MADAM RIDES A BUS

INTRODUCTION- The story revolves around Valli, an eight-year-old girl who lives
in a village. Her greatest desire is to ride the bus that travels between her village and
the nearest town. She is fascinated by the bus and saves money meticulously to fulfill
her dream. The trip is filled with excitement, learning, and a touch of sadness, as she
encounters different people and sees the world outside her village.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR- Vallikannan is the pen name of Rajavallipuram S.
Krishnasamy, the author of 'Madam Rides the Bus'. He was born
on 12 November 1920 in Rajavallipuram, Thirunelveli, India. He has predominantly
written in the Tamil language. He is also a writer, critic, journalist and translator.
Many of his works were translated into many other languages like English and Hindi
and have received huge appreciation.
VOCABULARY- as discussed in the class
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING
Question 1: What was Valli’s favourite pastime?
Answer: Valli’s favourite pastime was standing in the front doorway of her house and
watching what was happening in the street outside.
Question 2: What was a source of unending joy for Valli? What was her strongest
desire?
Answer: 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 the street near her
house was a source of unending joy for Valli. Her strongest desire was to take a ride
on the bus someday.
Question 3: What did Valli find out about the bus journey? How did she find out
these details?
Answer: Valli found out that the bus journey to the town from her village was six
miles and took approximately fortyfive minutes. The fare for a one-way journey cost
30 paise. She listened to the conversations carefully between her neighbours and the
people who regularly took the bus trip and asked a few questions to gain some
information and small details about the bus journey.
Question 4: What do you think Valli was planning to do?
Answer: Valli was planning to travel on the bus and go to the town and return home
on the same bus. She heard the onward journey fare was thirty paise that took
approximately forty-five minutes to reach the town. In this way, she planned to stay
in her seat and pay another thirty paise for the return trip. This meant that she could
take the one o’clock afternoon bus, reach the town at 1.45 p.m. and return home by
2.45 p.m.
Question 1: Why does the conductor call Valli ‘madam’?
Answer: The conductor called Valli ‘madam’ because she was behaving like a woman
in an audacious and smart manner. She did not accept his help to get on the bus and
was very quick in replying to the conductor’s questions. Amused by her antics and
behaviour, the conductor teased her by calling her ‘madam’.
Question 2: Why does Valli stand up on the seat? What does she see now?
Answer: Valli was enchanted by the view of the beautiful scenery outside the bus and
was trying hard to look outside. But her view was blocked by the canvas blind that
covered the lower part of the window. In order to catch a better glimpse, she stood up
on the seat and peered over the blind. She saw the narrow road as the bus was going
along the bank of a canal, palm trees, grassland, distant mountains, green fields and
the blue sky. On the other side, there was a deep ditch, and many acres of green fields
stretched far and wide as much as her eyes could see.
Question 3: What does Valli tell the elderly man when he calls her a child?
Answer: When the elderly man on the bus referred to Valli as a child, she instantly
replied that there was nobody on the bus who was a child. She further stated that she
had paid her fare of thirty paise like other passengers on the bus.
Question 4: Why didn’t Valli want to make friends with the elderly woman?
Answer: Valli was not interested in making friends with the elderly woman because
she looked quite repulsive to her. She had big earlobes with bigger holes and wore
ugly earrings. Besides, she was also chewing betel nut, and her mouth was also filled
with betel juice that was likely to spill all over her lips. Seeing all this, Valli thought
that the elderly woman was not sociable enough to be friends with.
Question 1: How did Valli save up money for her first journey? Was it easy for her?
Answer: Valli had saved every stray coin meticulously that came her way. She
resisted every temptation to buy peppermints, toys, balloons, etc., to save enough
money for the bus trip. It had been really difficult for her as she had to control her
urges and resist the temptation to be on the merry-go-round in the village fair. After
making a lot of sacrifices, she was able to save sixty paise for her first bus journey.
Question 2: What did Valli see on her way that made her laugh?
