The Bus Journey - Valli's story

• Valliammai, or Valli for short, was an eight year old girl who was always very curious.
• Valli's favorite pastime was to stand in the doorway of her house and watch what was happening on the street.
• The most fascinating thing for Valli was the bus that travelled between her village and the nearest town.
• The sight of the bus filled with a fresh set of passengers brought Valli unending joy.
• Valli wanted to ride the bus, even if just once.
• Valli listened to conversations about the bus between her neighbours and people who regularly used it.
• She asked discreet questions.
• "Pastime" is defined as something done for enjoyment, like a hobby
• "Source of unending joy" is defined as something that caused a lot of happiness
• "Discreet" is defined as quiet and careful, so as not to attract too much attention or cause embarrassment

The Bus Journey

• Valli gathered small details about the bus journey.
• The town was six miles from her village.
• The fare was thirty paise one way.
• The trip to the town took forty-five minutes.
• If Valli stayed in her seat, she could return home on the same bus for another thirty paise.
• She could take the one o'clock afternoon bus, reach the town at 1:45 p.m., and be back home about 2:45 p.m.
• Valli calculated, recalculated, planned and re-planned the journey.
• One day, Valli shouted for the bus to stop.
• The conductor asked Valli to hurry up.
• Valli showed the conductor her money.
• The conductor joked with Valli and asked her not to be angry at him, calling her "fine madam"
• There were six or seven passengers on the bus that laughed with the conductor.
• Valli was overcome with shyness, and walked quickly to an empty seat and sat down.
• The new bus had a white exterior with green stripes along the sides and the overhead bars shone like silver.
• There was a clock in front of Valli, above the windshield.
• The seats were soft and luxurious.
• The lower part of Valli's window was covered by a canvas blind.
• Valli stood up on the seat and peered over the blind.
• The bus drove along the bank of a canal.
• The road was very narrow.
• On one side was the canal, palm trees, grassland, and distant mountains.
• The other side was a deep ditch and acres of green fields.
• Valli thought it was wonderful.

The First Journey

• Valli had to make careful and elaborate plans for her first bus journey.
• She thriftily saved whatever stray coins came her way and resisted temptations to buy peppermints, toys, and balloons.
• She managed to save a total of sixty paise.
• It was difficult to save money, particularly at the village fair when she didn't ride the merry-go-round, even though she had the money.
• Valli slipped out of the house for her journey when her mother went for her daily nap at one after lunch.
• The bus cut across a bare landscape and rushed through a tiny village.
• The bus seemed on the point of gobbling up another vehicle or a pedestrian crossing the road.
• Trees came running towards them.
• Suddenly, Valli clapped her hands with glee as a young cow was running in the middle of the road in front of the bus.
• The bus slowed to a crawl, and the driver honked loudly.
• The cow became more frightened the more the driver honked.
• The cow galloped in front of the bus.
• Valli laughed until there were tears in her eyes, and the cow moved off the road.
• From there, the bus travelled through a busy shopping street and entered a wider thoroughfare.
• Valli gaped at the big, bright-looking shops and glittering displays of clothes and merchandise.
• When everyone got off the bus, the conductor asked Valli if she was ready to get off.
• Valli said that she was going back on the same bus, and handed the conductor coins
• The conductor asked Valli if she wanted to look at the sights.
• Valli said she would be too afraid to go by herself.

Sadness

• The conductor offered Valli a cold drink, but Valli said she didn't have enough money.
• The conductor said that it would be his treat, but Valli refused.
• While on the return journey, Valli saw the cow lying by the roadside, struck down by some fast moving vehicle.
• This was the same cow that had run in front of the bus on the trip to town.
• Valli was overcome with sadness.
• The lovable and beautiful creature from earlier had lost its charm, and looked frightening with a fixed stare in its lifeless eyes.
• The memory of the dead cow haunted Valli and dampened her enthusiasm.
• She no longer wanted to look out of the window, and sat glued to her seat.
• The bus reached her village at 3:40 p.m.
• Valli said "Well, sir, I hope to see you again.", to the conductor.
• The conductor replied that she should come join them whenever she felt like, and to not forget to bring her fare.
• Valli laughed and jumped down from the bus.
• When Valli entered her house, she found her mother awake and talking to one of Valli's aunts.
• Valli' aunt asked her where had been been, without expecting an answer.
• Valli smiled, and her mother and aunt went on with their conversation.
• Her mother said that there are so many things in the world that we can't possibly know about everything, even when we do know something, we often can't understand it completely.
• Valli smiled to herself, because she didn't want them to understand her smile.
• There wasn't much chance of that.
• R S Krishnasamy (1920-2006) was a writer, journalist and translator from Tamil Nadu, who wrote under the name Vallikannan.
• He was worked for magazines like Navasakthi and Hanuman, and was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award for Tamil in 1978 for his work on Tamil poetry.

An eight year old girl named Valli becomes fascinated by the bus that travels between her village and the nearest town. She learns details about the bus journey by listening to other people's conversations. Her favorite pastime was to stand in the doorway of her house and watch what was happening on the street.