Here is a summary of the chapter “Madam Rides the Bus” and answers to your questions, presented with ease of understanding and emojis, based on the provided sources.
Summary of “Madam Rides the Bus” 🚌👧🤔
The story is about an eight-year-old girl named Valliammai, known as Valli for short. She is very curious about things. Valli’s favourite pastime is standing at her front doorway and watching what happens in the street because she doesn’t have playmates her own age.
The most exciting thing for Valli is the bus that travels between her village and the nearest town. It passes her street every hour. Watching the bus filled with different passengers gives her endless joy and new experiences. Gradually, a strong wish grows in her: she wants to ride the bus, just once.
Valli starts planning her bus ride. She listens carefully to conversations of neighbours and regular bus users, asking discreet questions. She learns that the town is six miles away, the one-way fare is thirty paise, and the trip takes forty-five minutes. She can return on the same bus if she pays another thirty paise. Valli thriftily saves money by resisting temptations to buy toys or ride the merry-go-round at the village fair. She saves a total of sixty paise. She plans to use the hours her mother naps (from about one to four) for her trip.
One spring day, Valli stops the bus and gets on. The conductor, who is jolly and likes to joke, calls her “madam”. Inside, it’s a new bus with a gleaming white outside and green stripes, shiny overhead bars, and comfortable seats. Valli stands on her seat to see over the window blind. She sees green fields, mountains, and the sky. An elderly man tells her to sit down, calling her a child, which annoys her. Valli insists she’s not a child and has paid her fare. Later, an elderly woman sits next to her, but Valli finds her repulsive and doesn’t want to talk to her.
On the way to town, Valli sees a young cow running in the middle of the road in front of the bus, which makes her laugh a lot.
At the town, Valli doesn’t get off the bus. The conductor asks if she wants to see the sights or have a drink, even offering to treat her. Valli refuses, saying she is afraid to go by herself and doesn’t have enough money. She pays her thirty paise return fare.
On the return journey, Valli sees the same sights but is suddenly saddened. She sees the young cow she laughed at earlier lying dead by the roadside, struck by a vehicle. The sight is horrible and frightening, and the memory haunts her, making her lose enthusiasm. She stops looking out the window.
The bus reaches her village at three forty. Valli gets off and goes straight home. She finds her mother talking to an aunt. Valli’s aunt mentions that Valli pokes her nose into conversations like a grown lady. Valli smiles to herself, agreeing with her mother’s remark about things happening without their knowledge, knowing they wouldn’t understand her adventure.
Questions and Answers 🤔❓🚌
Here are the answers to your questions, based on the sources:
What was Valli’s favourite pastime? Valli’s favourite pastime was standing in the front doorway of her house, watching what was happening in the street outside.
What was a source of unending joy for Valli? What was her strongest desire? The bus that travelled between her village and the nearest town was a source of unending joy for Valli. Her strongest desire was to ride on that bus, even if just once.
What did Valli find out about the bus journey? How did she find out these details? Valli found out that the town was six miles away. The fare was thirty paise one way. The trip to town took forty-five minutes. She found out these details by listening carefully to conversations between her neighbours and people who regularly used the bus, and by asking a few discreet questions.
What do you think Valli was planning to do? Based on the details she gathered and how she saved money, it is clear Valli was planning to take a bus ride to town and back.
Why does the conductor call Valli ‘madam’? The conductor calls Valli ‘madam’ in a joking manner, perhaps amused by her confidence and serious attitude for an eight-year-old girl undertaking such a journey alone. He seems to treat her as an adult passenger.
Why does Valli stand up on the seat? What does she see now? Valli stands up on the seat because her view outside the window was cut off by a canvas blind that covered the lower part. By standing, she could peer over the blind. When she stands, she sees the canal bank, palm trees, grassland, distant mountains, the blue sky, a deep ditch, and acres of green fields.
