{"slug":"cbse-class-10-english-madam-rides-the-bus","title":"Madam Rides the Bus","description":"Valli's planning, the journey out and back, and the dead cow that changes everything. This chapter was not set in the 2026 papers available, so the weighting follows the chapter's own emphasis.","board":"CBSE","grade":"Class 10","subject":"English","chapter":"Madam Rides the Bus","url":"https://www.flipnlearn.app/deck/cbse-class-10-english-madam-rides-the-bus","studyUrl":"https://www.flipnlearn.app/deck/cbse-class-10-english-madam-rides-the-bus/study","cards":[{"id":"vallis-favourite-pastime","kind":"concept-question","front":"What was Valli's favourite pastime, and why?","back":"Standing in the front doorway watching the street. There were no playmates her own age nearby, so it was about all she had to do — but she found it every bit as enjoyable as the elaborate games other children played."},{"id":"vallis-strongest-desire","kind":"concept-question","front":"What became Valli's overwhelming desire, and how did it grow?","back":"To ride the bus that passed her street each hour, even just once. Watching its changing passengers day after day, a small wish took root in her mind and kept growing until it had taken her over entirely."},{"id":"proud-proud","kind":"term-definition","front":"'Proud! Proud!'","back":"What Valli shouted in English at any friend who had ridden the bus and tried to describe the town. Neither she nor her friends really knew what the word meant; they used it as slang for disapproval, and in her case it was plain jealousy."},{"id":"how-valli-found-out-about-the-bus-journey","kind":"concept-question","front":"How did Valli find out what she needed to know about the bus journey?","back":"Over months she listened carefully to neighbours who used the bus and slipped in a few discreet questions. She learned the town was six miles off, the fare thirty paise each way and the trip forty-five minutes, so the one o'clock bus would have her home by about two forty-five."},{"id":"how-valli-saved-up-the-fare","kind":"concept-question","front":"How did Valli save up the sixty paise, and was it easy?","back":"She hoarded every stray coin that came her way and refused every peppermint, toy and balloon. The hardest moment was at the village fair, where she had the money in hand and still resolutely stifled the urge to ride the merry-go-round."},{"id":"how-valli-slipped-out-of-the-house","kind":"concept-question","front":"How did Valli manage to leave the house without her mother knowing?","back":"Her mother napped every day from about one to four. Valli already used those hours for her small 'excursions' to the doorway or into the village, so the same window served for her first trip outside it."},{"id":"why-the-conductor-called-valli-madam","kind":"concept-question","front":"Why does the conductor call Valli 'madam'?","back":"It is teasing. She stops the bus with a commanding wave, refuses his hand up and insists she has paid her fare like anyone else, so he plays along with her grown-up airs — asking the other passengers to make way for madam."},{"id":"the-conductor","kind":"term-definition","front":"The conductor","back":"A jolly sort, fond of joking, who keeps up the 'madam' game for the whole journey. Beneath the teasing he looks after her — punching her ticket, urging her to sit safely, and offering to buy her a cold drink at his own expense."},{"id":"the-bus-as-valli-saw-it","kind":"term-definition","front":"The bus, as Valli first saw it inside","back":"A new vehicle, gleaming white outside with green stripes along the sides. The overhead bars shone like silver, a beautiful clock sat above the windshield, and the seats were soft and luxurious. She devoured it all with her eyes."},{"id":"why-valli-stood-up-on-the-seat","kind":"concept-question","front":"Why did Valli stand up on her seat, and what did she see?","back":"A canvas blind covered the lower half of her window and cut off her view, so she stood and peered over it. She saw a canal with palm trees, grassland, distant mountains and blue sky beyond it, and on the other side a deep ditch and acres of green fields."},{"id":"what-valli-told-the-elderly-man-who-called-her-a-child","kind":"concept-question","front":"How did Valli answer the elderly man who told her to sit down like a child?","back":"She said haughtily that there was no child there, and that she had paid her thirty paise like everyone else. When he persisted she added, irritably, that she was eight years old — the fare, to her, settles the question of status."},{"id":"why-valli-would-not-befriend-the-elderly-woman","kind":"concept-question","front":"Why did Valli refuse to be friendly with the elderly woman beside her?","back":"She found her repulsive — the big holes in her ear lobes, the ugly earrings, the smell of betel nut and the juice threatening to spill over her lips. The prying questions about where exactly she was going finished it."},{"id":"what-made-valli-laugh-on-the-way-to-town","kind":"concept-question","front":"What made Valli laugh until there were tears in her eyes?","back":"A young cow with its tail high in the air, galloping squarely down the centre of the road ahead of the bus. The more the driver honked the more frightened it became and the faster it ran, refusing to move aside."},{"id":"why-valli-did-not-get-off-at-the-town","kind":"concept-question","front":"Why did Valli stay in her seat when the bus reached town?","back":"She had only ever wanted the ride itself, and she paid another thirty paise to return on the same bus. Asked why she would not look at the sights, she admitted she would be much too afraid to do it alone."},{"id":"why-valli-refused-the-cold-drink","kind":"concept-question","front":"Why did Valli refuse the cold drink, even when the conductor offered to pay?","back":"She said plainly that she did not have enough money, and when he offered it as his treat she refused firmly twice over. She had budgeted for a ride and nothing else, and would not accept what she could not pay for herself."},{"id":"what-changed-vallis-mood-on-the-return-journey","kind":"concept-question","front":"What changed Valli's mood on the journey home?","back":"A young cow lay dead at the edge of the road, struck by some fast-moving vehicle, and the conductor confirmed it was the same animal that had made her laugh on the way out. What had been lovable and alive now lay spreadeagled with a fixed stare and blood all over."},{"id":"why-valli-refused-to-look-out-of-the-window-on-the-way-back","kind":"concept-question","front":"Why did Valli stop looking out of the window on the way back?","back":"The memory of the dead cow haunted her and dampened her enthusiasm. The same sights that had delighted her an hour earlier were now spoiled, so she sat glued to her seat until the bus reached her village."},{"id":"what-the-dead-cow-taught-valli","kind":"concept-question","front":"Why does the dead cow matter so much in the story?","back":"It turns a joyride into an initiation. The same creature that was comic on the way out is horrifying on the way back, and Valli meets for the first time the difference between knowing that death exists and actually understanding it."},{"id":"what-valli-meant-by-agreeing-with-her-mother","kind":"concept-question","front":"What does Valli really mean when she agrees with her mother about things happening without our knowledge?","back":"Her mother is talking in general terms; Valli is thinking of the journey she has just taken and the death she has just seen, neither of which her mother knows about. She is agreeing and confessing at once, and nobody in the room hears it."},{"id":"why-valli-smiled-to-herself-at-the-end","kind":"concept-question","front":"Why does Valli smile to herself at the end, and not want the others to understand it?","back":"Her aunt has just dismissed her as a chit of a girl poking her nose into grown-up talk. Valli knows she has planned and completed a journey alone that afternoon, and the secret is worth more to her kept than told."},{"id":"what-kind-of-person-valli-is","kind":"concept-question","front":"What kind of person is Valli?","back":"Determined, observant and fiercely self-reliant. She researches the journey for months, saves against every temptation, refuses a helping hand, insists she can take care of herself, and will not accept a drink she cannot pay for."}]}