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7.What does Valli tell the elderly man when he calls her
Madam Rides the Bus a child?
1.What was Valli's favourite pastime?
Ans. When the elderly man called her a child, Valli told
Ans. Valli's favourite pastime was to stand in the front him that there was nobody in the bus who was a child.
doorway of her house and watch what was happening She had paid her fare of thirty paise like everyone else.
outside in the street.
8.Why didn't Valli want to make friends with the
2.What was a source of unending joy for Valli? What elderly woman?
was her strongest desire?
Ans. In the middle of the journey, an elderly woman
Ans. A source of unending joy for Valli was the sight of came and sat beside Valli. She looked repulsive with big
the bus that travelled between her village and her earlobes. She was chewing betel nut and the betel juice
strongest desire was to ride on that bus. was about to seep out of her mouth. That is why, Valli
did not want to make friends with her.
3.What did Valli find out about the bus journey? How
did she find out these details? 9.How did Valli save up money for her first journey?
Was it easy for her?
Ans. Valli found out that the town was six miles away
from her village. The fare was thirty paise one way. The Ans. Valli saved every coin that came her way. She made
trip to the town took forty-five minutes. On reaching the great sacrifices by controlling her normal childish urges
town, she stayed in her seat and paid another thirty of having candies, toys and joyrides. This must have been
paise, she could return home on the same bus. She difficult for her. Kids find it very difficult not to savour a
found out these details by listening carefully to the candy or to enjoy a toy.
Winning Age Study Point
conversations between her neighbours and the people
10.What did Valli see on her way that made her laugh?
who regularly used the bus. She gained information by
asking them a few discreet questions. Ans. Valli saw a young cow, whose tail was high in the
air, running right in front of the bus, in the middle of the
4.What do you think Valli was planning to do?
road. The bus slowed and the driver sounded his horn
Ans. Valli was planning to travel on that bus. loudly. However, the more he honked, the more
frightened the cow became and it kept running faster
5.Why does the conductor call Valli 'madam'? and faster, right in front of the bus. Valli found it so
amusing that she had tears in her eyes. At last, the cow
Ans. Valli was trying to behave more mature than her
moved off the road.
age. She was trying to look confident and smart. The
conductor was amused at her behaviour and in an effort 11.Why didn't she get off the bus at the bus station?
to tease her, calls her 'madam".
Ans. Valli didn't get off the bus at the bus station
6.Why does Valli stand up on the seat? What does she because she had to go back on that same bus.
see now?
12.Why didn't Valli want to go to the stall and have a
Ans. Valli stands up on her seat because her view was cut drink? What does this tell you about her?
off by a canvas blind that covered the lower part of her
window. She stood up to look over the blind. She saw Ans. Valli did not want to go to the stall and have a drink
that the road was very narrow, on one side of which was because she did not have any money for that. Even when
a canal and beyond it were palm trees, grassland, distant the conductor offered her a cold drink free of charge,
mountains, and blue sky. On the other side, there was a she refused firmly and said that she only wanted her
deep ditch and many acres of green fields. 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 overcome with sadness. The memory of the dead cow
haunted her and therefore, she refused to look out of
13.What was Valli’s deepest desire? Find the words and the window.
phrases in the story that tell you this.
17.What does Valli mean when she says, "I was just
Ans. Valli’s deepest desire was to ride on the bus which agreeing with what you said about things happening
she saw every day. The sentences in the story which without our knowledge."
depict this are as follows:
Ans. Valli's mother said that many things happen around
“Day after day she watched the bus, and gradually a tiny us, but we are usually unaware of them. Valli had gone
wish crept into her head and grew there: she wanted to on a bus ride to town, all alone, and had come back
ride on that bus, even if just once. This wish became without any harm. She did all this without the knowledge
stronger and stronger, until it was an overwhelming of her mother. Hence, she agreed with what her mother
desire”. said.

