KOLKATA: Over a century after Rabindranath Tagore penned ‘ Kabuliwala ’ in 1892, Afghans in the city are displaying the generosity immortalised in the short story. Realizing that everyone’s reeling under severe cash crunch, Kabuliwalas engaged in money-lending business have waived the interest for two months and extended the loan term so that customers can tide over the crisis.“It would be inhuman to ask customers to shell out interest or return the principal at this hour when business has taken a beating and everyone is spending hours in the bank queue. This is an extraordinary situation that calls for extraordinary measures,” said Rahim Khan, an Afghan moneylender in Kolkata.Rahim’s grandfather Rehmat, just like Rahmat in Tagore’s story, had come to the city from Afghanistan to trade in dry fruits, asafoetida (hing) and lend money. Unlike Rahmat though, Rehmat never returned to Afghanistan. “Most of the 500-odd Afghans here haven’t been to the ancestral land. We are Pashtuns but our home is Kolkata. It is but natural that we feel for people of this city,” Rahim reasoned while digging into a packet of biryani at a lodging that he shares with other Afghans on Temple Street in central Kolkata.Though Rahim still dresses in traditional pathan suit and sleeps and eats on a carpeted floor, he does not sport a beard like Chhabi Biswas , who played Rahmat in Tapan Sinha ’s 1957 film.Rahim has given Rs 3 lakhs as loans to over two dozen people, mostly small-time businessmen and traders. On a loan of Rs 10,000, a customer has to pay a monthly interest of Rs 500. The debt collection happens in the first week of every month. But not this December. Or January. Rahim will thus incur a loss of Rs 30,000 in these two months but hopes to make up later. He is confident of returing to regular business by January-end by when he believes the crisis would subside.For Gul Mohammad, that is hardly comforting as the brief winter that Kolkata experiences would have passed by then. Mohammad, who trades in shawls between November and January, cancelled his consignment on November 9, a day after the PM announced demonetization. “I sold around 250 shawls last year and was hoping to do similar numbers this year. But with people struggling to meet their daily needs and no money to spare, there will be no business this season,” said Mohammad, who trades only in cash.Sher Afzal Khan, who lives in a decrepit building at Chandni Chowk, is battling a financial crisis of his own. Robbed of Rs 80,000 recently, Sher Afzal, who has always pursued debtors, now has debts in the market. The amount that he owes to eateries this month is minuscule compared to the money loaned out to clients. But he doesn’t like it one bit.“I hope the currency situation improves and slowdown in the economic activity that everyone is witnessing reverses. Once that happens, I will be able to collect debts and pay the restaurant that delivers food,” he said.