English LiteratureICSE Class 9 · Chapter 6

Home-coming by Rabindranath Tagore: ICSE Class 9 Summary, Characters and Questions

Updated 15 October 2026 · Fact-checked

In Tagore's Home-coming, Phatik, a mischievous fourteen-year-old village boy, is taken by his uncle Bishamber to Calcutta. Unwanted by his aunt, failing at school and longing for home and his mother, he runs away in the rain, falls gravely ill with fever, and in delirium tells his mother, 'the holidays have come'.

What Home-coming – Rabindranath Tagore is about

Home-coming is a short story by Rabindranath Tagore, first written in Bengali ('Chhuti', meaning 'holiday') and published in English in the collection *The Hungry Stones and Other Stories* (1916). It is one of the five Treasure Chest stories prescribed for ICSE Class IX in CISCE's 2028 syllabus.

The story moves from a lively village by the river to the cramped walls of Calcutta. Its centre is a psychological portrait of a boy of fourteen: too old to be petted, too young to be treated as an adult, and starved of the love and recognition he most needs. Tagore's narrator steps in with a famous reflection on that age ('there is no worse nuisance than a boy at the age of fourteen'), and the ending, in which the delirious Phatik tells his mother that the holidays have come, is one of the most moving in the anthology.

The title is deeply ironic: Phatik longs to go home, but his final 'home-coming' suggests death. Quotations on this page are checked against the public-domain English text on Project Gutenberg; the Treasure Chest version may use a different translation or wording.

Weightage: CISCE publishes no Class IX paper layout; the Class IX examination is set by schools on Acts I-II of Julius Caesar and five stories and five poems from Treasure Chest. In the board pattern, prose supplies one-mark MCQs and 16-mark extract questions.Source: CISCE ICSE 2028 English syllabus (Paper 2, Class IX portion); CISCE ICSE 2027 Specimen Question Paper, Literature in English

Home-coming – Rabindranath Tagore: summary

In our own words, in the order of the text. Read the NCERT text itself too: the board quotes from it.

Phatik Chakravorti is the ringleader of the village boys. One day he plans to roll away a heavy log lying on the river's mud-flat, waiting to be made into a boat's mast. His younger brother Makhan sits on the log and refuses to move. Phatik orders the boys to roll the log over with Makhan on it. Makhan tumbles off, attacks Phatik and runs home crying.

Phatik sits sulking on the edge of a sunken barge when a grey-haired stranger arrives by boat and asks where the Chakravortis live; Phatik answers rudely. A servant carries him home, where his mother accuses him of hitting Makhan. Makhan lies that he did, and Phatik, enraged by the injustice, beats Makhan and pushes his mother aside. The stranger then enters: he is Bishamber, the mother's brother, who had gone to Bombay soon after her marriage and has returned to Calcutta to find her, now a widow.

Hearing that Phatik is lazy, disobedient and wild while Makhan is 'as good as gold', Bishamber offers to take Phatik to Calcutta and educate him with his own children. The mother agrees with relief, and Phatik is wild with joy, giving Makhan his fishing-rod, kite and marbles.

In Calcutta his aunt is displeased to have this extra boy among her own three sons. The narrator reflects that a boy of fourteen is the worst nuisance in the world, neither ornamental nor useful, yet it is just then that he most craves love and recognition. Slighted at every turn, Phatik feels he can hardly breathe in the cramped city. He dreams of the meadow where he flew his kite, the river-banks and his mother. He becomes the most backward boy in school, caned by the teacher. He asks his uncle when he can go home and is told to wait for the holidays in November.

When Phatik loses his lesson-book, his aunt calls him a 'great clumsy, country lout'. That night he feels a fever coming and fears being a nuisance. Next morning he has vanished. After a day of searching in pouring rain, the police bring him back soaked, muddy and burning with fever. His aunt asks whether he had better be sent home; Phatik sobs that he was just going home but they dragged him back.

Delirious, he asks whether the holidays have come and cries to his mother not to beat him. Bishamber sits beside him all night and sends for his mother. Phatik calls out the depth-soundings he had heard sailors call on the river-steamer, as if plumbing an unfathomable sea. His mother bursts in, crying 'Phatik, my darling'. Phatik slowly turns his head and, without seeing anybody, says, 'Mother, the holidays have come.'

