Madam Rides the Bus
Madam Rides the Bus
Before You Read (Page 1)
1. Look at the words and phrases given below. Then put a tick against the ones you think you will find in the text.
Based on the story’s content, here are the correct ones:
* [✓] a set of passengers
* [✓] get off the bus
* [✓] Tickets, please (The conductor gives her a ticket)
* [✓] a row of seats
* [✓] blowing a whistle
* [✓] get on the bus
* [ ] platform
* [✓] a roar and a rattle
* [✓] slowing down to a crawl
2. What can you see from a fast-moving bus? … write a sentence or two about them.
Answer: From a fast-moving bus, you can see trees that seem to “come running towards” the bus and then quickly “rush away in the other direction”. You can also see roadside shops and market places in the town, filled with big crowds and “glittering displays of clothes”.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 4)
1. What was Valli’s favourite pastime?
Ans. Valli’s favourite pastime was “standing in the front doorway of her house, watching what was happening in the street outside.”
2. What was a source of unending joy for Valli? What was her strongest desire?
Ans. Source of unending joy: “The sight of the bus, filled each time with a new set of passengers”.
* Strongest desire: She wanted “to ride on that bus, even if just once.” This wish grew into an “overwhelming desire.”
3. What did Valli find out about the bus journey? How did she find out these details?
Ans. Valli learned that the town was six miles away, the one-way fare was thirty paise, and the trip took forty-five minutes. She also learned that she could pay another thirty paise and return home on the same bus.
She “listened carefully to conversations between her neighbours and people who regularly used the bus” and also “asked a few discreet questions here and there.”
4. What do you think Valli was planning to do?
Ans. Valli was planning to secretly take the bus to the town and return home, all by herself.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 7)
1. Why does the conductor call Valli ‘madam’?
Ans. The conductor, who was a “jolly sort, fond of joking,” called Valli ‘madam’ as a joke. She was behaving like a very grown-up person, saying “I can get on by myself” and trying to pay her own fare, so he playfully treated her like an adult lady.
2. Why does Valli stand up on the seat? What does she see now?
Ans. Valli stood up because her “view was cut off by a canvas blind that covered the lower part of her window.” She stood on the seat to “peer over the blind.”
She sees the narrow road along the bank of a canal. Beyond the canal, she sees “palm trees, grassland, distant mountains, and the blue, blue sky.” On the other side, she sees a deep ditch and “acres and acres of green fields.”
3. What does Valli tell the elderly man when he calls her a child?
Ans. She tells him haughtily, “There’s nobody here who’s a child… I’ve paid my thirty paise like everyone else.”
4. Why didn’t Valli want to make friends with the elderly woman?
Ans. Valli found the elderly woman “absolutely repulsive.” She disliked the “big holes… in her ear lobes,” her “ugly earrings,” and the smell of the betel nut she was chewing, with juice “threatening to spill over her lips”.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 10)
1. How did Valli save up money for her first journey? Was it easy for her?
Ans. Valli “thriftily saved whatever stray coins came her way, resisting every temptation to buy peppermints, toys, balloons, and the like”.
* Was it easy: No, “it had been” very “difficult”. She even “resolutely stifled a strong desire to ride the merry-go-round” at the village fair, even though she had the money.
2. What did Valli see on her way that made her laugh?
Ans. Valli saw a “young cow, tail high in the air, … running very fast, right in the middle of the road, right in front of the bus.” The more the driver honked, the faster the frightened animal galloped. This sight was “very funny to Valli,” and she “laughed and laughed until there were tears in her eyes.”
3. Why didn’t she get off the bus at the bus station?
Ans. She didn’t get off because her only plan was to “have a bus ride, that’s all.” She also told the conductor she would be “much too afraid” to go to the stalls by herself.
4. Why didn’t Valli want to go to the stall and have a drink? What does this tell you about her?
Ans. She first told the conductor she didn’t “have enough money”. When he offered her a drink as a “treat,” she refused “firmly”.
* What this tells us: This shows that Valli is proud, independent, and self-respecting. She is not a beggar and will not accept charity. It also shows she is responsible and cautious, as she does not want to accept things from strangers.
