Madam Rides The Bus

1. What was Valli’s favourite pastime?

Answer: As Valli had no playmate of her age, so her favourite pastime was to stand in her doorway and watch the street. The street outside used to be full of activities which were enough to keep her amused and engaged.

2. What was a source of unending joy for Valli? What was her strongest desire?

Answer: The bus was a source of unending joy for her. The bus used to bring a new set of passengers every-time it came from the town. The diversity of people, their activities were a treat to watch for Valli. Her strongest desire was to take a ride in the bus at least once.

3. What did Valli find out about the bus journey? How did she find out these details?

Answer: Valli tried to listen to her neighbours to get the desired information about the bus journey. She would ask some discrete questions to get more information. She got information about distance of the town from her village and the total journey time it usually took.

4. What do you think Valli was planning to do?

Answer: Till now information provided in the story indicate towards her plan to fulfill her strongest desire which was to go on a bus ride.

5. Why does the conductor call Valli ‘madam’?

Answer: Valli is trying to behave more mature than her age. She is trying to look overconfident and smart. The conductor is amused at her behaviour and in an effort to tease her calls her ‘madam’.

6. Why does Valli stand up on the seat? What does she see now?

Answer: Valli’s view was obstructed because of a canvas blind on the window and because of her small height as well she was unable to have a good view outside. She stood up on her seat to have a better view of the scenery outside. She could see a canal with palm trees, grasslands, distant mountains and blue sky as backdrop. On the other side there was a ditch followed by vast tract of greenery.

7. What does Valli tell the elderly man when he calls her a child?

Answer: Valli doesn’t like to be called a child. She thinks that she is grown up. She says that she had paid her full fair the way adults do. This is typical behaviour shown by many kids of Valli’s age.

8. Why didn’t Valli want to make friends with the elderly woman?

Answer: The elderly woman was having big earlobes with bigger holes. She chewing betel nut and the betel juice was about to seep out of her mouth. She was giving a sight of unrefined elderly lady. That is why Vaali did not want to make friends with her.

9. How did Valli save up money for her first journey? Was it easy for her?

Answer: Valli saved every coin that came her way. She made great sacrifices by controlling her normal childish urges of having candies, toys and joyrides. This must have been difficult for her. Kids find it very difficult to savour a candy or to enjoy a toy.

10. What did Valli see on her way that made her laugh?

Answer: A scared cow was running for her life in the middle of the road. It was jumping with tails up. The more incessantly bus driver honked the more furious its scamper became. Valli could not control her laughter after seeing this.

11. Why didn’t she get off the bus at the bus station?

Answer: She did not know anything about the town so was afraid of getting lost. Moreover, her meticulous savings plan allowed her enough money to buy only tickets for her journey. Additionally, she had to return before her mother could find her missing.

12. Why didn’t Valli want to go to the stall and have a drink? What does this tell you about her?

Answer: She did not want to take obligation from the conductor. This indicates that she is taught of not taking anything from strangers. She may be a small child but she knows how to behave properly in the outside world.

Question 1: What was Valli’s favourite pastime?

Answer: Valli’s favourite pastime was to stand in the front doorway of her house and watch
what was happening in the street outside.

Question 2: What was a source of unending joy for Valli? What was her strongest desire?

Answer: A source of unending joy for Valli was the sight of the bus that travelled between her village and the nearest town, filled with a new set of passengers each time it passed through her street. Her strongest desire was to ride on that bus.

Question 3: What did Valli find out about the bus journey? How did she find out these details?

Answer: Valli 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 found out these details by listening carefully to the conversations between her neighbours and the people who regularly used the bus. She also gained information by asking them a few questions.

Question 4: What do you think Valli was planning to do?

Answer: Valli was planning to travel on that bus.

Question 5: How do you usually understand the idea of ‘selfishness’? Do you agree with Kisa Gotami that she was being ‘selfish in her grief’?

Answer: ‘Selfishness’ means being concerned only about one’s own interests and showing complete disregard for others welfare. Yes, it can be said that Kisa Gotami was being ‘selfish in her grief’. In the light of her tragedy, she was unable to see that death is something that strikes all things living. In this sense, she was selfish. However, for every person, his/her tragedy is something personal and it prevents him/her from looking at the tragedy from a universal or general point of view. If we take the usual sense of the word ‘selfish’, then calling Kisa Gotami selfish would be inappropriate, because every person becomes selfish in his/her grief.~

Question 1: Why does the conductor call Valli ‘madam’?
Answer: 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’.

Question 2: Why does Valli stand up on the seat? What does she see now?
Answer: Valli stood up on her seat because her view was cut off by a canvas blind that covered the lower part of her window. She stood up to look over the blind. She saw that the road was very narrow, on one side of which there was the canal and beyond it were palm trees, grassland, distant mountains, and the blue sky. On the other
side, there was a deep ditch and many acres of green fields.

Question 3: What does Valli tell the elderly man when he calls her a child?
Answer: When the elderly man called her a child, Valli told him that there was nobody on the bus who was a child. She had paid her fare of thirty paise like everyone else.

Question 4: Why didn’t Valli want to make friends with the elderly woman?
Answer: Valli did not want to make friends with the elderly woman because she found her absolutely repulsive. She saw that the woman had big holes in her ear lobes and very ugly earrings in them. She could smell the betel nut the woman was chewing, and could see the betel juice that was almost about to spill over her lips. That is why she did not want to be sociable with her.~

Question 1: How did Valli save up money for her first journey? Was it easy for her?

Answer: Valli had carefully saved whatever stray coins came her way, resisting every temptation to buy peppermints, toys, balloons, and the like. Finally, she had saved sixty paise. No, it was not easy for her, especially at the village fair where she was tempted to ride the merry-go-round as she had the money. However, she suppressed her strong desire and saved the money for the bus ride.

Question 2: What did Valli see on her way that made her laugh?
Answer: Valli saw a young cow, whose tail was high in the air, running right in front of the bus in the middle of the road. The bus slowed and the driver sounded his horn loudly. However, the more he honked, the more rightened the cow became and it kept running faster and faster, right in front of the bus. Valli found it so amusing that she had tears in her eyes. At last, the cow moved off the road.

Question 3: Why didn’t she get off the bus at the bus station?

Answer: She did not get off the bus at the bus station because she had to go back on that same bus. She took out another thirty paise from her pocket and handed the coins to the conductor. She just wanted to ride on the bus.

Question 4: Why didn’t Valli want to go to the stall and have a drink? What does this tell you
about her?
Answer: Valli did not want to go to the stall and have a drink because she did not have any money for that. Even when the conductor offered her a cold drink free of charge, she refused firmly and said that she only wanted her ticket. This shows that Valli had a lot of self will and pride. Possibly, she did not want to take anything for free, particularly from a stranger.
~

Thinking About the Text

Question 1: What was Valli’s deepest desire? Find the words and phrases in the story that tell you this.
Answer: Valli’s strongest desire was to ride on the bus she saw everyday. 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.”

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

Answer: 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.

Question 3: Why does the conductor refer to Valli as ‘madam’?

Answer: 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.

Question 4: Why does Valli refuse to look out of the window on her way back?

Answer: 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 fast-moving 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.

Question 5: What does Valli mean when she says, “I was just agreeing with what you said about things happening without our knowledge.”
Answer: 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.