Answer: Valli was overjoyed upon seeing a young cow, tail high in the air, running
very fast right in the middle of the road just in front of the bus. The driver sounded
his horn loudly repeatedly so that the cow moved away from the path. But the more
he honked, the cow became more frightened and galloped as fast as possible. Seeing
all this, it appeared very funny to Valli, and she laughed out loud until tears rolled
down her eyes.
Question 3: Why didn’t she get off the bus at the bus station?
Answer: Valli’s plan was only to take the bus ride and not roam around the town. She
had painstakingly accumulated sixty paise for her onward and return bus journey.
She knew that she had limited money to travel by bus and would spend thirty paise
fare on her onward journey, go to the town and then return by the same bus before
her mother woke up from her afternoon nap. She neither had the money to roam
around the town nor had time to explore it, so she didn’t get off the bus at the bus
station.
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 didn’t want to go to the stall as she had saved sixty paise only for the
bus journey. She didn’t want to waste money on anything unnecessary as she had to
return by the same bus at any cost. So, when the conductor suggested she get down
and get a drink for herself, she refused. He also offered to get her a drink in case she
didn’t have money, but she still refused. This implies that she was an independent
girl who did not want to rely on anyone for her needs.
Question 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 take a ride on the bus that she saw every day
from her house. The words and phrases in the story that depicts her desire are ‘an
overwhelming desire’, ‘source of unending joy’, ‘stare wistfully’, and ‘kindle in her
longings, dreams and hopes’.
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 had been carefully listening for many days to the conversations
between her neighbours and the people who regularly used the bus and asked a few
discreet questions. She learnt from them that the town was six miles away from her
village and the bus charged thirty paise as fare for the onward journey, and it took
fortyfive minutes to complete a one-way bus trip. She also made up her mind to stay
on the bus and return on the same bus, which would cost her sixty paise to and fro.
She was determined not to get down from the bus to roam around the town as she
didn’t have enough money. Hence, she saved sixty paise meticulously and resisted all
kinds of urges and temptations to buy peppermints, toys, etc. and even a ride on the
merry-goround at the village’s annual fair. It was Valli’s secret adventurous bus trip
that she had planned without her parents’ knowledge.
Question 7: What does Valli mean when she says, “I was just agreeing with what you
said about things happening without our knowledge.”
Answer: When Valli’s mother casually mentioned that there are certain things that
happen around them without their knowledge, Valli instantly agreed with her
mother’s words and said, “I was just agreeing with what you said about things
happening without our knowledge.” She was happy about her adventurous bus trip to
the town, which she had taken without the knowledge of her parents.
Question 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?
Answer: Yes, the author had described various things from an eight-year-old’s point
of view. Some of these include – ‘she was fascinated by the bus’ and ‘watching the bus
fill with a new set of people each time was a source of unending joy for her’. The
author described the colour and look of the new bus with ‘its outside painted a
gleaming white with some green stripes along the sides. Inside, the overhead bars
shone like silver.’ Through this description, the author wanted to express how a child
would be attracted towards the colour of the bus. ‘The seats were soft and luxurious’.
This description implies that the author wanted to show the excitement of a child
traveling in the luxury of a bus for the first time. ‘The blue sky’ and ‘acres and acres of
green field’, show the zeal and enthusiasm of a child. Further, when Valli sees the
cow running in front of the bus, this fascinated her too, whereas the sight of a dead
cow brings tears to her eyes. The memory of the cow haunted her, and she refused to
look outside the window on her return journey. These were some of the lines which
beautifully described the typical reactions and behaviour of an eight-year-old child in
an ideal manner.
9. Valli shows extraordinary courage in taking a bus journey all alone.
Explain how ability and courage are essential to fulfill one’s dream.
It is undeniably true that having the skill and bravery to take chances is necessary to
achieve one’s goals. Valli was eight years old. She didn’t go outside at all. She didn’t
even take a bus once. Her parents forbade her from leaving the house, but she
summoned bravery and boarded a bus to travel. She relished the travel and was
aware of the outer world’s realities. She was a little child, yet despite that, she
managed to travel without difficulty because she had the guts to take chances.
In other words, we can say that the thing or task that seems to be very hard is
actually not so tough. We can do it if we have the ability and courage to take risks. If
we do not dare to take risks, we lose opportunities to get better.