NCERT Solutions Class 10 English (First Flight)
The NCERT Solutions in English Language for Class 10 English (First Flight) Chapter – 9 Madam Rides the Bus has been provided here to help the students in solving the questions from this exercise.
Chapter – 9 (Madam Rides the Bus)
Oral Comprehension Check
1. What was Valli’s favourite pastime?
Answer – Valli’s favourite pastime was standing in the front doorway of her house and looking at the street outside.
2. What was the 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 each time with a new set of passengers, was a source of unending joy for Valli. Her strongest desire was to ride the bus.
3. What did Valli find out about the bus journey? How did she find these details?
Answer – Valli found out that the town was six miles from the village. The fare was thirty paise one way. She found out these details about the bus etc, after hearing the passengers’ conversation.
4. What do you think Valli was planning to do?
Answer – Valli was planning to travel on that bus.
Oral Comprehension Check
1. Why does the conductor call Valli ‘madam’?
Answer – The conductor called Valli ‘madam’ because she behaved like a woman. She declined his help and was very quick in her answers to the conductor’s questions. This made the conductor call him madam.
2. Why does Valli stand up on the seat? What does she see now?
Answer – Valli wanted to look outside the bus. She found her view 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 and peered over the blind. She saw a canal, palm trees, grassland, mountains, green fields and the sky.
3. What does Valli tell the elderly man when he calls her a child?
Answer – Valli replied that there was nobody in the bus who was a child. She told her that she had paid her fare of 30 paise like
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. Apart from this, she was chewing betel and her mouth was also filled with betel juice.
Oral Comprehension Check
1. How did Valli save money for her first journey? Was it easy for her?
Answer – Valli saved up money for her first journey. She didn’t buy peppermints, toys, balloons etc. It was difficult for her.
2. What did Valli see on her way that made her laugh?
Answer – Valli saw a cow which had come before the bus with her raised tail. The driver sounded the horn. But the more he honked, the more frightened the animal became. It ran faster. It made her laugh.
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 in the town. It was because she was going back on the same bus.
4. Why didn’t Valli want go to the stall have a drink? What does this tell yo about her?
Answer – Valli did not want to go to the stall and have a drink. It was because she didn’t have the money for that. She also declined the offer of a drink by the conductor. It tells that she was a wise, self-confident and self-respecting girl.
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 go on a bus ride. The words and phrases in the story that tell this are ‘source of unending joy’, ‘stare wistfully’, and ‘kindle in her longings, dreams and hopes’.
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. 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. It was a secret trip which she had planned without the knowledge of her parents.
3. What kind of 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, 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 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 – The conductor called Valli ‘Madam’ as she behaved like a grown up and did not think that she was a child. She also refused his help and told him that she can manage on her own.
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.”
(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 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.”
(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?
Answer – Valli refused to look out of the window on her way back as she saw the dead body of the cow who was running towards the bus when she was going to town. This made her sad and frightened.
7. What does Valli means when she says… “I was just agreeing with you what you said about things happening without our knowledge”.
Answer – While making this statement, Valli was trying to hide the fact about her bus ride. She was also feeling elated at making a successful attempt at her plan.
8. The author describes the things that Valli sees from an 8 years old’s point of view. Can you find evidence from the text for his statement?
Answer – The following evidence is from the text to support it: ‘The most fascinating thing of all was the bus that travelled between her village and the nearest town,’ ‘Valli devoured everything with her eyes,’ ‘Oh, it was all so wonderful!’ palm trees, grassland, distant mountains, and the blue, blue sky, Valli’s standing to look outside when the bus curtain covers the lower part of her window, ‘Somehow this was very funny to Valli’ (seeing the cow run ahead of the bus), ‘She laughed and laughed ……… ’, ‘Struck dumb with wonder, Valli gaped at everything.’
