Rabindranath Tagore's short story "Kabuliwala" explores several interesting themes. First, the story focuses on the relationships between fathers and daughters. The narrator is the father of Mini, who is five years old when the story starts. Mini and her father have a special bond, and he will listen to her chatter with delight when it annoys everyone else. Even though the narrator is a busy writer, he always takes the time to talk to his little daughter. He also listens to Rahamat's stories with Mini, although at first he tries to protect the little girl from the Kabuliwala.

As time passes, though, Mini and her father grow apart. She begins spending more and more time with her friends, and she no longer visits her father's study and chats with him. While the narrator realizes that this is part of Mini growing up, he regrets their lost intimacy.

The Kabuliwala has a daughter of his own, a girl named Parvati, and he loves her dearly. He even carries her handprint with him in his travels. When Rahamat spends years in prison, though, he is separated from his daughter, and she grows up without her father. He never stops loving her, though, and when he is finally free, he wants nothing more than to go home and see his little girl. The narrator recognizes their shared bond of fatherly love and gives Rahamat money for the trip.

The Kabuliwala's love for Parvati is probably what leads him to build up an unlikely friendship with Mini. This is another theme of the story: the rare connections built between people who are so different yet find something in common. Mini's family is well-off and modern. Rahamat is only a poor peddler who holds to traditional ways. Yet this little girl and this traveling man establish a bond. They laugh together and enjoy each other's company, neither judging the other, merely being themselves. The bond, however, does not survive their long separation, for Mini grows up and forgets her enjoyment of Rahamat. By the time he returns, she is not the same person, and Rahamat seems to regret their lost friendship.

Finally, the story explores people's responses to the unknown and the peculiar. The narrator at first mistrusts Rahamat because he is a Kabuliwala. Mini, too, is frightened of him because she thinks that he might just be carrying around children in his bag rather than nuts and sweets. Both father and daughter, however, quickly accept Rahamat when they get to know him. Mini's mother does not. She is afraid of Rahamat and needs much reassurance from her husband that the Kabuliwala is not out to kidnap their daughter. She is not comfortable with anything outside her little world or anyone different from her family.