Class 10 English · Original EZT practice
Madam Rides the Bus (Class 10 English Chapter 7): Valli's first journey
Valliammai - Valli for short - is eight years old, and her favourite pastime is standing in the front doorway watching the street. The most fascinating sight of all is the bus that travels between her village and the nearest town each hour, and a tiny wish grows into an overwhelming desire: she wants to ride that bus, even if just once. Over days and months she gathers every detail - the town is six miles away, the fare thirty paise one way, the trip forty-five minutes - and plans her first journey down to the last paise. This page gives a summary, themes and practice questions. (Note: this is original practice, not a textbook exercise key.)
6 original worked examples, 6 fresh self-check questions and 4 mixed questions, with explained answers. These are not copied textbook exercises, an official chapter index or a full answer key. No affiliation with NCERT is claimed.
Official sources for topic and edition context, checked 24 October 2026:
1. Summary - the plan and the ride out
Valli saves her fare thriftily over months, resisting peppermints, toys and balloons - and stifling a strong desire to ride the merry-go-round at the village fair - until she has sixty paise. She slips out one fine spring afternoon while her mother naps, as she does every day from about one to four, and flags down the one-o'clock bus with a commanding little hand. The jolly conductor teases her as 'madam'; there are only six or seven passengers. Valli stands on her seat to see over the canvas blind: the canal bank, palm trees, grassland and distant mountains on one side, green fields on the other. She refuses help, snubs an elderly man who calls her a child, and finds the chatty elderly woman beside her - with her betel nut and big ear-lobe holes - absolutely repulsive. She laughs until there are tears in her eyes when a young cow gallops in the middle of the road right in front of the bus, frightened faster by every honk.
2. Summary - the town, and the ride back
At the town, Valli is struck dumb by the big bright shops and crowds, but she does not get off - she would be much too afraid to see the sights all by herself, and she declines even the conductor's offer of a cold drink as his treat. She pays another thirty paise and stays in her seat for the return journey. On the way back she sees a young cow lying dead by the roadside, struck by some fast-moving vehicle - the same cow whose galloping had made her laugh on the trip out. The lovable, beautiful creature now lies spreadeagled, blood all over, a fixed stare in its lifeless eyes. The memory haunts Valli; she no longer wants to look out the window, and sits glued to her seat until the bus reaches her village at three forty. She runs home, where her mother is talking with her aunt from South Street, and smiles to herself at her mother's words - so many things happen without our knowledge, and even what we know we often cannot understand completely.
3. Themes - curiosity, independence and the mystery of death
The story works on two levels. On the surface it is about a determined, self-respecting little girl whose careful planning wins her a small adventure: sixty paise saved against every temptation, a timetable memorised, a ticket bought with her own money. Underneath, it is her induction into the mystery of life and death: the same cow that was a joke on the way out is a horror on the way back, and through it Valli sees the gap between knowing that death exists and understanding it. Her mother's closing remark - that even what we know we often cannot understand completely - lands on a child who has just discovered exactly that.
Choose, solve, check, then try a fresh question.
Before calculating, read the method prompt and name the condition that makes it useful. Write your own attempt. Open the steps only when you need them, and use the check to catch a wrong sign, unit or interpretation. Finish with the fresh question before reading its answer.
Reconstruct the plan
Choose the method: Months of paise and questions.
EZT practice question
How did Valli manage her first bus journey without her mother finding out?
Show the worked solution
- She picked up the details by listening to neighbours and asking discreet questions - the town six miles away, the thirty-paise fare, the forty-five-minute trip.
- She saved sixty paise coin by coin, resisting temptations including the merry-go-round at the village fair.
- She chose the hours of her mother's daily afternoon nap, from about one to four, to slip out.
Answer: She planned over days and months: she learned the details - town six miles away, thirty paise one way, forty-five minutes - by listening and asking discreet questions, saved sixty paise coin by coin against every temptation, and slipped out during her mother's daily nap, from about one to four.
