Read this article for Madam Rides the Bus summary for Class 10 (NCERT/CBSE English), including the theme and details about the author. These topics are important from an exam point of view.
Table of Contents
About the Author
Vallikkannan was born on 12 November 1920 in Rajavallipuram. He was a Tamil writer, journalist, critic and translator from Tamil Nadu. His writing career started at a very young age. He had published twenty-five books by the time he was thirty. He wrote a total of 75 books in his lifetime. In 1978, he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for Tamil for his critical work on modern Tamil poetry.
Madam Rides the Bus Theme
The story ‘Madam Rides the Bus’ is about an eight-year-old girl, who fulfills her desire to go for a bus ride on her own. Being a small child, she inherits all the qualities of a mature person, which gives her courage to go alone, all by herself for the ride. In the chapter, the girl is also introduced with the mystery of life and death which makes her sad.
Madam Rides the Bus Summary in Short
Direction:- Read the following Madam Rides the bus Summary in Short and note it down for exam.
Madam Rides the Bus Summary in Short: This story is a modest fiction based on the protagonist who is just an eight-year-old girl titled Valliammai. She is also called Valli. The kids of her age usually spent their time playing on the streets, but Valli had no such playmate. Thus, she spent most of her time looking at various fascinating things trending outside her home. She used to stand-up for hours watching all the attractions in the street.
Valli was always curious to know about unique things. She was a keen observer as she watched everything outside the house. The fascinating thing for Valli was the bus that travelled between her village and the nearest town. She had a great desire to ride a bus while she was observing the passengers. She used to stare at the people while they got up and down the bus.
If one of her friends went on a bus ride and described to her about the bus journey, she would become jealous of her and would shout, “Proud, proud.” She started jotting some relevant information about bus fares, distance and time. The fare was 30 paise for one way, and the trip to the town took 45 minutes. She kept on planning and calculating things for a long time.
Valli took the bus on a spring afternoon. There were only six to seven passengers on the bus. The bus was new with soft and luxurious seats. The conductor was a jolly sort of a person and asked Valli to get seated in the front of the bus. He addressed Valli as ‘Madam’. She started looking outside the bus and was attracted by the outside view.
She could see the canal, the palm trees, grassland, distant mountains and the blue sky. She met some passengers on the bus. She got annoyed when an elderly man called her a child. On the way, an elderly woman entered the bus and sat beside Valli. She was chewing betel. Valli disliked the elderly woman for her shabby look and didn’t prefer to talk to her.
Valli had saved sixty paise for her first ride and chose to ride when her mother usually slept at lunch. The journey was moving smoothly. On the way to the town, Valli saw a cow running right in front of the bus. She clapped as the cow kept on running towards the bus despite the continuous honking by the driver. The bus driver had to halt the bus for a while to let the cow move off. Valli was spending the best of her time in the bus, experiencing railway crossing, sight-seeing outside the bus.
Valli did not get off the bus when it reached the town. She also declined the offer of a cold drink by the conductor. She also demanded a return ticket and travelled back to her village. Unexpectedly, Valli saw the same cow lying dead on the roadside. This made her sad, and she wished no longer to look outside the bus. The bus reached the village at three forty. On reaching her village, she quickly went back home, and when her mother enquired where she had gone, Valli didn’t reply and smiled like a grown-up lady.
Madam Rides the Bus Summary in Detail
Direction:- Read the following Madam Rides the bus Summary in Detail and note it down for exam.
This is a story about the first bus journey of an eight-year-old girl. Her name was Valliammai She was called Valli for short. She was a curious girl. She wanted to know many things. She did not have any playmates of her own age. Her favourite pastime was standing in the front doorway of her house to see what was happening outside.
Watching the happenings in the street gave her many new unusual experiences. The most fascinating thing of all was the bus that passed through the street each hour. The bus travelled between her village and the nearest town. The sight of the bus was a source of unending joy for Valli. It was a great joy for her to watch new sets of passengers every time the bus passed through the street. As she watched the bus day after day, she developed a wish to have a ride on that bus. Her wish became stronger and stronger until it was an overwhelming desire.
Valli carefully listened to the conversations between her neighbours and people who had travelled on the bus or who regularly used it. She asked some casual questions as well. In this way, she discovered small details about the journey. She came to know that the town was six miles away from her village. It took forty-five minutes to reach there. The fare was thirty paise for one way.
