"The Cabuliwallah" is one of the most famous of the Poet's "Short
Stories." It has been often translated. The present translation is by
the late Sister Nivedita, and her simple, vivid style should be noticed
by the Indian student reader. It is a good example of modern English,
with its short sentences, its careful choice of words, and its luminous
clearness of meaning.
=Cabuliwallah.=] A man from Cabul or Kabul, the capital of
Afghanistan.
=embarked.=] Like a ship putting out to sea on a new voyage.
=Bhola.=] Mini's attendant.
=Protap Singh.=] Rabindranath Tagore pictures himself as engaged in
writing a novel, full of wild adventures. These names are made up
to suit the story.
=so precarious.=] The writer amusingly imagines the hero and heroine
actually swinging by the rope until he can get back to his desk
and finish writing about how they escaped.
=Abdurrahman.=] The Amir of Kabul.
=Frontier policy.=] The question about guarding the North-West of
India against invasion.
=without demur.=] Without making any objection, or asking for more
money.
=judicious bribery.=] He gave her little presents, _judging_ well what
she would like best.
=new fangled.=] The parents had not talked about such things, as
old-fashioned people would have certainly done.
=euphemism.=] This means, in Greek, "fair speech." Here it means a
pleasant word used instead of the unpleasant word "jail."
=kings went forth.=] During the hot weather the kings of ancient India
used to stay at home: they would begin to fight again at the
beginning of the cold weather.
=my heart would go out.=] That is to say, he would long to see such
places.
=fall to weaving.=] This is an English idiom, like "set to": it means
to begin.
=conjure themselves.=] Just as the conjurer makes all kinds of things
appear before the eyes.
=vegetable existence.=] Vegetables are rooted to the ground. So
Rabindranath is rooted to his desk and cannot make long journeys.
=As it was indefinite.=] Because there was no actual reason for it.
Indefinite here means vague.
=forbid the man the house.=] This is a brief way of saying forbid the
man to enter the house.
=bebagged.=] This word is made up for the occasion, and means "laden
with bags." Compare the words bedewed, besmeared.
=just where.=] The word "just" has become very commonly used in modern
English. It means "exactly," "merely" or "at the very moment."
Compare "He had just gone out." "It was just a joke."
=Scarcely on speaking terms.=] Rabindranath Tagore is here making a
joke; "not to be on speaking terms" means usually "to be
displeased with." Mini had become so eager to talk with her girl
friends that she had almost neglected her father.
=Durga.=] The Durga Festival in Bengal is supposed to represent the
time when Parvati, or Durga, left her father's home in the
Himalayas, called Kailas, and went to live with her husband,
Siva.
=Bhairavi.=] One of the musical tunes which denotes separation.
=chandeliers.=] The glass ornamental hangings on which candles were
lighted in great houses at weddings.
=better-omened.=] It was not considered a good omen, or good fortune,
to meet a criminal on a wedding day.
=dispersed.=] Used up.
=Parbati.=] Another allusion to the Goddess Durga and her home in the
Himalayas.
=apparition.=] This word comes from the same root as the word to
"appear." It means a sudden or strange sight. It often means a
ghost. Mini had so changed that when she appeared in her wedding
dress she startled him, as if he had seen a ghost.
=make friends with her anew.=] His own daughter would not know him at
first.
=Saw before him the barren mountains.=] His memory was so strong that
it made him forget the crowded Calcutta street and think of his
home in the mountains.