Check: Three legs hold the plan: information, money, timing - name all three.
Watch for this: Do not call it a sudden whim - the story stresses days and months of gathering details and coins.
Now try it yourself
What was Valli's favourite pastime, and why?
Check your answer
Standing in the front doorway watching the street; she had no playmates of her own age, and the street gave her many new and unusual experiences - as enjoyable as any elaborate game.
The doorway is where the bus-wish is born.
Read the 'madam' joke
Choose the method: Teasing, not mocking.
EZT practice question
What does the conductor mean when he calls Valli 'madam'?
Show the worked solution
- He is a jolly man, fond of joking.
- When the proud little girl refuses his help and insists on paying her own fare, he teases her as a grown-up lady - 'make way for madam'.
- The six or seven passengers laugh along.
Answer: He is a jolly man, fond of joking; when the proud little girl refuses his help and insists on paying her own fare, he teases her as a grown-up lady - 'make way for madam' - and the six or seven passengers laugh along.
Check: The joke is affectionate - he plays along with her grown-up airs while still watching over a child.
Watch for this: Do not read 'madam' as respect or as ridicule - it is fond teasing, and Valli objects: 'I am not a madam.'
Now try it yourself
How does Valli respond to the elderly man who calls her a child?
Check your answer
She snubs him - she is a very grown-up madam, she says, and not a mere girl; she is eight years old.
Her indignation is the conductor's punchline and her character in one line.
Explain the standing
Choose the method: A canvas blind in the way.
EZT practice question
Why does Valli stand up on the seat?
Show the worked solution
- A canvas blind covers the lower part of her window.
- The blind cuts off her view of the outside.
- So she stands on the seat to peer over it - at the canal bank, palm trees, grassland, distant mountains on one side and green fields on the other.
Answer: A canvas blind covers the lower part of her window and cuts off her view, so she stands on the seat to peer over it at the canal, palm trees, grassland, distant mountains and green fields.
Check: The obstacle is physical - the blind - and her solution is physical too: stand.
Watch for this: Do not say she stands from excitement alone - the story gives the canvas blind as the reason.
Now try it yourself
What does Valli find repulsive about the elderly woman beside her?
Check your answer
Everything - the betel nut she chews, the smell of it, and the big holes in her ear-lobes with earrings in them.
Valli's frank disgust keeps her a real eight-year-old, not a polite little heroine.
Justify not getting off
Choose the method: The ride was the goal.
EZT practice question
Why doesn't Valli get off the bus at the town?
Show the worked solution
- The ride itself was her whole plan - she 'just felt like having a bus ride'.
- Seeing the sights of a strange town all by herself would frighten her.
- She has no money to spare - so she stays in her seat, pays another thirty paise, and returns on the same bus.
Answer: Because the ride itself was her ambition - she just felt like having a bus ride; seeing a strange town all by herself would frighten her, and she has no spare money, so she pays another thirty paise and comes home on the same bus.
Check: Her restraint is double: fear of the strange town and discipline about money.
Watch for this: Do not say she misses the sights by mistake - staying on the bus is her firm choice.
Now try it yourself
Why does Valli refuse the conductor's offer of a cold drink?
Check your answer
She says she does not have enough money, and when he offers to treat her she firmly refuses - she will take nothing she has not paid for.
Self-respect outranks thirst - the same pride that insists on paying her own fare.
Contrast the two sightings
Choose the method: Comedy out, horror back.
EZT practice question
How does the cow episode change Valli?
Show the worked solution
- On the trip to town, a young cow gallops in front of the bus - frightened faster by every honk - and Valli laughs until there are tears in her eyes.
- On the way back the same cow lies dead by the roadside, struck by some fast-moving vehicle - spreadeagled, blood all over, a fixed stare in its lifeless eyes.
- The sight overcomes her: the memory haunts her, and she stops looking out of the window, sitting glued to her seat until the village.
