Explanation

At the annual village fair, eight-year-old Valli showed remarkable self-control. Although she had coins in her pocket and looked longingly at the wooden horses revolving on the merry-go-round, she stifled her strong desire so she could save every single penny to assemble the sixty paise needed for the round-trip bus fare.

Explanation

• Statement 1 is True: Valli’s favorite pastime was standing in the front doorway of her house, watching everything that happened outside on the village street.
• Statement 2 is False: The opening lines explicitly state that she had no playmates of her own age on her street, which is why observing the doorway became her chief source of entertainment.

Explanation

Valli meticulously planned and replanned her bus ride to the nearby town. She calculated the exact one-way fare (thirty paise each way), the trip duration (forty-five minutes), and mapped her departure to coincide with her mother’s daily afternoon nap.

Explanation

The verb stifled means to restrain, hold back, or keep under check. In the story, Valli suppressed her natural urge to ride the merry-go-round, keeping her impulses under strict control to achieve her greater goal.

Explanation

For an eight-year-old child, resisting playful rides while holding spare change in hand requires extraordinary discipline. It was emotionally agonizing for Valli because she had the coins in her pocket yet had to forcibly suppress the temptation to spend them on the merry-go-round.

Explanation

• Statement I is False: Valli had no playmates of her own age living on her street.
• Statement II is True: Standing at the doorway allowed her to observe vendors, commuters, and changing crowds, giving her many new unusual experiences that enriched her understanding of the world.

Explanation

Having no companions of her own age living on her street, Valli’s favorite pastime was standing in the front doorway of her house. From this vantage point, she observed the bustling village street, finding it just as entertaining as any elaborate playground game.

Explanation

• Assertion Analysis: The bus passed her house every hour, once on its way to the town and once coming back (True).
• Reasoning Analysis: Because the round-trip took roughly an hour, it reappeared in her street at hourly intervals with a fresh set of passengers each trip (True, and directly explains A).

Explanation

Through discreetly listening to regular commuters and neighbours, Valli gathered that the total distance from her rural village to the municipal town was six miles.

Explanation

• a – 2 (One-way fare): Cost exactly thirty paise, described by a well-dressed passenger as "almost nothing".
• b – 1 (Travel time): The one-way bus journey took approximately forty-five minutes.
• c – 3 (Total round-trip fare): Valli had to collect a total of sixty paise to pay for both legs of the trip.

Explanation

The one-way bus fare was thirty paise. While adults regarded it as a negligible sum, for an eight-year-old child with no pocket money, gathering that amount was a formidable task.

Explanation

The journey took forty-five minutes each way. Valli calculated that if she caught the one o'clock bus, she would arrive in town at 1:45 PM and be back home around 2:45 PM.

Explanation

Standing on the roadside, the determined girl raised her hand and commanded: "Stop the bus! Stop the bus!" Her voice rang out clearly enough to cause the driver to slow down to a crawl.

Explanation

The conductor was a cheerful, humorous fellow. When Valli refused a helping hand and insisted that she could board on her own, he bowed and playfully addressed her as ‘madam’ to tease her precocious, grown-up self-assurance.

Explanation

A canvas blind covered the lower part of the window, cutting off her view. Refusing to miss the passing landscape, she stood up on her seat and looked over the blind to gaze at the canal, palm trees, mountains, and distant green fields.

Explanation

A young cow, with its tail held high up in the air, ran right down the middle of the road right ahead of the vehicle. The more the driver honked his horn, the faster the frightened animal galloped, throwing Valli into uncontrollable laughter.

Explanation

• Assertion Analysis: When the conductor offered to buy her a cold drink from a nearby stall, Valli politely but firmly declined (True).
• Reasoning Analysis: She demonstrated mature self-respect: she had only thirty paise left for her ticket home and refused to take anything from a stranger for free (True, and explains A).

Explanation

On the journey back, Valli saw the lively cow she had laughed at earlier lying lifeless by the curb, killed by a hit-and-run vehicle. The sight of death filled her with sadness and sober contemplation, extinguishing her desire to look outside.

Explanation

• Statement I is False: Valli had no playmates of her own age on her street.
• Statement II is True: Standing in her doorway watching the passing world gifted her many new and unusual experiences.

Explanation

• Statement I is True: She saved sixty paise by thriftily resisting coins spent on peppermint, toys, and fairground rides.
• Statement II is False: She did not ask for or take a single coin from her mother; she accumulated the fare entirely through personal thrift.

Explanation

Valli had no errands or business in town. Her ambition was simply to experience riding the bus. Furthermore, she lacked money to shop and feared getting lost if she stepped down alone.

Explanation

Every afternoon after lunch, Valli’s mother routinely slept from about one to four o'clock. Valli regularly used these hours for short excursions outside, making it the ideal window to complete her bus ride undetected.

Explanation

The vehicle was brand new, painted gleaming white with green stripes. Inside, overhead bars shone like silver, a clock ticked above the windshield, and the seats were soft and luxurious.

Explanation

• Statement I is True: Her full name was Valliammai and she was eight years old.
• Statement II is False: She took offence whenever someone called her a child, proudly asserting: "There is nobody here who's a child... I've paid my thirty paise like everyone else."

