Cabuliwallah, written in 1892 by Rabindranath Tagore, is the story of a Mimi, precocious five-year-old girl who is befriended by Rahmun, a fruit seller. The story is narrated from the point-of-view of Mimi's father, a writer. Rahmun, from Kabul, Afghanistan, is poor and of a lower caste than Mimi's family. As a Cabuliwallah he walks the streets of Calcutta, India, peddling dry fruits and nuts in order to eke out a living. Briefly, the Cabuliwallah and Mimi quickly become friends. Meeting on an almost daily basis, the father relates, "One morning, however, not many days later, as I was leaving the house, I was startled to find Mimi on a bench near the door, laughing and talking, with the great Cabuliwallah at her feet. In all her life, it appeared: my small daughter never found so patient a listener, save her father" (Tagore, 1892). The Cabuliwallah showers the child with gifts of fruits and nuts, and when the father attempts to reimburse him for this the Cabuliwallah accepts...

He is quickly forgotten. Eight years pass and on the day of Mimi's wedding the Cabuliwallah returns caring a bag of with raisins and nuts as a present to Mimi. At first the father refuses to give Rahmun access to the girl, who at first accepts that he cannot meet the girl on that day. However, he returns to hand over the raisins and nuts to the little one, and the father tries to pay for them. The Cabuliwallah takes out the crumbled piece of paper with the imprint of his daughter's hand, which he has carried close to his heart all the years he has spent in prison. At this moment the father realizes that the love Rahmun has for his daughter is nothing less than the love he has for his. The father gives some money to the Cabuliwallah telling him to go back to his homeland and his see his own daughter. However, because the father gave Rahmun…