Read the poem and answer the questions given below it.
The Banyan at the Bus Stand
Where our village road ends at the bus stand,
the old banyan lets its grey roots fall.
I sit on the cement ring round its trunk
with a tin of laddoos and my woollen shawl.
The air smells of diesel and roasted gram,
of jasmine strings on a flower-seller’s tray,
of figs gone ripe and sweet among the roots,
of the wet road, sprinkled at the close of day.
Brides have climbed on buses here and cried,
boys with tin trunks have left for the town,
and soldiers home on leave have jumped down
to mothers waiting at the banyan’s side.
Old tree, you saw my son leave in June
with his father’s watch and a new black bag.
Now the six o’clock bus is late again,
I pull my shawl close and the minutes drag.
Then lights swing in through your hanging roots,
a horn, a cloud of dust, and a tall
young man steps down, looking round for me,
while your old leaves hold still above us all.
Who is the speaker of the poem, and what is the situation?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → a mother waiting at the village bus stand for her son to come home
The speaker tells us who she is waiting for and where she sits.
- She says “my son” left in June with “his father’s watch”. She speaks of the father as someone else, so the speaker is the boy’s mother.
- She sits under the banyan at the bus stand with “a tin of laddoos”. The bus “is late again” and “the minutes drag”. At last a young man steps down “looking round for me”. Her son is coming home.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: a young man coming home to his village on the evening bus — Incorrect. Misread: The young man is the son the speaker waits for. He steps down “looking round for me”, so he is not the one speaking.
Option 2: a flower-seller at the village bus stand at the end of the day — Incorrect. Misread: The flower-seller’s tray is only one of the things the speaker smells around her.
Option 4: a mother seeing her son off at the bus stand as he leaves for the town — Incorrect. Wrong time: The son left in June. Now she is waiting for the bus that brings him back.