words per minute
5
toroshankumar
00:00
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There was a girl named Vallirem who was called Valli for short. She was eight years old and very curious about things. Her favorite pastime was standing in the front doorway of her house, watching what was happening in the street outside. There were no playmates of her own age on her street, and this was about all she had to do. But for Valli, standing at the front door was every bit as enjoyable as any of the elaborate games other children played. Watching the street gave her many new unusual experiences. The most fascinating thing of all was the bus that travelled between her village and the nearest town. It passed through her street each hour, once going to the town and once coming back. The sight of the bus, filled each time with a new set of passengers, was a source of unending joy for Valli. Day after day she watched the bus, and gradually a tiny wish crept into her head and grew there: she wanted to ride on that bus, even if just once. This wish became stronger and stronger, until it was an overwhelming desire. Valli would stare wistfully at the people who got on or off the bus when it stopped at the street corner. Their faces would kindle in her longings, dreams, and hopes. If one of her friends happened to ride the bus and tried to describe the sights of the town to her, Valli would be too jealous to listen and would shout, in English: -Proud! Proud! Neither she nor her friends really understood the meaning of the word, but they used it often as a slang expression of disapproval. Over many days and months Valli listened carefully to conversations between her neighbors and people who regularly used the bus, and she also asked a few discreet questions here and there. This way she picked up various small details about the bus journey. The town was six miles from her village. The fare was thirty paisa one way -- which is almost nothing at all, she heard one well-dressed man say, but to Valli, who scarcely saw that much money from one month to the next, it seemed a fortune.