Reading Notes Week 11: Tagore, Part X

Tagore:

- 1861 -1941
- Born in Calcutta to one of India's most famous families due to their huge fortune from agriculture, mining, banking, and trade, and their aid in establishing major institutions such as Hindu College
- Despite this, Tagore actually rebelled against being formerly educated
-First Asian to receive a Nobel Prize for literature
- Had three daughters and two sons
- Wrote 42 short stories between 1891 and 1895, the most active time of his career
- Wrote over 2,200 songs over several decades
- Wife died in 1902, middle daughter in 1903, his father in 1905 and his youngest son in 1907

Kabuliwala:

Kabuliwala (Rahamat): An lower class, Muslim, Afghan peddler who interacts with the narrator's daughter by bringing her little gifts. Rahamat ends up killing a man over not being paid for a scarf when he needs the money, and gets put in prison for a long time. The narrator almost forgets about him until he comes to visit Mini when he is released. The narrator seems disgusted to have a murderer in his presence and doesn't want to let him see Mini again. In the end, Rahamat reveals he was doing it because she reminds him of his own daughter, who lives far away. The narrator learns not to judge people by how they look, and that he has more in common with lower class people and people of a different ethnicity than him. He ends up giving Rahamat money so he doesn't have to spend all his time away from home selling fruits for money. Because of this, he has to lose a few lights at his daughter's wedding to afford it, but he feels the ceremony is brighter because of the lesson he learned.

Mini: Five year old daughter of the narrator, who grows into a woman by the end of the story. Reminds Rahamat of his daughter, but he has been away from home so long she has probably changed a lot since he last saw her. Rahamat carries around a small charcoal painting of her with him. As a child, Mini grows attached to Rahamat, but when he gets put away in prison for murder for many years, she doesn't really know how to react to him when he comes back and seems embarrassed.

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