Chapter 9 Madam Rides the Bus Solutions
Question - 11 : - What kind of a person is Valli? To answer this question, pick out the following sentences from the text and fill in the blanks.
Answer - 11 : -
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:
Valli was a confident eight-year-old girl who believed that her age was not a limiting factor for her to travel alone in the bus to the town. She considered herself to be a grown up person and also acted like one.
(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.”
Question - 12 : - Why does the conductor refer to Valli as ‘madam’?
Answer - 12 : - The conductor called Valli ‘madam’ as she behaved like a grown up woman and responded irritably on being referred to as a child. She was an eight-year-old girl and considered herself old enough to travel alone in the bus. Besides, she also refused his help when he extended his hand to help her get into the bus, she replied commandingly that she can manage getting into the bus on her own.
Question - 13 : - Find the lines in the text which tell you that Valli was enjoying her ride on the bus.
Answer - 13 : -
Valli thoroughly enjoyed her bus ride to the town. The following lines from the text are a proof that exhibit her excitement:
• “Valli devoured everything with her eyes.”
• “The bus was now going along the bank of a canal. The road was very narrow. 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.”
• “Oh, it was all so wonderful!”
• “Everyone laughed, and gradually Valli too joined in the laughter.”
• “Suddenly Valli clapped her hands with glee. A young cow, tail high in the air, was running very fast, right in the middle of the road, right in front of the bus.”
• “Somehow this was very funny to Valli. She laughed and laughed until there were tears in her eyes.”
• “Valli wasn’t bored in the slightest and greeted everything with the same excitement she’d felt the first time.”
Question - 14 : - Why does Valli refuse to look out of the window on her way back?
Answer - 14 : - Valli refused to look out of the window on her way back to her village because she was upset on seeing the dead body of the cow that was running towards the bus while she was going to town. The poor animal was hit by some fast-moving vehicle on the road. She was overcome with sadness and extremely frightened to look outside the bus window as the memory of the cow was haunting her.
Question - 15 : - What does Valli mean when she says, “I was just agreeing with what you said about things happening without our knowledge.”
Answer - 15 : - When Valli’s mother casually mentioned that there are certain things that happen around them without their knowledge, Valli instantly agreed to 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 - 16 : - 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 - 16 : - 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 the colour and look of the new bus as ‘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 colour of the bus. ‘The seats were soft and luxurious’. This description implies that the author wanted to show the excitement of a child to travel 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 dead cow brought tears in 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.