symbolised the adult world. Like anyone else, she spent her money to buy the ticket. She would have attained a great sense of pride and satisfaction in doing so. Therefore, though a child, Valli wanted to be treated as a grown-up on the bus. She had a great sense of self-respect which prevented her from taking anyone’s help. She felt she was able to take care of herself very well and was easily irritated when anyone treated her as a child.

4. Why does the conductor refer to Valli as ‘madam’? 

When the conductor stretched out his hand to help her get on the bus, Valli said commandingly that she could get on by herself, and that she did not require his help. She did not act like a child, but as a grown-up girl and therefore, the conductor called her ‘madam’. When the elderly man called her a child and asked her to sit down on her seat, she replied that nobody was a child on the bus. She kept stressing on the fact that she had paid her fare like everybody else and therefore, she should not be treated differently.

5. Find the lines in the text which tell you that Valli was enjoying her ride on the bus.

The following lines in the text show that Valli was enjoying her ride on the bus:
(i) "Valli devoured everything with her"
(ii) "On the one side there was the canal and, beyond it, palm trees, grassland, distant mountains, and the blue, blue sky. On the other side was a deep ditch and then acres and acres of green fields − green, green, green, as far as the eye could see. Oh, it was all so wonderful!" 

(iii) "Everyone laughed, and gradually Valli too joined in the laughter. Suddenly, Valli clapped her hands with glee." 

(iv) "Somehow this was very funny to She laughed and laughed until there were tears in her eyes."

(v) "Valli wasn’t bored to the slightest and greeted everything with the same excitement she’d felt the first"

6. Why does Valli refuse to look out of the window on her way back? 

Valli refused to look out of the window on her way back because she saw a young cow lying dead by the roadside, just where it had been struck by some fastmoving vehicle. It was the same cow that was running in front of their bus, during their trip to the town. She was overcome with sadness. The memory of the dead cow haunted her and therefore, she refused to look out of the window.

7. What does Valli mean when she says, "I was just agreeing with what you said about things happening without our knowledge."? 

Valli’s mother said that many things happen around us, but we are usually unaware of them. Valli had gone on a bus ride to town, all alone, and had come back without any harm. She did all this without the knowledge of her mother. Hence, she agreed with what her mother said.

8. The author describes the things that Valli sees from an eight-year-old’s point of view. Can you find evidence from the text for this statement? 

The author has described the things that Valli saw from an eight-year-old’s point of view. She was fascinated by a bus. Watching the bus filled with a new set of people each time was a source of unending joy for her. Her strongest desire was to ride the bus. She saved money by cutting on peppermints, toys, and balloons, and even resisting the temptation to ride the merry-go-round at the fair. When the author describes the bus, the points he stresses on are the colour and look of the bus. It was a ‘new bus’, painted a ‘gleaming white’. The overhead bars ‘shone like silver’. The seats were ‘soft and luxurious’. The descriptions that the author gives when Valli looked outside are also typical for an eight-year-old. The ‘blue, blue sky’ and the ‘acres and acres of green fields − green, green, green’ show the enthusiasm of a kid on looking at different colours. Valli clapped her hands in glee on watching a cow run right in front of the bus. She found it so funny that tears came into her eyes. On the other hand, she was overcome with sadness on her way back when she saw the same cow lying dead. It had been a ‘lovable, beautiful creature’ and later it ‘looked so horrible’. The memory of the dead cow haunted her so much that she refused to look outside the window. These are the typical reactions of a young child.

Practice Question

Q1 Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow. 

(a) But for Valli, standing at the front door was every bit as enjoyable as any of the elaborate games other children played. Watching the street gave her many new unusual experiences. 

i.) Why did Valli kept on standing at the doorway?
a. In order to watch the happenings on the street
b. Because someone rang the doorbell.
c. The house was locked.
d. She was waiting for her friend. 

ii.) How did Valli feel while standing at the doorway?
a. joyous
b. anxious
c. boring 

d. scared 

iii.) How was Valli different from children of her age?
a. She did not play outside.
b. She loved studying.
c. She did not like sweets.
d. She liked to sleep most of the times. 

iv.) Find a word from the extract which means complicated.
a. enjoyable
b. elaborate
c. unusual
d. experiences

(b) The most fascinating thing of all was the bus that travelled between her village and the nearest town. It passed through her street each hour, once going to the town and once coming back. The sight of the bus, filled each time with a new set of passengers, was a source of unending joy for Valli.

i.) What was the most fascinating thing for Valli?
a. watch the cattle graze
b. watching the children play
c. watching the street food vendors

d. watching the bus 

ii.) How many times did the bus pass?

a. once in an hour
b. twice in an hour
c. once in two hours

d. once in three hours 

iii.) What happened when Valli watched the bus day after day?

a. She wanted to go to school in the bus.
b. She wished to ride on the bus once.

c. She wished to click a photograph of the bus.
d. She wanted to draw a picture of the crowded bus. 

iv.) Give the antonym of nearest.
a. far
b. farther
c. extreme
d. farthest

Q2 Answer the following questions in 30-40 words each. 

(a) How was the view outside the bus when it went through the canal? 

On one side there was the canal and, beyond it, palm trees, grassland, distant mountains, and the sky. On the other side was a deep ditch and then acres and acres of green fields. 

(b) How did Valli save money to travel by bus? 

Valli had thriftily saved whatever stray coins came her way. She resisted every temptation to buy peppermints, toys, balloons and ride on the merry-go-round at the village fair to save money for her bus journey. 

(c) How did Valli feel on seeing the dead cow on the road? 

Valli was filled with sadness. She thought what had been a lovable, beautiful creature just a little while ago had now suddenly lost its charm and its life and looked so horrible and frightening. 

(d) Why did Valli not get off from the bus when it stopped at the bus stand? 

Valli’s sole purpose was to enjoy the bus ride. She neither had the money to buy anything from the shops at the town nor the courage to get down among strangers. Also, she wanted to reach back home in time.

Q3 Answer the following questions in in 100 -120 words. 

(a) In such a fast moving world when we hear so many incidents happening with people, do you think Valli did right by not telling her mother about the bus journey? 

No, I don’t think that Valli did the right thing in travelling alone to the town without informing her mother. By doing this, she put herself in a vulnerable position as she could have easily been a victim of child abuse had she come in contact with wrong people. In fact, she was lucky to return home safety. Children should always travel along with their parents or elders as they are easy targets for criminals. We hear a lot of instances of crime committed against children these days like kidnapping, child abuse, molestation, rape etc. Valli could have expressed her desire of travelling in the bus to her mother. I am sure that her mother would have fulfilled her wish by talking her on a bus ride. 

(b) Age is not a barrier when it comes to doing something different and great. Which characteristics of Valli help her achieve the wonder of visiting the town at such a tender age?

In today’s era, age is no more a barrier. Children are doing wonders at a very young age. Same goes with Valli. At an age of 8 years, Valli was able to pursue her dream all alone by travelling in the bus to town. She was no different from others, except that she had certain characteristics that made her fulfill her dreams. Valli was a very confident and a bold girl. She had knowledge of proper planning and execution. She controlled her wishes to save money for the bus ride. Also, she was a very good observer and learner. All these qualities made her realise the dream of visiting the town. Hence, one should always remember that there is no age to learn and experience new things.