SUMMARY IN ENGLISH
This story is about an eight year old village girl. Her name is Valliammai or Valli. She was very curious to know about things. She had none to play with. So standing on the doorway of her house had become the way of her passing the time. She used to see what was happening in the street outside, used to watch the bus to the town very carefully and used to watch the travellers very carefully riding and getting out of the bus, listened to the conversation between her neighbours and people who regularly used that very bus. She used to ask questions relating to the journey. The last destination of the bus was a town which was about six miles away from her village. The fare was thirty paise for one way. The trip to the town took forty-five minutes. Therefore, one day she decided to take the one o’clock afternoon bus so that she may return by about two forty-five. It was a fine spring day afternoon. The bus was about to leave the village when she boarded the bus. The conductor of the bus was a jolly fellow and called her a fine madam. It was the slack time of the day and there were only a few passengers in the bus. The bus was a new one and shining. The seats of the bus were soft and luxurious. The road was narrow and on one side there was a stream and palm trees on the other. On seeing the beautiful landscape, Valli stood up on her seat to peep out of the window. All looked very wonderful to her. An older man called Valli a child and asked her to sit dawn. Valli did not like it. Then the bus stopped and some more passengers got into the bus. Valli sat down due to fear of losing her seat. An elderly woman came and sat beside her. She was chewing betel nuts. Valli did not like her. Valli was looking outside when she saw a young cow running in front of the bus. The driver sounded the horn loudly. For her it was fun and she kept on laughing heartily. Then the bus turned and reached a railway crossing. After crossing the railway station, it reached a big market. Then the bus stopped and all except Valli got down the bus. But Valli took a return ticket. After some time the bus started its return journey. On her way to village, she saw the same cow lying dead at the wayside. She felt very sad at seeing the dead cow. Now she was not willing to look outside. The bus reached the village at three forty and she thanked the conductor and got down the bus. When she reached her home, her mother was awake and chatting with a neighbourhood lady. They did not come to know about her journey.