A Summary of the Story Kabuliwala by Rabindranath Tagore

Kabuliwala is a short story written by Rabindranath Tagore. It is a story which deals with Kabuliwala (Rahamat) and his customer Mini. The Kabuliwala was a hawker who comes to Calcutta from Afghanistan. He befriends a small Bengali girl called Mini who reminded him of his own daughter back in Afghanistan. Their relationship befuddled Mini’s parent, yet that managed to accept it in time. Though he was not in touch with his daughter, her memories did not fade from his mind. Later things went wrong and one of the Kabuliwala's customers did not repay him. When asked to repay, the customer started hurling abuses at Rahamat, who, in a fit of rage, stabbed the man. This resulted in his imprisonment for about 8 years. On the day of his release he went to see Mini, and was denied his plea to see her the first time around. He turns to leave, but then places a small package of nuts in Mini’s father’s hand: it was a packet of nuts. As the father is about to pay him, Rahamat stops him and says that he had brought them for her as Mini so reminded him of his own daughter back home, and saying thus, he pulled out an old paper, almost falling apart, that had the impression of a child’s hand on it, who couldn’t have been older than five. Overwhelmed by the sight of that tiny hand, the father summoned Mini. When the Kabuliwala saw Mini, decked up in bridal wear, he knew that she wasn’t the same little girl anymore, and neither was his own daughter. He would have to get to know his own daughter all over again. The thought made him sink down to the floor with his head in his hands. Mini’s father took out some money that he had set aside for some lighting fixtures and such, and gave it to Rahamat. He told him to go find his daughter. Despite the lack of the lighting fixtures, the wedding seemed to have been blessed with a brilliance of its own.