Madam Rides the Bus Question and Answer |
NCERT | Class 10 | English | First Flight
Oral Comprehension Check – I
Question 1 What was Valli’s favourite pastime?
Answer Her favourite time pass was to stand in the front of 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 The source of unending joy 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 streets.Her strongest desire was to ride the bus.
Question 3 What did Valli find out about the bus journey? How did she find out these details?
Answer Valli listened carefully to the conversations between her neighbours and people who regularly used the bus and found out that the bus journey to the town took 45 minutes and the one-way fare costed 30 paisa. On reaching the town, if she stayed on her seat and pay another 30 paise , she could return home on the same bus.She also gained information by asking them few questions.
Question 4 What do you think Valli was planning to do?
Answer Valli was planning to go to the town and then return back by the same bus. She planned that she would be back by 2:45 pm if she took the bus at 1:00 pm.
Oral Comprehension Check – II
Question 1 Why does the conductor call Valli ‘madam’?
Answer Valli was trying to behave like a sophisticated and mature woman. She was very quick in her answers to the conductor’s questions. The conductor was trying to tease her and called Valli ‘madam’.
Question 2 Why does Valli stand up on the seat? What does she see now?
Answer Valli view was blocked by the canvas blind that covered the lower part of the window. In order to have a better view she stood up on the seat. She saw that the bus was going along the bank of canal and the road was very narrow. She saw a canal, palm trees, grassland, mountains, green fields and the blue sky. On other side there was a deep ditch and many acres of green field.
Question 3 What does Valli tell the elderly man when he calls her a child?
Answer The elderly man asked her not to stand as he was concerned about her. Valli was annoyed by his attention and said that there was nobody in the bus who was a child. She had paid a fare of 30 paise like everyone else.
Question 4 Why didn’t Valli want to make friends with the elderly woman?
Answer Valli did not wanted to make friends with the elderly woman because she looked quite repulsive. She had big earholes and was wearing ugly earrings. she was chewing betel and her mouth was also filled with betel juice.
Oral Comprehension Check – III
Question 1 How did Valli save up money for her first journey? Was it easy for her?
Answer She painstakingly saved every stray coins that came her way by resisting every temptation to buy peppermints, toys, balloons, etc. Sacrificing her childish urges would have been very difficult for her.Even at the village fair she resisted the temptation to be on the merry-go-round. Thus, she had been 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 saw a young cow, tail high in the air running very fast right in the middle of the road in front of the bus. The bus slowed and the driver sounded his horn loudly over and over again. But the more he honked, the more frightened the cow became and it kept running faster and faster , right in the front of the bus. This all seemed very funny to Valli and she laughed and laughed till there were tears in her eyes.
Question 3 Why didn’t she get off the bus at the bus station?
Answer Valli didn’t get off the bus at the bus station because she had to go back on that same bus. She only wanted to take ride on the bus and took out another 30 paise from her pocket and handed it to conductor. She didn’t have time or money to go to see the town.
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 wanted 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 drink as a treat, she refused and said that she only wanted her ticket. This shows that Valli had a lot of self will and pride. She did not want to take anything for free, particularly from 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 deepest desire was to ride on the bus she saw everyday standing on her front door.
The words and phrases in the story that tell this are :” Day after day she watched the bus, and gradually a tiny wish crept her and grew there, she wanted to ride on the 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 Over many days and months, Valli listened carefully to conversations between her neighbours and people who regularly used the bus and asked a few discreet questions here and there. She came to know that the town was six miles from her village, the bus fare was thirty paise and the bus trip took forty-five minutes. She also thought that if she stayed in the bus and came back by the same bus it would only cost her sixty paise. After Valli saved had saved her money she had to slip out of her house without her mother’s knowledge. She painstaking saved each and every penny she got, resisting all temptation to buy peppermints, toys, etc. and even a ride on the merry-go-round at the village annual fair so as to save sixty paise.
Question 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.
(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.”
(iv) “Never mind,” she said, “I can . You don’t have to help me. ”I’m not a child, I tell you,” she said, .
(v) “You needn’t bother about me. I ,” Valli said, turning her face toward the window and staring out.
(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.
(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, .
(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.”
Valli was a confident girl who did not think that her age was a limitation to her travelling alone to the town. For her bus journey was a desire. She spend her money to buy the tickets. She have attained a great satisfaction in doing so. Inspite being a child, she wanted to be treated as a grown on the bus. She had a self respect and does not want to take help from anyone. She felt irritated when one treated her as a child and told him that she can manage on her own.
Question 4 Why does the conductor refer to Valli as ‘madam’?
Answer The conductor called Valli ‘Madam’ as she behaved like a grown up and did not think that she was a child. When the conductor stretched out his hand to help her get on the bus, she said commandingly that she does not require any help and could get on by herself. When an elderly man called her a child and asked her to sit down on seat , she replied that no body was a child on the bus. She kept stressing on the fact that she had paid her fare like everyone else. The conductor called Valli madam in order to tease her.
Question 5 Find the lines in the text which tell you that Valli was enjoying her ride on the bus.
Answer The lines in the text which tell us that Valli was enjoying her ride on the bus are:
1) On 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.
2) Everyone laughed, and gradually Valli too joined in the laughter.
3) She laughed and laughed until there were tears in her eyes.
4) Valli wasn’t bored to the slightest and greeted everything with the same excitement she had felt the first time.
Question 6 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. It was the same cow that was running in front of their bus, during their trip to the town. She was filled with sadness. The memory of dead cow frightened her.
Question 7 What does Valli mean when she says, “I was just agreeing with what you said about things happening without our knowledge.”
Answer Valli agreed with what her mother said because she had gone on a bus ride to town, all alone, and had come back safely. She did all this without the knowledge of her mother. While making this statement , she was trying to hide the fact about her bus ride.
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 The author has described the things that Valli sees from an eight-year-old’s point of view. She was fascinated by the bus. Watching the bus fill with a new set of people each time was a source of unending joy for her. When the author describes the bus, he stresses on the colour and look of the new bus ‘like silver’ because a child is attracted towards colour. ‘The seats were soft and luxurious’. The description that the author gives when Valli looked outside are also typical of a eight year old. ‘The blue sky’ and ‘acres and acres of green field’, show the enthusiasm a child. Valli clapped her hands in glee of watching a cow run right in front of the bus.She found it so funny that tears came into her eyes. The sight of dead cow made her sad and she refused to look outside the window on her return journey. These are the reactions of eight years old child.
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