The Kabuliwala hails from Afghanistan and in the Indian city of Calcutta (now Kolkata) he sells fruits going house to house. His family including his little daughter is in Afghanistan. Mini is the narrator’s daughter who must be of the same age as the Kabuliwala's daughter. In Mini, the fruit seller sees the image of her own daughter.
Hundreds of miles away from his own daughter, he grows a fondness for the little Mini. Regularly he visits her house and every time he brings her almonds, nuts and raisins. He never accepts the money offered to him by the narrator.
Mini too enjoys the Kabuliwala's company a lot. He will tell her jokes, exchang witticism and behave childishly in order to please her and make her laugh. She was no more afraid of the tall Afghan street trader rather considered him as a loving friend.
Away from his own daughter, the Kabuliwala pours out his fatherly affection on Mini.
But she is a small girl. Soon after the Kabuliwala is imprisoned, she almost forgets him and busies herself in the company of her friends. On the other hand, the Kabuliwala, a sensitive and tender-hearted man, misses both, her daughter and Mini, in the jail.
After a few years when he is released, he immediately rushes to the narrator’s house to see Mini. That she is going to get married surprises him. He has never imagined Mini would have grown up so fast. It reminds him of his own daughter. She too must have grown big, matured enough to get married.
Though the Kabuliwala and Mini are not blood relations, the bond of love between them is quite deep and strong. Very subtly, the story demonstrates how a man away from his own daughter grows a deep attachment to a little girl, who is just a stranger.
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