Class:X English

 Class 10 English 

First Flight 

Chapter 9 

Madam Rides the Bus

Questions & Answers

Question 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.

Question 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.

Question 3. 

What did Valli find out about the bus journey? How did she find these details? 

Answer: 

Valli found out that the bus journey to the town took 45 minutes and the one-way fare costed 30 paisa. She listened carefully to the conversations between her neighbours and people who regularly used the bus and asked a few discreet questions here and there. This way she picked up various small details about the bus journey.

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. The fare was 30 paise one way and the ride took forty five minutes. In this way, she planned that she would be back by 2:45 pm if shf took the bus at 1:00 pm.

Question 5. 

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.

Question 6. 

Why does Valli stand up on the seat? (or) 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.

Question 7. 

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

Question 8. 

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.

Question 9. 

How did Valli save money for her first journey?\Was it easy for her? 

Answer: 

Valli had very painstakingly saved every stray coins that came her way by resisting every temptation to buy peppermints, toys, balloons, etc. It had 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 10. 

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 driver sounded his horn again and again so that the cow moves away. But the more he honked, the more frightened the animal became and faster it galloped. This all seemed very funny to Valli and she laughed and laughed till there were tears in her eyes.

Question 11. 

Why didn’t she get off the bus at the bus station? Answer: Valli had planned that she only wanted to ride on the bus. She would spend thirty paise on her fare, go to the town and then come back by the same bus before her mother woke up. She didn’t 1 time or money to go to see the town.

Question 12. 

Why didn’t Valli want go to the stall have a drink? What does this tell yo about her? 

Answer: 

Valli had saved only sixty paise for the trip. She didn’t want to waste any money on the as she had to come back by the same bus at any cost. So, when the conductor suggested her to get down and have a drink she refused. He offet bring one for her but she still refused. This i that she was a well- mannered girl.

The End 

BY:GR Dhaka English Guru