NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 9 Madam Rides the Bus

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 9 Madam Rides the Bus can be an extremely helpful resource. NCERT Solutions are designed to help students learn and understand complex concepts. Also, NCERT Solutions can be used to solve all kinds of academic queries efficiently. Whether you are struggling with a particular concept or just need some extra help, NCERT Solutions can provide the assistance you need.

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Chapter 9 Madam Rides the Bus Class 10 English First Flight NCERT Solutions

Oral Comprehension Check

1. What was Valli’s favourite pastime ?

Solution

Valli’s favourite pastime was standing in the front doorway of her house and watching what was happening in the street outside.

2. What was a source of unending joy for Valli ? What was her strongest desire ?

Solution

Valli’s greatest desire was to ride on the bus filled with new passengers. Her strongest desire was to ride on that bus.

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

Solution

Valli found out that the town was six miles from the village. The fare was thirty paise one way. The passenger’s conversation gave her these details, such as the bus’s location, etc.

4. What do you think Valli was planning to do?

Solution

Valli was planning to take a bus ride to the city and come back in the same bus.

1. Why does the conductor call Valli ‘madam’ ?

Solution

The conductor called Valli as ‘madam’ due to her behaviour. She answered questions quickly and spoke with great confidence.

2. Why does Valli stand up on the seat ? What does she see now ?

Solution

Valli stood up on her seat because her view was cut off by a canvas blind that covered the lower part of her window. She stood up to look over the blind. She saw that the road was very narrow, on one side of which there was the canal and beyond it were palm trees, grassland, distant mountains, and the blue sky. On the other side, there was a deep ditch and many acres of green fields.

3. What does Valli tell the elderly man when he calls her a child ?

Solution

When the elderly man calls her a child she gets annoyed and says that she is not a child as she has paid the full fare.

4. Why didn’t Valli want to make friends with the elderly woman ?

Solution

The elderly woman looked ‘repulsive’ and smelled foul, so Valli refused to become friends with her.

1. How did Valli save up money for her first journey ? Was it easy for her ?

Solution

Valli had saved up the money for her first journey by resisting every temptation to buy peppermints, toys, balloons etc.

2. What did Valli see on her way that made her laugh ?

Solution

Valli saw a young cow, whose tail was high in the air, running right in front of the bus in the middle of the road. The bus slowed and the driver sounded his horn loudly. However, the more he honked, the more frightened the cow became and it kept running faster and faster, right in front of the bus. Valli found it so amusing that she had tears in her eyes. At last, the cow moved off the road.

3. Why didn’t she get off the bus at the bus station ?

Solution

Valli didn’t get off the bus because she was too scared to get down. Also, she just wanted to take a ride in the bus and was going back to her village by the same bus.

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

Solution

Valli didn’t want to get down at the city stop and go to the stall for a drink because she was scared and also, had not planned for it. This tells us that she was careful not to venture into something she had no idea about.

Thinking about the Text

1. What was Valli’s deepest desire ? Find the words and phrases in the story that tell you this.

Solution

Valli’s deepest desire was to ride on the bus that travelled between her village and the nearest town. She would stare wistfully at the people who got on or off the bus when it stopped at the street corner.

2. How did Valli plan her bus ride ? What did she find out about the bus, and how did she save up the fare ?

Solution

Valli planned that she would take the one o’clock afternoon bus, reach the town at one forty-five, and be back home by about two forty-five. She found out that the town was six miles from her village. The fare was thirty paise one way. The trip to the town took forty-five minutes. On reaching the town, if she stayed in her seat and paid another thirty paise, she could return home on the same bus. She had carefully saved whatever stray coins came her way, resisting every temptation to buy peppermints, toys, balloons, and the like, and finally she had saved 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. The words you fill in are the clues to your answer.
(i) “Stop the bus ! Stop tjie 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 ………. ”

Solution

(i) commandingly
(ii) simply have to
(iii) who’s a child
(iv) get on by myself; haughtily/ irritably
(v) can take care of myself
(vi) to see you again

Valli is a very confident girl. She researches about the journey and then undertakes it. She is self-dependent. She gets irritated if things don’t move her way and others hold a low opinion about her. She has an amiable nature also.

4. Why does the conductor refer to Valli as ‘madam’ ?

Solution

The conductor is amused to see an eight year old wanting to behave like a grown up and thus he calls her ‘madam’.

5. Find the lines in the text which tell you that Valli was enjoying her ride on the bus.

Soluton

These lines are : ‘Suddenly Valli clapped her hands with glee,’ ‘Somehow this was very funny to Valli,’ ‘She laughed and laughed …,’ ‘Struck dumb with wonder, Valli gaped at everything.’

6. Why does Valli refuse to look out of the window on her way back ?

Solution

Valli sees a young cow lying dead by the roadside. The memory of the dead cow haunts her, dampening her enthusiasm and so she refuses to look out of the window on the way back.

7. What does Valli mean when she says, “I was just agreeing with what you said about things happening without our knowledge.”

Solution

Valli has just come back from a bus ride into the city without her mother knowing anything about it. In this context, she agrees with her mother when she says that there are things that happen without one’s knowledge.

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 ?

Solution

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.
• palm trees, grassland, distant mountains, and the blue, blue sky.
• then acres and acres of green fields
• green, green, green, as far as the eye could see. Oh, it was all so wonderful!