Thinking about the Text (Page 12)
1. What was Valli’s deepest desire? Find the words and phrases in the story that tell you this.
Ans. Valli’s deepest desire was to ride the bus. The text states, “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.”
2. How did Valli plan her bus ride? What did she find out about the bus, and how did she save up the fare?
Ans. Valli “listened carefully to conversations” and asked “discreet questions”.
She learned the town was six miles away, the trip took forty-five minutes, and the one-way fare was thirty paise.
She “thriftily saved whatever stray coins came her way”. She had to “resist… temptation” to buy peppermints, toys, and balloons, and even skipped a ride on the merry-go-round at the fair. She saved a total of sixty paise.
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.
Ans. Based on these sentences, Valli is a confident, assertive, independent, proud, and self-reliant girl who considers herself mature.
(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.”
4. Why does the conductor refer to Valli as ‘madam’?
Ans. The conductor was a “jolly sort” and found Valli’s behavior amusing. She acted very grown-up and independent, refusing his help and proudly stating she had paid her fare. He called her ‘madam’ as a playful, affectionate joke, teasing her for her “grown-up” behavior.
5. Find the lines in the text which tell you that Valli was enjoying her ride on the bus.
Ans. “Valli devoured everything with her eyes.”
* “Oh, it was all so wonderful!”
* “Suddenly Valli clapped her hands with glee.”
* “Somehow this was very funny to Valli. She laughed and laughed until there were tears in her eyes.”
* “Struck dumb with wonder, Valli gaped at everything.”
* “Valli wasn’t bored in 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?
Valli refused to look out the window because she saw the same young cow that had been full of life now “lying dead by the roadside”. The sight “looked so horrible”. “The memory of the dead cow haunted her, dampening her enthusiasm. She no longer wanted to look out the window.”
7. What does Valli mean when she says, “I was just agreeing with what you said about things happening without our knowledge.”
Ans. Valli is making a secret, double-edged comment. Her mother was speaking generally, saying, “How can we possibly know about everything? … we often can’t understand it completely”. Valli agreed, but she was applying this to two very specific, personal things her mother didn’t know about:
* Her secret bus journey, which happened without her mother’s knowledge.
* Her own new, profound experience with death (the cow), which she now “can’t understand… completely” either.
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?
Ans. Yes, there is strong evidence:
* Her “favourite pastime” is simply standing at the door watching the street, and the bus is a “source of unending joy”.
* She uses the word “Proud! proud!” as a “slang expression of disapproval” without really understanding its meaning.
* The small thirty-paise fare “seemed a fortune” to her.
* The “trees came running towards them” and then “rushing away in the other direction” is a classic child’s perspective of motion.
* She found the running cow “very funny” and “laughed and laughed”.
* The town’s shops with “glittering displays” and “big crowds” struck her “dumb with wonder”.
* Her reaction to the elderly woman was based on a simple, physical “repulsion”.
Writing (Page 13)
Here is a sample response for Topic 2:
2. Have you made a journey that was unforgettable in some way? What made it memorable?
Ans. A journey that remains unforgettable for me was my first train ride to my grandmother’s village. Like Valli, I had meticulously planned this trip in my head, though my parents were the ones who handled the tickets. The anticipation of the journey was almost as exciting as the trip itself. I had seen trains in pictures and movies, but the reality of standing on the platform next to the massive, loud engine was overwhelming.
The journey itself was a feast for the eyes, much like Valli’s bus ride. I sat glued to the window, watching the city landscape melt away into “acres and acres of green fields”. The “trees came running towards” us, and small villages passed by in a blur. The rhythmic “clatter and… jangling” sound of the wheels on the track was like music, and every new tunnel was a thrilling adventure into darkness.
What truly made it memorable, however, was a moment similar to Valli’s. While my journey didn’t involve the mystery of death, it involved a new understanding of poverty. When the train stopped at a small, remote station, I saw children my own age in torn clothes, running barefoot on the hot platform, selling small toys. It was a stark contrast to my own comfortable, excited journey. Like Valli, who was “overcome with sadness” by the cow, I was overcome with a new, complex feeling I couldn’t quite name. That journey taught me not only about the beauty of my country but also about the world’s inequalities, which I, like Valli, “can’t understand… completely.”
