How has Rabindranath Tagore poignantly described the bonding of friendship as well as heartbreak in "Kabuliwala?"

Tagore describes the heartbreak of bonding and separating as the result of time's passage.

Time plays a significant role in the emotional dynamics of the Kabuliwala and Mini's friendship. As they interact daily, their bond strengthens. Familiarity plants the seeds of friendship in the form of inside jokes, such as the one about when Mini will go visit her "father-in-law." When the Kabuliwala is sent away to prison, time takes its toll. Mini changes.

Time passed away, and he was not remembered . . . Even my light-hearted Mini, I am ashamed to say, forgot her old friend. New companions filled her life. As she grew older, she spent more of her time with girls. So much time indeed did she spend with them that she came no more, as she used to do, to her father's room. I was scarcely on speaking terms with her.

Years had passed away. It was once more autumn and we had made arrangements for our Mini's marriage.

Time's passing has an effect on the relationship between the Kabuliwala and Mini. She forgets about him. She values different ideas and the qualities she used to have are no longer there. Tagore shows time's effect on their relationship in a poignant way. It is sad to read about the Kabuliwala's deep pain. He does not feel the simple pain of a memory passing. Rather, it is something more, and deeper in the fact that time has passed without caring for his feelings. We get what the Kabuliwala is feeling because we all know the experience of seeing a deep relationship that time has forever altered. This poignance is enhanced through the Kabuliwala's ache of being unable to go back to what once was.

The Kabuliwala is overcome when he sees Mini after eight years. He has to take in seeing her all grown up. He also has to grasp how time has buried their friendship. Additionally, Tagore recognizes that time has also transformed the Kabuliwala's connection with his own daughter:

When she [Mini] had gone, Rahmun heaved a deep sigh, and sat down on the floor. The idea had suddenly come to him that his daughter too must have grown in this long time, and that he would have to make friends with her anew. Assuredly he would not find her, as he used to know her. And besides, what might not have happened to her in these eight years?

By detailing time's effect on relationships, Tagore is able to poignantly depict the creation and rupturing of bonds. He links the Kabuliwala's pain and hurt to an experience we can understand. In doing so, Tagore is able to enhance the sadness intrinsic to many relationships.