Kabuliwala

By Rabindranath Tagore
 About The Author:
Rabindranath Tagore
The Text, ‘Kabuliwala’
 Mini’s father

Rahmat
.Character.
.Overview. Mini

Mini’s mother

Parvati
Summary

● Revolves around the friendship between Mini and Kabuliwala

● They grow close despite contrasting backgrounds
● Dynamics change when Kabuliwala gets arrested
● The central characters reconcile at Mini’s wedding
Introspective narration
Themes
Paternal Love

● Rahmat and Mini’s father- similar

● Fierce and self-sacrificial love towards daughters
● Pain of letting go of their daughters
● Self-centered motivations
Relationship Between Father and Rahamat

● Father initially reluctant to indulge Rahamat

“This nuisance with a sack over his shoulder will show up in a moment”

● Later lives vicariously through Kabuliwala’s adventures

“That’s why I used to mitigate my desire for travelling a little by talking to this man
from Kabul in the morning, sitting in front of my writing table in my little room. The
Kabuliwala blared out stories of his homeland in his broken Bengali and I fancied it
all before my eyes”

● Both men similar in their fatherly love

“In a moment I realised that we were both just the same – he was a father and so
was I.”
Experiences/Conditioning

● Aristocratic
● Wanderlust
01 The father ● Restricted by natural family
responsibilities

● No active voice
● “Irrational” and “suspicious”
02 The mother ● Possible experiences under
patriarchy
Modernity

● Mini’s family is ‘modern’

● Mini unaware of who or what “in-laws” are
● Allowed to interact closely with a stranger
● But she’s married off in her early teens

➔ Changing notion of what is modern

“Bengali girls were commonly familiar with the term ‘in-laws’ practically since birth.
But being more modern, we chose not to load our daughter’s mind with precocious
thoughts at such a tender age.”
Remembering, Forgetting, Growing Apart

● Camouflaged remembering,
“Just as you have a daughter, I too have one back home. It is remembering her face
that I bring these gifts for your child […] Every year Rahamat came to peddle
merchandise carrying that memorabilia of his daughter in his pocket”

● Conspicuous forgetting
“We almost forgot about him[...] she easily forgot her old friend and found a new
one”
Cyclicity

“As [Rahmat] was about to leave “[Rahmat] asked in a

the house, he asked, ‘Sir, where is faltering tone, ‘Can’t I
your little girl?.....To break Mini’s see the girl for a
unfounded fear, I called her from moment?....I sent word
for her to come out to
inside the house. …..She came
the study
and stood nervously, pressing immediately….Mini
against my body, and looking came out from the
suspiciously at the Kabuliwala inner quarters and
and his bag.” stood beside me coyly.”
Seasons and time

● Tragic and heart wrenching: January’s winter

“..the temperature was freezing and almost unbearable….Looking out, I saw our
Rahamat in handcuffs”

vs

● Joyful and auspicious: Autumn’s golden sun.

The rain-washed sun of early autumn took the hue of pure gold….. the radiant shafts
of the autumnal sun. My Mini was to get married that day.
Visualizations

● Parvati’s handprint as a child

● “Seeing an alien person bring the
image of a lonely hut by a river in
the midst of a forest where life is
autonomous and exultant.”
Juxtapositions

● Mini’s world and her father’s world

● The odd dynamic between Mini and Rahmat
● A free spirit in a jail cell
● Homicide vs. family man
● The subsequent contrast in tones
● Joyful wedding music in the background of two
melancholic fathers
Peculiar Aspects

● Did father feel constricted in his familial life?

● Peculiar relationship between Mini’s parents
● Problematic portrayal of the mother
Thank you
Anoushka Agastya (HS19H008)
Saivaishnavi S (HS19H034)
G. Shreethigha (HS19H038)