Page 1 - LN3- SUMMARY

Madam Rides the Bus

Summary

The lesson is about an eight year old girl named Valli, who did not have friends to play
with and so she would spend her time by looking at the outside affairs going on the
street. Her favourite part was to look at the bus that passed by her village every hour.
It gave her endless joy to look at the new set of passengers each time the bus crossed
by. Gradually, even she wished to travel by bus. Soon, the wish turned into a desire
and therefore, she made it her mission to fulfil it.
She started listening to the conversations between her neighbours who frequently
travelled by bus and in the process, would ask a few careful questions here and there
to collect more information. Just like this, she knew that the town is six miles away
from her village and it took the bus forty five minutes to travel one side. One-sided
fare was thirty paise making it sixty for a back and forth ride. Therefore, she started
planning and re-planning so that she could sneak out during her mother’s afternoon
nap and come back without her knowing anything. She needed to save the money
which was not easy as she had to resist the temptation of candy, peppermint and
merry-go-round. Finally, she saved enough money and one fine day, the brave eight
year old took the bus during its not very busy hours.
She refused to take any help from the conductor or fellow passengers. It was an
amusing sight for everyone to see such a small girl all alone acting like an adult. The
conductor was of the joking sort and thus, referred to Valli as a grown up ‘madam’.
Short-heighted Valli would stand on her seat to be able to see clearly from the
window while everyone advised her to sit for her own safety. Each time someone
would poke their nose in her business, Valli would get annoyed as she did not
consider herself a child. She did not want to be friends with an elderly lady who was
worried about her because she thought she was not socially-capable enough.
She enjoyed seeing what was going on outside and the sight of a running cow in the
middle of a road was abruptly a funny scenario for her. Upon reaching the town, she
refused to get down the bus because she was too afraid to do so alone. While
returning, she was filled with extreme enthusiasm until she saw a cow lying lifeless on
the road. It was the same cow that was so joyous previously. Valli got terrified at the
fact that how a creature so full of life can instantly turn into something horrible. She
sat down silently for rest of the journey. Upon reaching home, she found her mother
and aunt talking about the endless possibilities in the world outside. Valli affirmed to
what her mother was saying leaving both of them astonished. She then justified her
reaction by mentioning that she was casually agreeing to what her mother was
saying. Her aunt then referred to Valli as a nose-poking child who acts like a grown
up lady but only Valli knew what she was referring to because, after all, no one knew
about her bus journey.

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