The Tale of Custard the Dragon
Thinking about the Poem (Page 17)
1. Who are the characters in this poem? List them with their pet names.
* Belinda: A girl who lives in a little white house.
* Ink: A little black kitten.
* Blink: A little grey mouse.
* Mustard: A little yellow dog.
* Custard: A “realio, trulio, little pet dragon.”
* A Pirate: An intruder who climbs in the “winda.”
2. Why did Custard cry for a nice safe cage? Why is the dragon called “cowardly dragon”?
Ans. Why he cried for a cage: Custard cried for a nice safe cage because he was a “coward”. Despite his fearsome appearance, he longed for safety.
* Why he was called cowardly: He was called a “cowardly dragon” because he was the only one who showed fear, while all the other small animals (Ink, Blink, and Mustard) and Belinda were described as being extremely brave.
3. “Belinda tickled him, she tickled him unmerciful…” Why?
Belinda tickled Custard “unmerciful” to make fun of him for being a coward. She, Ink, Blink, and Mustard would all sit “laughing… at the realio, trulio, cowardly dragon”.
4. The poet has employed many poetic devices in the poem. … list some more such poetic devices…
Ans. Simile (comparison using ‘like’ or ‘as’):
* “Mouth like a fireplace”
* “Belinda was as brave as a barrel full of bears”
* “Mustard was as brave as a tiger in a rage”
* “snorting like an engine”
* “Clashed his tail like irons in a dungeon”
* “He went at the pirate like a robin at a worm”
* Metaphor (direct comparison):
* “chimney for a nose”
* Alliteration (repetition of initial consonant sounds):
* “Custard… cried… cage”
* “giggled till she shook the house”
* “gulped some grog”
* Repetition:
* The word “little” is repeated in stanza 1.
* “Suddenly, suddenly”
* The refrain “And a realio, trulio…”
* Onomatopoeia (sound words):
* “Weeck!” (giggling for a mouse)
* “growled”, “Meowch!”
* “clatter,” “clank,” and “jangling”
* Oxymoron (contradictory terms):
* “pet dragon”
5. Read stanza three again to know how the poet describes the appearance of the dragon.
Ans. The poet describes Custard as having “big sharp teeth,” “spikes on top of him and scales underneath,” a “mouth like a fireplace,” a “chimney for a nose,” and “realio, trulio daggers on his toes.”
6. Can you find out the rhyme scheme of two or three stanzas of the poem?
Yes. Every stanza follows a simple aabb rhyme scheme.
* Stanza 1: house (a), mouse (a), wagon (b), dragon (b)
* Stanza 2: Ink (a), Blink (a), Mustard (b), Custard (b)
* Stanza 4: bears (a), stairs (a), rage (b), cage (b)
7. Writers use words to give us a picture or image… Can you trace some images used in the poem?
Ans. The image of Custard breathing fire: “Mouth like a fireplace, chimney for a nose.”
* The image of the tiny, “brave” mouse and kitten: “Ink and Blink chased lions down the stairs.”
* The image of the fearsome pirate: “Pistol in his left hand, pistol in his right,” “His beard was black, one leg was wood.”
* The image of the others fleeing: “Ink trickled down to the bottom of the household, / And little mouse Blink strategically mouseholed.”
* The image of Custard’s attack: “He went at the pirate like a robin at a worm.”
8. Do you find The Tale of Custard the Dragon to be a serious or a light-hearted poem? Give reasons to support your answer.
Ans. It is a light-hearted poem. The text itself calls it a “humorous ballad” and a “parody.”
* Reasons:
* The names are silly (Ink, Blink, Mustard, Custard).
* The “brave” characters are tiny (a kitten, a mouse, a little dog) while the “coward” is a giant dragon.
* The playful, made-up words “realio, trulio” and “winda”.
* The comical way the “brave” characters run away: Mustard gives a “terrified yelp,” Ink “trickled down,” and Blink “strategically mouseholed”.
* At the end, all the cowards immediately go back to pretending they are braver than Custard, and Custard humbly agrees, returning to his “nice safe cage”.