Explanation

Watching the bus rumble past every hour sparked a tiny wish that gradually grew into an overwhelming longing: she wanted to ride on that bus, just once.

Explanation

The adverb thriftily means managing financial resources with careful planning and frugality. Valli saved thriftily by resisting stray stray temptations like peppermints, balloons, and carnival rides.

Explanation

• Statement I is True: The dead cow lying in a pool of blood haunted Valli. The sudden brush with the mystery of death dampened her enthusiasm and made her withdraw quietly into her seat.
• Statement II is False: She did not laugh at all; she glued herself silently to her seat until the bus returned to her village.

Explanation

Whenever any of her friends happened to ride the bus and attempted to boast about the sights of the town, Valli and her companions felt jealous. They would immediately interrupt the speaker by shouting in English: "Proud! proud!"

Explanation

Although neither Valli nor her friends fully understood the literal grammatical meaning of the English word, they habitually used ‘proud’ as a handy slang expression of disapproval whenever someone showed off or acted superior.

Explanation

• Assertion Analysis: The vehicle was newly inducted on the route and looked brand new and attractive to onlookers (True).
• Reasoning Analysis: The author notes that its exterior was painted in an eye-catching colour combination: gleaming white with some green stripes along the sides (True, and directly explains A).

Explanation

The exterior of the bus was neat and clean, painted in an elegant combination of gleaming white with green stripes along the sides, giving it a modern, fresh look.

Explanation

As Valli took in the interior of the newly crafted vehicle, she noticed overhead handrails shining like silver and a charming clock placed directly above the front windshield.

Explanation

• a – 3 (Canal bank): The narrow roadway ran immediately alongside a water canal.
• b – 1 (Beyond the canal): Stretched picturesque groves of palm trees, grassland, and blue mountain ranges.
• c – 2 (Opposite side): The other side fell off into a deep ditch followed by an endless green expanse of fields.

Explanation

The text describes the scenery along the narrow route: "On one side there was the canal and, beyond it, palm trees, grassland, distant mountains, and the blue, blue sky."

Explanation

As the bus gathered momentum on the highway, Valli watched the trees outside with childlike wonder: they appeared as if they were running towards the bus, only to stop helpless the moment the vehicle drew alongside them.

Explanation

• Statement I is True: The round-trip ticket cost thirty paise each way, making exactly sixty paise that Valli saved diligently.
• Statement II is False: The fare was sixty paise in total, not one rupee (which equals one hundred paise).

Explanation

An elderly gentleman genuinely worried she might fall when the bus took a sharp turn and said, "Listen, child, you shouldn't stand like that." Valli was deeply offended by being addressed as a helpless child, proudly retorting that she had paid her thirty paise just like everyone else.

Explanation

The woman possessed big, gaping holes in her earlobes with ugly earrings dangling from them. Furthermore, she was chewing betel nut with red juice threatening to spill over her lips at any second, making her totally repulsive to young Valli.

Explanation

Once Valli was securely seated, "the conductor blew his whistle twice, and the bus moved forward with a roar," beginning its journey towards the town.

Explanation

When everyone else got off at the terminal, Valli remained glued to her cushion. She pulled out another thirty paise from her pocket, handed the coins to the conductor, and asked for a return ticket on the very same bus.

Explanation

• Statement I is False: Valli did not take or borrow money from anyone, least of all her relatives.
• Statement II is True: She gathered the sixty paise by resisting every temptation to buy peppermints, toys, balloons, and funfair rides.

Explanation

Reaching the town, the bus traversed a railway crossing and struck out into a busy, well-laid-out shopping street filled with gleaming merchandise, colourful clothes, and vibrant crowds of people.

Explanation

Hearing her mother remark that no one can truly know everything that goes on in the world, Valli agreed aloud and smiled to herself. She held the secret joy of having travelled to the town and back without anyone ever finding out.

Explanation

The text explicitly notes the time of her arrival: "At three-forty the bus rolled into the village." This gave Valli plenty of time to slip into her house before her mother awoke from her afternoon nap.

Explanation

Both statements are accurate to the narrative: Valli walked in to find her mother awake and conversing with her aunt from South Street, who is humorously described as a real chatterbox who never stopped talking once she began.

Explanation

Seeing a joyful, energetic creature suddenly turned into a mangled, lifeless body by the road exposed Valli to the reality of life and death. It showed her how quickly something full of charm and life can turn into a cold, terrifying sight.

Explanation

The conductor is described as "a jolly sort, fond of joking." He treats young Valli with warmth and humour, playfully addressing her as ‘madam’ and even offering to buy her a cold drink at the town terminal.

Explanation

• Statement I is True: Despite being only eight, Valli showed extraordinary poise, dignity, and independence during the entire trip.
• Statement II is False: She firmly refused the conductor's offer, declining to accept favours or drinks from a stranger when she could not pay for them herself.

Explanation

The memory of the lifeless cow lying by the roadside haunted her mind. The sudden reality of death dampened her enthusiasm, robbing the scenery of its charm and leaving her seated quietly until the journey came to an end.