Themes and message

The loneliness of adolescence

Tagore's central insight is that a fourteen-year-old is awkward, self-conscious and constantly scolded, yet 'most craves for recognition and love'. Phatik's misery in Calcutta comes less from hardship than from being unwanted.

From the text: 'In this world of human affairs there is no worse nuisance than a boy at the age of fourteen'; he becomes 'like a stray dog that has lost his master'.

Longing for home and mother

Phatik's love for his mother is described as almost an animal instinct, 'like the lowing of a calf in the twilight'. Even though she favoured Makhan and beat him, he longs for her above everything.

From the text: His delirious cries 'Mother ... don't beat me like that!' and the final words.

Village freedom versus city confinement

The open meadow, river and brook of the village contrast with the walls of Calcutta. Phatik feels he cannot breathe in the city; nature is part of what 'home' means to him.

From the text: His memories of the meadow, river-banks and narrow brook.

Misunderstanding and neglect by adults

His mother misjudges him and believes Makhan's lie; his aunt resents and insults him; the teacher canes him; only Bishamber shows kindness, and too late. The story shows how adults' prejudices can crush a child.

From the text: The mother's 'prejudice against the boy'; the aunt: 'You great clumsy, country lout.'

The irony of 'home-coming'

The holidays Phatik waits for never come in the ordinary sense. His final words suggest that his release from suffering, perhaps death, is his true 'home-coming' or holiday.

From the text: 'Mother, the holidays have come.'

Characters

Phatik Chakravorti

The fourteen-year-old protagonist.

Mischievous leader in the village: plans the log prank.
Proud and quick to anger at injustice: beats Makhan for lying.
Generous and eager at departure: gives away his treasures.
Sensitive and lonely in Calcutta; deeply attached to his mother.

The log incident, his departure, his life in Calcutta and his delirium.

Makhan

Phatik's younger brother.

Stubborn and provoking: sits on the log.
Untruthful and sly: sticks to his false accusation.
Favoured by his mother as 'good as gold'.

The log scene and his lie to their mother.

Phatik's mother

A widow in the village.

Short-tempered and partial to Makhan.
Relieved to send Phatik away, yet hurt by his eagerness to go.
Loving at heart: rushes to his bedside in anguish.

Her accusation, her agreement to send him, her arrival at the end.

Bishamber

Phatik's maternal uncle.

Kind and well-meaning: offers to educate Phatik.
Somewhat unaware of his wife's resentment.
Compassionate: nurses Phatik and sends for his mother.

His offer and his care during the fever.

Phatik's aunt

Bishamber's wife in Calcutta.

Resentful of the 'unnecessary addition' to her family.
Harsh and contemptuous: calls him a 'country lout'.
Self-centred even at the crisis: 'What a heap of trouble this boy has given us.'

Her treatment of Phatik throughout the Calcutta section.

How it is written

Device	Example	Effect
Irony	The title and the final line, 'Mother, the holidays have come.'	The longed-for home-coming becomes an image of death and release.
Simile	Phatik is 'like a stray dog that has lost his master'; his longing is 'like the lowing of a calf in the twilight'.	Conveys his helplessness and animal-like need for his mother.
Mock-heroic humour	Makhan 'like a young philosopher meditating on the futility of games'; 'The first act of the drama was over.'	Light, comic tone in the village scenes contrasts with the tragedy later.
Symbolism	The sailor's call 'By the mark!--three fathoms' as Phatik plumbs 'an unfathomable sea'.	Suggests he is sinking into death; links his delirium to his river home.
Narrator's commentary	The reflection on boys of fourteen.	Turns one boy's story into a universal truth about adolescence.

Key quotations

Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.

In this world of human affairs there is no worse nuisance than a boy at the age of fourteen.
Narrator: When Phatik arrives in Calcutta.
Opens the narrator's reflection on adolescence.
For a boy of fourteen his own home is the only Paradise.
Narrator: The same reflection.
Explains Phatik's suffering in a strange house.
You great clumsy, country lout.
Phatik's aunt: When he says he has lost his book.
Shows her contempt; it pushes Phatik to run away.
Uncle, I was just going home; but they dragged me back again.
Phatik: When the police bring him back.
His one wish is to go home.
Mother, the holidays have come.
Phatik: The last line.
Ironic 'home-coming': release through death.

Home-coming – Rabindranath Tagore in real life

Each concept, met in an everyday situation. Read the situation, answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.

