Class 10 English lesson 9 Madam Rides the Bus :-
Oral Comprehension Check :-
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.
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.
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.
4. What do you think Valli was planning to do?
Answer : Valli was planning to travel on that bus.
Oral Comprehension Check :
1. 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’.
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.
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.
4. 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.
Thinking About Text
1. 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.
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 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.
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.
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
1. What was Valli’s deepest desire? Find the words and phrases in the story that tell you this.
Answer : Valli’s deepest 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.”
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.
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