Answer: On the trip out the galloping cow is pure comedy and she laughs till tears come; on the way back the same cow lies dead, struck by a fast-moving vehicle, and the sight haunts her so that she stops looking out of the window. The laughter and the horror are the same creature, hours apart - her first glimpse of how suddenly life becomes death.
Check: The power is in the identity of the two cows - same animal, same road, opposite meaning.
Watch for this: Do not treat the two cow scenes as separate incidents - the story insists it is the same cow.
Now try it yourself
At what time does the bus bring Valli back to her village?
Check your answer
At three forty - within the one-to-four window of her mother's nap.
The exact hour shows the plan held to the minute.
Interpret the closing smile
Choose the method: A secret the grown-ups miss.
EZT practice question
What is the meaning of Valli's smile at the end of the story?
Show the worked solution
- Her mother tells her aunt there are so many things in the world we cannot know about.
- And even what we know, we often cannot understand completely.
- Valli smiles because she has just lived exactly that - her own secret journey and her first real sight of death - which the grown-ups know nothing about.
Answer: Her mother says there are so many things in the world we cannot know about, and even what we know we cannot fully understand; Valli smiles because she has just had an experience of exactly that kind - her secret journey and her first sight of death - which the grown-ups know nothing about.
Check: The smile is private agreement, not amusement - the child knows the mother's words are true from her own day.
Watch for this: Do not read the smile as naughtiness about not being caught - the story frames it around knowledge and understanding.
Now try it yourself
What does the story suggest about knowing and understanding?
Check your answer
That many things happen without our knowledge, and that even when we know about something - like death - we often cannot understand it completely until experience teaches us.
The mother's remark and Valli's day state the theme from two sides.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. Fare, distance and trip time?
Show answer and reason
Thirty paise one way; six miles; forty-five minutes.
Valli saves sixty paise to cover both ways.
2. Why 'madam'?
Show answer and reason
The jolly conductor teases her grown-up ways - refusing help and paying her own fare.
'Make way for madam' - and the passengers laugh along.
3. Why does she stand on the seat?
Show answer and reason
A canvas blind covers the lower window and cuts off her view.
She peers over it at canal, palms, grassland and mountains.
4. What ends her delight on the ride back?
Show answer and reason
The same young cow that made her laugh lies dead by the roadside, struck by a fast-moving vehicle.
She stops looking out of the window until the village at three forty.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- List the three kinds of detail Valli gathered for her plan.
- Explain why refusing a free cold drink fits Valli's character.
- State in one sentence what the two cow sightings teach her.
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Questions about this practice page
- What is Madam Rides the Bus about?
- It is the story of eight-year-old Valli, whose fascination with the village bus becomes an overwhelming desire to ride it; she saves sixty paise, slips out during her mother's nap, and rides to the town and back - a first taste of independence that ends with her first real encounter with death.
- How did Valli save the money for her ticket?
- Thriftily, over months - saving whatever stray coins came her way and resisting every temptation to buy peppermints, toys and balloons, even stifling her strong desire to ride the merry-go-round at the village fair, until she had sixty paise for the thirty-paise fare each way.
- Why does the conductor call Valli 'madam'?
- Because he is a jolly man who is amused by her grown-up ways: she flags the bus down commandingly, refuses his help, pays her own fare and demands her ticket - so he teases her as 'my fine madam' and asks the passengers to make way for her.
- Why doesn't Valli get off the bus in the town?
- The bus ride itself was her ambition, not the town; she would be much too afraid to wander a strange town all by herself, and she has no spare money, so she pays another thirty paise and comes home on the same bus.
- What is the theme of Madam Rides the Bus?
- A child's first step into the world on her own - curiosity, planning and self-respect - that becomes an induction into the mystery of life and death: the laughing cow of the outward trip lies dead on the way back, and Valli learns the gap between knowing about death and understanding it.