Rabindranath Tagore's Kabuliwala - Review

I have never been separated from my family and I did not know how one feels when their family is not around them. Rabindranath Tagore made me experience that pain after I read his masterpiece “Kabuliwala”. This was the first time I read his story and I was enthralled with what he had done. The way he depicted the characters and dialogues it kept me occupied the whole time.

Kabuliwala is written with not so complicated plot. It was more of a pictorial story that I was able picture all the scenes. The tale was about a poor Afghan man who was a mediocre fruit seller in India. He would send the money to his wife and daughter in Kabul. While selling the fruits he befriends with a little girl, Mini who he sees as his own daughter. Till the last part I thought Rahamat would do something wrong with Mini perhaps I was favoring her mother’s suspicion. Rahamat sounded like a quiet villain to me who, I was certain, would come out of the disguise of the poor man in the later part of the story. However, it turned out that I was wrong. Rahmat was a kind man who loved Mini like his daughter and was regretting when he found out she was no more a child and had grown into a beautiful woman and cursed himself for not seeing his daughter for the past eight years.

 I personally felt the last part very touchy when he came back from the prison right away to meet Mini. It would make every man weep as the way Tagore has put up the words were very delicately.