critical analysis of madam rides the bus
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Summary of Madam rides the bus
This article focuses on Madam rides the bus summary. In this story, the author is trying to present the world as seen from a child’s perspective. The main character of this story is an eight-year-old girl Valli who lives near a bus stop in a village. Valli develops a desire to enjoy a ride on the bus. For this purpose, she needs to reduce her expenses so that she can save enough money for the two-way fair. While on her journey, Valli does not want anybody’s help and wants to feel independent. She enjoys every bit of her journey to the town. But she is careful enough not to get off the bus in the unknown localities. On her return journey, a sad accident spoils her mood but she just keeps it to herself. Thus she wants to explore more and wishes to go for another ride in the future.
This is a sensitive story of a Tamil girl Valliammai or Valli who is only eight years old. She was curious to know about the outside world. Also, she did not have friends to play. So she keeps standing inside the doorway of her residence and watch people in the street. This was her favourite pastime. However, she was always mesmerized by the bus journey. There travelled a bus between her village and the closest city. She started collecting information about the timings of the bus from her neighbours. The bus travels to the town near her village which was approximately six miles from her village. The fare was thirty paise for one way. So, Valli started saving money for the bus fare.
She planned to travel in the afternoon when her mother was having her nap. Valli was standing on the roadside waiting for the bus. As the bus came she told the conductor she wants to go to town. The conductor was a jovial person. He called her Madam and showed her the seat. The bus was new and painted in green and white colour stripes. The bus was comfortable and seats were luxurious. On her journey, she enjoyed watching mountains, green fields, and palm trees grassland. She was experiencing it all for the first time by her own eyes. On her way to the town, she saw a young cow that came in front of the bus while crossing the road. The driver blew the whistle and the cow crossed by. All this is very fascinating for Valli. It was like a dream come true for her.
She was watching everything but the outside landscape was her prime focus. After some time the bus reached the final destination and all the passengers got down. The conductor asked her to get down but she told that she was there for the bus ride. The conductor smiled listening to her reply. Valli remained on the bus and had taken a return ticket from the conductor. The bus started and on her way back home she saw the same cow dead by the roadside. This made her heart cry. She thus became sad and tried to understand the meaning of life and death in her own terms. She came back home but did not share a word about the journey with her family.
Conclusion of Madam rides the bus
The story illustrates the desire of a small girl and how a bad incident makes her understand the matters of life and death.
Explanation:
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 fulfill 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 it’s 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 carried 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 suddenly 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 sayingleaving 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.