Cabuliwallah, Written in 1892 by Rabindranath Tagore,

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 the money, and then gives it to Mimi. One day, while trying to collect a debt, the Cabuliwallah stabs and man and it incarcerated. 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 these funds he had to "trim certain items from the wedding-festivities" (Tagore, 1892). Discussion On the surface the father and Cabuliwallah are very different people. The father makes his living as a writer while the Cabuliwallah is a peddler.

The father is a man of some means, while the Cabuliwallah is impoverished. The father is a native of India, while the Cabuliwallah, from Afghanistan, is far from home. They are of different social classes, which in India, carries much more significance than many other countries. Yet, despite these obvious differences, the two men have many qualities in common. First and foremost, both men are loving fathers.

The father sees a kindred spirit in the Cabuliwallah as evidenced by his dismissal of his wife's worry that he may mean harm to Mimi. Both men have integrity. The Cabuliwallah, while attempting to collect a debt so as to be able to visit his home is so angered by the refusal of the customer to pay that he stabs him, however, he refuses to take money from the father to pay for the goods he has given the daughter. Both are generous men.

The Cabuliwallah gives his dry fruits and nuts freely to Mimi. The father gives the Cabuliwallah money so he.