THE KABULIWALA

I. (i) The father in the extract is the narrator and the daughter is
the narrator’s daughter, Mini. It can be concluded from the
daughter’s questions that she is a talkative girl, always bursting
with questions.
(ii) The two fathers in the story are — the narrator and Rahamat,
the Kabuliwala. The narrator is an author by profession, whereas
Rahamat is a pedlar, who brings seasonal goods from his country,
Afghanistan and sells them in India.
(iii) The most important traits of the daughter’s character are that
she is talkative and always questioning. Her father says that her
daughter has not wasted a single moment of her life remaining
silent.
(iv) The father had started writing the seventeenth chapter of his
novel, the moment his daughter, Mini, entered the room. The
father shows that he is patient with his daughter by listening to
her volley of questions without saying anything and later joining
her prattle and having a lively talk with her.
(v) The main theme of the story, The Kabuliwala is human relationships
that exist on different levels — the relationship between a
father and his daughter, represented by the narrator and his
daughter, Mini; the relationship between the Kabuliwala and
Mini, a representation of the Kabuliwala’s relationship with his
own daughter, who is far away from him; and Mini’s relationship
with her mother, who is quite protective of her daughter.

II. (i) The narrator is the speaker here. He was startled to see Mini
laughing and talking with the Kabuliwala because initially she
was scared of the Kabuliwala. She had the unknown fear that the
Kabuliwala carried several living children like herself in his bag.
(ii) The Kabuliwala was a pedlar, who used to bring dry fruits and
other goods from his country, Afghanistan and sell them in India.
Kabuliwala was a tall, shabbily dressed Afghan, who used to
wear a turban on his head and carry a bag over his shoulder
and a few boxes of dry grapes in his hand.
(iii) The first meeting between Mini and the Kabuliwala happened
when she called him to her house. But when the Kabuliwala
came, she got frightened and ran inside. She came only when
her father called her out. She stood nervously, pressing her
father’s body and looking suspiciously at the Kabuliwala and his
bag. When the Kabuliwala offered her some raisins and apricots
from his bag, she refused to take them and clung closer to her
father with a redoubled suspicion.
(iv) Mini overcame her fear of Kabuliwala when her father called
her from inside the house to meet the Kabuliwala. Mini’s fear of
Kabuliwala carrying several children like her in his bag subsided,
when the Kabuliwala took out some dry fruits from his bag and
offered them to her.
(v) The narrator paid half-a-rupee coin to the Kabuliwala for the
almonds and raisins he gave to Mini as gifts. The Kabuliwala
gave the money to Mini.
(vi) When Kabuliwala gave the money paid by Mini’s father to Mini,
Mini’s mother got annoyed that her daughter had accepted the
money from a stranger. Mini’s father rescued Mini from her
mother’s wrath by taking her out for a walk.
III. (i) Mini’s mother’s fear that the world was full of thieves, bandits,
drunkards, malaria and cockroaches, waiting for an opportunity
to harm her family, is referred to in the extract.
(ii) The lady is not able to overcome the fear because she has been
hearing about instances of child abduction, theft and robbery
and is too concerned about the welfare of her family.
(iii) She is full of suspicion about the Kabuliwala because she
has heard tales of child abduction and robbery prevalent in
Afghanistan, the country to which the Kabuliwala belonged.
Since, the Kabuliwala was a huge and tall man, she feared that
he could kidnap her daughter, Mini.

(iv) She was annoyed at her daughter’s act of accepting things
from a stranger, i.e., the Kabuliwala. She had the fear that the
Kabuliwala was trying to befriend her daughter by giving her
gifts, with the intention of kidnaping her.
(v) The ‘pointed questions’ that the lady asked the narrator included —
were there no instances of child abduction, was not slave trade
in practice in Afghanistan and was it impossible for a giant like
Kabuliwala to kidnap a little child.
(vi) The narrator had to agree to the doubts of his wife because her
doubts were not impossible. No, he did not succeed in allaying
her wife’s fear.
IV. (i) The dishonest man was the narrator’s neighbour, who had bought
a Rampuri shawl from the Kabuliwala on credit. Rahamat was
hurling abuses at him because when he asked for his payment
for the shawl, the man denied having bought the shawl.
(ii) The ‘usual exchange’ refers to Mini’s questioning Kabuliwala
about the contents in his bag.
(iii) When Mini asked Kabuliwala if he was going to his in-laws’
house, he replied that he was going there only.
(iv) The Kabuliwala was charged with murderous assault. He was
sentenced to eight years of imprisonment for his crime.
(v) It was the end of the winter season. The weather was freezing
cold and almost unbearable, especially in the morning hours,
with little warmth after sunrise.
V. (i) The narrator’s house is being referred to in the extract. The
noise and bustle pervading the house is because of the narrator’s
daughter’s wedding.
(ii) There was lot of hustle and bustle in the house because of the
narrator’s daughter’s wedding. The visitors were continuously
walking in and out. A tent was being put up in the courtyard
of the house and the ringing of the chandeliers being put in the
verandah filled the air. The wedding music was beig played in
the house since dawn and there was festivity in the house and
no end to the noise.
(iii) Rahamat’s physical features had changed in the eight years he
had been in prison. He no longer had his long hair or his old
vigour. The usual bag he carried on his shoulder was also missing.
(iv) The narrator could not recognise him first because his looks had
changed from what it used to be eight years ago. He did not
have his long hair, his old vigour and the bag on his shoulder.
The narrator recognised him from his smile.
(v) Rahamat had come from jail after being released from there. The
narrator was little annoyed with the Kabuliwala and asked him
to come some other day. He did not like his visit to the house
because it was the auspicious day of his daughter’s wedding.
(vi) Rahamat was little hurt by the indifferent attitude of the narrator
and was stunned on hearing that he would not be able to meet
Mini, as she was getting married that day.
VI. (i) The impresson of the hand of Kabuliwala’s daughter on a piece
of paper, created with burnt charcoal was the ‘memorabilia of
his daughter’. Kabuliwala carried it with himself as a mark of
love and remembrance from his daughter, which provided comfort
and happiness to his lonely heart.
(ii) The ‘merchandise’ that the Kabuliwala sold on the streets of
Kolkata included dry fruits like almonds, raisins and apricots
and woollen clothes like shawls.
(iii) The Kabuliwala requested the speaker to hand over the grapes
and raisins, which he has brought for Mini, to her. The speaker
accepted the Kabuliwala’s request because he realised a father’s
longing for his daughter and that the Kabuliwala saw a reflection
of his own daughter in Mini.
(iv) The Kabuliwala was shocked when Mini finally appeared before
him because his little chirping, five-year-old Mini has grown up
into young, beautiful girl and was dressed up like a bride.
(v) On seeing Mini, it dawned on the Kabuliwala that his own little
daughter at home, away in Afghanistan, must have grown up like
Mini. She would not be the same girl, whom he had left behind,
eight years ago and would have to know her all over again.
(vi) The narrator helped the Kabuliwala by cutting down on the
wedding expenses of his daughter and giving him the money so
that he could go back to his own country and meet his daughter.
(vii) Both the narrator and the Kabuliwala are doting fathers to their
daughters. Both of them, also suffer the pangs of separation
from their daughters : the Kabuliwala got separated from his
daughter when he was imprisoned eight years ago, whereas the
narrator was about to be separated from his daughter because
of her getting married.