14.How did Valli plan her bus ride? What did she find Additional questions
out about the bus, and how did she save up the fare?
18.How did Valli react when she saw the dead cow by
Ans. Valli planned that she would take the one o’clock the roadside?
bus, reach the town at one forty-five, and be back home
by two forty-five. She found out that the town was six Ans. On her return journey, Valli saw a dead cow lying in
miles away from her village. The fare was thirty paise the middle of the road. It was lying sprawled in a pool of
one way. The trip to the town took forty-five minutes. blood, legs spread out, with a fixed stare in its lifeless
On reaching the town, if she stayed in her seatWinning
and paid eyes. She felt sad and this made her lose all the
Age Study Point
another thirty paise. She could return home on the same enthusiasm, she no longer wanted to look out of the
bus. She had carefully saved whatever stray coins came window.
her way, resisting every temptation to buy peppermints,
toys, balloons, etc. and finally, she had saved sixty paise. 19.Give two reasons why Valli found the elderly woman
on the bus, repulsive.
15 Why does the conductor refer to Valli as ‘madam’?
Ans. Valli did not want to make friends with the elderly
Ans. When the conductor stretched out his hand to help woman because she found her repulsive as she had big
her get on the bus, Valli said commandingly that she holes in her earlobes and was wearing ugly earrings. She
could get on by herself, and she did not require his help. could not stand the smell of the beetle nut the woman
She did not act like a child, but as a grown-up girl and was chewing and the juice spilling over her lips.
therefore, the conductor called her ‘madam’. When the
elderly man called her a child and asked her sit down on 20.What stopped Valli from going to the stall to have a
her seat, she replied that nobody was a child on the bus. drink? What do we learn about Valli from this?(CBSE
She kept stressing on the fact that she had paid her fare Question Paper)
like everybody else, and therefore, should not be treated Ans. Valli didn't want to go to the stall and have a drink
differently. because she didn't have money for it. She even tried to
16.Why does Valli refuse to look out of the window on refuse the offer of a treat by the conductor. This tells us
her way back? that she was a wise girl and had self-control on her
feelings. She also knew the value of money and was
Ans. Valli refused to look out of the window on her way righteous enough to avoid taking a favour from
back because she saw a young cow lying dead by the strangers.
roadside, where it had been struck by some fast moving
vehicle. It was the same cow that was running in front of 21.Why did Valli spend her time all alone and what
their bus, during their trip to the town. She was became her favourite pastime? (CBSE Question Paper)
MOHIT KUMAR 9717984876

I-10-11, DDA Market, Shakurpur, Near Bansal Book Depot New Delhi-110034
Ans. Valli kept standing in front of the door as she had to windscreen. The overhead bars shone like silver. Then
playmates of her age on her street. So, she used to keep she tried to look outside. She found her view cut off by a
on watching the street outside her house. The street curtain that covered the lower part of her window. So,
outside used to be full of activities which were enough to she stood on her seat to enjoy the outside scene. The
keep her amused and engaged. The outcome of this bus was going along the bank of a canal. She saw palm
pastime was that she planned and undertook a journey trees, mountains, and blue sky. On the other side, there
all by herself in the bus piled through that her village. were green fields. Suddenly, an elderly man warned Valli
not to stand on the seat. He called her a child and said
22.Valli's journey to the city is also her induction into that she could fall and get hurt. But Valli did not bother
the mystery of life and death. Elaborate. and told him proudly that she was not a ‘child’. She had
Ans. Valli gets introduced to the mystery of life and paid the full fare like the others. The conductor told the
death on her first bus journey in the outside world. She man that Valli was a grown-up madam. Valli looked at
was wonderstruck and enjoyed the beauty of the outside the conductor angrily and said that she was not a
world. She clapped, laughed, and enjoyed when she saw madam.
a young cow running in the middle of the road, in front 25.Valli was a mature girl and ahead of her age’. Justify
of the bus. The driver sounded the horn to warn it, but the statement with instances from the text. (CBSE
the more he honked, the faster it galloped. Valli found it Question Paper)
funny and amusing. She laughed till tears came into her
eyes. On her way back, she saw the same cow lying dead Ans. Valli was an eight-year-old village girl. Her favourite
on the road. Some fast-speeding vehicle must have hit it. pastime was standing at the doorstep of her house and
It was a horrible sight. It looked quite frightening. It was watch things and people. She not only satisfied her
laying with legs spread out, a fixed stare in its lifeless curiosity but also gained new experiences. She was
Winning Age Study Point
eyes and blood around it. The image of the dead cow mature, clever and practical beyond her years. Her
haunted her, dampening her spirits, and making her sad. strongest desire was to take a bus ride. She meticulously
planned for it by gathering the information about
23.Whenever we want to achieve something, distance, ticket, money and fare. She was determined to
difficulties always come in our way. What did Valli have resist any temptation that came in her way like buying
to do to go and ride in a bus? (CBSE Question Paper) peppermint, toys, or a ride on the merry- go-round in
Ans. Valli had a strong desire to travel on a bus, which order to save sixty paise for the bus journey. She
sparked when she observed buses travelling regularly boarded the bus without anyone’s help. She did not like
from the front of her house. Before she could get on a being called ‘Madam’ or ‘Child’. She refused a free treat
bus, she had to wait for months to get the necessary by the conductor and did not talk to strangers. This
information about a bus journey and the required shows her commanding, confident and self-dependent
amount of money for the journey. She was eight years nature. This also shows her determination and maturity
old, so her parents wouldn’t give her permission to ahead of her age.
travel alone. Thus, she had to travel during the afternoon
time, so that she could go and come back unnoticed.
Even on the day, she was about to go on the bus journey,
she almost missed the bus but could finally catch it when
she shouted to stop it. Thus, she faced many difficulties
in her way to travel on a bus, yet she overcame them
and succeeded in fulfilling her desire.

24.What did Valli notice after she boarded the bus?

Ans. Valli looked around in the bus. It had soft and