Chapter 9 Madam Rides the Bus

Answer:

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

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.

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.

Answer:

Valli
was planning to travel on that bus.

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’.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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
frightened 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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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 by myself.
You don’t have to help me. “I’m not a child, I tell
you,” she said, irritably.

(v) “You needn’t
bother about me. 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.

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.

Answer:

The
following lines in the text show that Valli was
enjoying her ride on the bus:

(i)
“Valli devoured everything with her
eyes.”

(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
Valli. 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 time.”

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.

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.

Answer:

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.