Read the poem and answer the questions given below it.
The Last Bus
At ten our shop pulls down its iron shutter,
and I run for the bus stand through the crowd.
The last bus out of the city is waiting,
its engine coughing, its old horn too loud.
A watchman sleeps, his cap upon his knees.
Two nurses share a samosa from one bag.
A mason holds his trowel in his lap
and wipes his hands on a cement-grey rag.
The city’s lights fall back behind the glass,
and then there are only the fields and the night.
Our bus is a lamp carried through the dark,
with sleepy faces in its yellow light.
I hear the windows rattle in their frames,
the brakes that hiss at every sleeping town,
the coins that clink in the conductor’s pouch,
his short, sharp whistle when someone gets down.
At the canal bridge I ring the bell and rise,
and step into the cool and quiet air.
A bulb is burning at our gate far off,
and Amma, still awake, is sitting there.
Who is the speaker of the poem, and what is the situation?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → a shop worker going home from the city on the last bus
The speaker tells us where they work and where they are going.
- “At ten our shop pulls down its iron shutter”. The speaker works in a shop and has just finished for the day.
- They catch “the last bus out of the city”. At the end they get down near “our gate”, where Amma is waiting. So they are going home.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: a bus conductor finishing his last round of the night — Incorrect. Misread: The conductor is someone the speaker hears, with coins “in the conductor’s pouch”. The speaker is a passenger who rings the bell to get down.
Option 2: a nurse going home after a late hospital shift — Incorrect. Misread: The two nurses are other passengers on the bus. The speaker works in “our shop”.
Option 3: a village worker travelling to the city for a night job — Incorrect. Contradicted: The bus goes “out of the city”, and the speaker’s day of work is already over.