Class 10 First flight – Chapter 9: Madam Rides the Bus English
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
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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?
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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
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people who regularly used the bus. She also gained information by asking them a few
questions.
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4. What do you think Valli was planning to do?
Answer
Valli was planning to travel on that bus.
Oral Comprehension Check
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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
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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
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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.
Class 10 First flight – Chapter 9: Madam Rides the Bus English
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.
Oral Comprehension Check
1. How did Valli save up money for her first journey? Was it easy for her?
Answer
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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4. Why didn’t Valli want to go to the stall and have a drink? What does this tell you about
her?
Answer
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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.
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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.”
Class 10 First flight – Chapter 9: Madam Rides the Bus English
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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3. 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.
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(i) “Stop the bus! Stop the bus!” And a tiny hand was raised ________________.
(ii) “Yes, I ____________ go to town,” said Valli, still standing outside the bus.
(iii) “There’s nobody here ____________,” she said haughtily. “I’ve paid my thirty paise like
everyone else.”
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(iv) “Never mind,” she said, “I can ___________. You don’t have to help me. “I’m not a child,
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I tell you,” she said, _____________.
(v) “You needn’t bother about me. I _____________,” Valli said, turning her face toward the
window and staring out.
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(vi) Then she turned to the conductor and said, “Well, sir, I hope ______________.”
Answer
(i) “Stop the bus! Stop the bus!” And a tiny hand was raised commandingly.
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(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
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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
Class 10 First flight – Chapter 9: Madam Rides the Bus English
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.
4. 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
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‘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.
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5. Find the lines in the text which tell you that Valli was enjoying her ride on the bus.
Answer
The following lines in the text show that Valli was enjoying her ride on the bus:
(i) “Valli devoured everything with her eyes.”
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(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
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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.”
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(v) “Valli wasn’t bored to the slightest and greeted everything with the same excitement
she’d felt the first time.”
6. Why does Valli refuse to look out of the window on her way back?
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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
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refused to look out of the window.
7. 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.
Class 10 First flight – Chapter 9: Madam Rides the Bus English
8. The author describes the things that Valii sees from an eight-year-old’s point of view. Can
you find evidence from the text for this statement?
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
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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
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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.
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