One could keep sitting on the bus and return to the village by paying another thirty paise. Valli planned her journey to the town and back. It would be her first journey out of her village. She saved every paisa by resisting her desire to buy ice cream, toys, balloons, etc. She had also killed her desire to visit the village fair and have a ride in the merry-go-round. When she had saved sixty paise, she was ready for her first bus journey.
Then, she planned how she would slip out of the house. She knew that her mother slept daily after lunch. So, she decided to use these hours for her journey. She decided to board the bus at one o’clock, so that she could be back by two forty-five. So, one fine spring day, Valli boarded the bus.
The conductor was so amused seeing her confidence, he allowed her to board the bus. He was a jolly fellow. He understood that Valli spoke with pride. He called her Madam and offered a seat. He asked others to make way for the ‘madam’. There were only six or seven passengers on the bus. They were all looking at Valli. As a response, she was overcome with shyness. Avoiding everyone’s eyes, she quickly walked to an empty seat and sat down.
Valli looked around her in the bus. The bus was painted with green stripes on the white. It had soft and comfortable seats. It also had a beautiful clock above the windscreen. The overhead bars shone like silver. Then, she tried to look outside. She found her view cut off by a curtain that covered the lower part of her window, so she stood on her seat to enjoy the outside scene.
The bus was going along the bank of a canal. She saw palm trees, mountains and blue sky. On the other side, there were green fields. Suddenly, an elderly man warned Valli not to stand on the seat. He called her a child and said that she could fall and get hurt. But Valli does not care for him. She told him proudly that she was not a ‘child’. She had paid the full fare like the others.
The conductor told the man that Valli was a grown-up madam. Valli looked at the conductor angrily and said that she was not a madam. The conductor told her that she should not stand on the seat. She could fall when the bus took sharp turns. But Valli ignored his remarks.
On the way, the bus stopped and some new passengers got on. Afraid of losing her seat, Valli finally sat. An elderly woman came and sat beside her. Valli looked at the woman. She found her repulsive. She had ugly earrings and was chewing betel nuts.
Valli could see that the betel juice was likely to spill over her lips. That woman asked Valli whether she was travelling alone. Valli told her that she was alone and had got a ticket too. Then, the old woman asked her if it was proper for a child to travel alone. She also asked whether Valli knew exactly where she was going in town. Valli told the old woman that she need not bother about her. Then, turned her face toward the window.
The bus moved on across a bare landscape. Valli enjoyed the outside scene. Trees came running towards them. Sometimes, the bus seemed to strike the oncoming vehicle. But both pass safely. Suddenly, Valli clapped her hands with joy. A cow was running in the middle of the road in front of the bus. The bus slowed down. The driver sounded the horn again and again. But the cow became more frightened and continued running before the bus.
Valli laughed and laughed until there were tears in her eyes. At last, the cow moved off the road. The bus passed by the side of a railway crossing. Valli enjoyed the scene of trains. Then, the bus entered the city area. There were huge crowds of people. Valli looked at different things with surprise. Then the bus reached the city bus stand and stopped. Everybody got off the bus, except Valli. The conductor asked Valli if she was getting down.
But she told him that she was going back on the same bus. He was surprised and asked her why she had come to the city. She replied that she just wanted to take a ride on the bus. He asked Valli if she would like to have a look at the sights outside the bus. Valli said that she was afraid of that. He asked her to have a cold drink. Valli said that she did not have enough money for that. The conductor offered to pay for her drink, but Valli did not accept the offer.
The bus resumed its return journey. There were the same wonderful sights. Valli enjoyed the scene again. But suddenly, she saw a young cow lying dead, by the roadside. It had been struck by a fast moving vehicle. She asked the conductor if it was the same cow they saw earlier. The conductor nodded. Valli became sad. It had been a lovable, beautiful creature just a little ago. But now, the cow was without its charm and its life. The bus moved on.
The memory of the dead cow haunted Valli. She no longer wanted to look out of the window. She kept sitting on her seat until her village came. She got down and wished the conductor to see him again. The conductor smiled. He told Valli that whenever she felt like riding the bus, she could come and join them.
Valli reached home. She found her mother was awake. She was talking to her aunt who lived in South Street. She was a chatterbox. She asked Valli where she had been. But Valli just smiled. Her mother and aunt were discussing things outside the world. Her mother said that no one could know everything. At this, Valli remarked that there were many things happening without our knowledge. Her mother asked what she meant. Valli’s aunt called her a chit of a girl. She took interest in things which did not concern her. She behaved as if she were a grown up lady. Valli smiled to herself. She didn’t want them to understand her smile.