What does Valli tell the elderly man when he calls her a child? When the elderly man calls her a child and tells her to sit down, Valli tells him, “There’s nobody here who’s a child,” and states haughtily, “I’ve paid my thirty paise like everyone else.” She also later irritably says, “I’m not a child, I tell you,” and mentions she is eight years old.
Why didn’t Valli want to make friends with the elderly woman? Valli didn’t want to make friends with the elderly woman because she found her “absolutely repulsive”. She disliked the woman’s large holes in her ear lobes with ugly earrings and the smell and sight of the betel nut the woman was chewing.
How did Valli save up money for her first journey? Was it easy for her? Valli saved money by thriftily saving whatever stray coins came her way. She resisted every temptation to buy things like peppermints, toys, and balloons. It was difficult for her, especially resisting the strong desire to ride the merry-go-round at the village fair, even though she had the money for it.
What did Valli see on her way that made her laugh? On her way, Valli saw a young cow running very fast in the middle of the road, right in front of the bus, with its tail high in the air. The more the driver honked, the faster the cow galloped, which Valli found very funny, making her laugh until she had tears in her eyes.
Why didn’t she get off the bus at the bus station? Valli did not get off the bus at the bus station because she didn’t want to go into town alone and was afraid to look at the sights by herself. Her plan was just to have a bus ride.
Why didn’t Valli want to go to the stall and have a drink? What does this tell you about her? Valli didn’t want to go to the stall and have a drink partly because she didn’t have enough money, but also firmly refused when the conductor offered it as a treat. This shows she was determined to stick to her plan and her budget, and was perhaps too shy or cautious to accept a treat from a stranger.
Why does Valli refuse to look out of the window on her way back? Valli refuses to look out of the window on her way back because she saw the young cow she had found so amusing earlier now lying dead by the roadside. The sight of the dead cow, which looked horrible and frightening, saddened her and haunted her memory, dampening her enthusiasm.
What does Valli mean when she says, “I was just agreeing with what you said about things happening without our knowledge.” When Valli says this, she is agreeing with her mother’s general observation about how many things happen in the world without people knowing about them or fully understanding them. She is secretly thinking about her own bus journey, which happened without her mother’s knowledge, and how her understanding of life changed after seeing the dead cow. It’s a clever way for her to comment on her own secret experience without revealing it.
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? Yes, there is evidence. For example, the description of the bus seats shining like silver bars, or the road alongside the canal with green fields described as “green, green, green, as far as the eye could see”, reflects the perspective of a young child experiencing these sights vividly. Her excitement at the cow running in the road and her reaction to the elderly woman’s appearance also show a child’s viewpoint and reactions.
What was Valli’s deepest desire? Find the words and phrases in the story that tell you this. Valli’s deepest desire was to ride on the bus that went to the town. Words and phrases that show this include “a tiny wish crept into her head and grew there” and this wish becoming “stronger and stronger, until it was an overwhelming desire”.
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 her bus ride by listening to conversations and asking discreet questions to find out details about the journey, such as the distance, fare (thirty paise one way), and trip duration (forty-five minutes). She saved up the sixty paise fare by thriftily resisting temptations to buy toys and sweets and by resolutely stifling her desire to ride the merry-go-round.
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. (Shows she is bold / determined).
- (ii) “Yes, I simply have to go to town,” said Valli, still standing outside the bus. (Shows her determination).
- (iii) “There’s nobody here who’s a child,” she said haughtily. “I’ve paid my thirty paise like everyone else.” (Shows she is proud and wants to be treated as an adult).
- (iv) “Never mind,” she said, “I can get on by myself. You don’t have to help me. ”I’m not a child, I tell you,” she said, irritably. (Shows her independence and irritation at being treated as a child).
- (v) “You needn’t bother about me. I can take care of myself,” Valli said, turning her face toward the window and staring out. (Shows her self-reliance).
- (vi) Then she turned to the conductor and said, “Well, sir, I hope to see you again.” (Shows her politeness and perhaps satisfaction with the adventure despite the sad part).