Feeling unwanted in a new place

Suppose a classmate joins your school from another state, sits alone and does badly in tests.

What might be going on, and what could help?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Homesickness and loneliness can look like laziness.
Small acts of welcome make a difference.

Answer: Like Phatik, a lonely child may appear 'backward' when really he is unhappy. A friendly word or an invitation to play can change his whole experience.

Memory hook: Lonely is not lazy.

Fairness between siblings

Imagine parents who always believe the younger child in every quarrel.

How might the elder child feel, and how does the story show this?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Injustice breeds anger.
Phatik hits Makhan for lying and remembers the unfairness in delirium.

Answer: Unequal treatment wounds deeply and lastingly; Phatik's last cries show how much he wanted his mother to believe him.

Memory hook: Hear both sides.

Teenagers need recognition

Suppose a fourteen-year-old offers to help at a family function and is told to go away and study.

What would Tagore's narrator say?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

At fourteen he craves recognition.
Being brushed aside feels like rejection.

Answer: The narrator observes that a boy of this age becomes devoted to anyone who shows him consideration. Giving teenagers responsibility and respect meets that need.

Memory hook: Fourteen needs to be seen.

Topics in this chapter

Phatik's Loneliness in Calcutta and the Ironic Home-coming

How the school exam asks Home-coming – Rabindranath Tagore

The question patterns to expect, and the method that works for each.

Question type	How it is asked	Method
MCQ (1 mark)	The log prank, who the stranger is, Phatik's age, why he runs away, the meaning of the last line.	Recall details in order; watch for options that mix village and Calcutta events.
Extract question (16 marks)	Extracts from the log scene, the uncle's offer, the aunt's house, the narrator's reflection, or the ending.	Context, explanation, before/after events and a reasoned response.
Theme and title	'Discuss the appropriateness of the title.' / 'What does Tagore say about boys of fourteen?'	Explain the irony of the title; use the narrator's reflection.
Character	Phatik, his mother, the aunt, Bishamber.	Contrast village and Calcutta behaviour; support with incidents.

Tricks to remember Home-coming – Rabindranath Tagore

Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.

Log → Lie → Leave → Lout → Lost → Last words
Six Ls for the plot.
Use it when: Sequence of events.
Three people who failed Phatik
Mother (prejudice), Aunt (contempt), Teacher (cane).
Use it when: Questions on neglect.
Chhuti = holiday
The Bengali title means holiday: the last line explains it.
Use it when: Title question.

Home-coming – Rabindranath Tagore: extract-based questions

Read the extract, answer every part on paper, then open the answers.

Extract 1: The unwanted guest

It was anguish to Phatik to be the unwelcome guest in his aunt's house, despised by this elderly woman, and slighted, on every occasion. If she ever asked him to do anything for her, he would be so overjoyed that he would overdo it; and then she would tell him not to be so stupid, but to get on with his lessons.

(1) · 3 marks · Short answer
(i) How did Phatik come to be in his aunt's house? Why had his mother agreed?
(2) · 3 marks · Short answer
(ii) Why was the aunt unhappy about Phatik's arrival?
(3) · 3 marks · Short answer
(iii) Why would Phatik 'overdo' any task his aunt gave him? What does this show?
(4) · 3 marks · Short answer
(iv) What did Phatik long for in Calcutta? Give two memories.
(5) · 4 marks · Long answer
(v) Do you think the aunt is solely to blame for Phatik's suffering? Give reasons.

Show the answersAnswers

His uncle Bishamber, his mother's brother, visited the village, heard that Phatik was lazy, disobedient and wild, and offered to take him to Calcutta and educate him with his own children. His widowed mother readily agreed, relieved to be rid of a boy she was prejudiced against and fearful that he would harm Makhan.
She found her own three boys quite enough to manage; bringing a village lad of fourteen into their midst was 'terribly upsetting', and she thought Bishamber should have thought twice before such an 'indiscretion'.
He was so starved of kindness that any request made him feel wanted, and in his eagerness to please he overdid it. It shows the narrator's point that a boy of fourteen becomes the devoted slave of anyone who shows him consideration.
He longed for the open country and his village home: the meadow where he flew his kite all day, the broad river-banks where he wandered singing, the narrow brook where he dived and swam, his band of boy companions, and above all his mother (any two).
Open answer. The aunt bears much blame for her coldness and insults ('country lout'). But others share it: the mother sent him away too readily and was prejudiced against him; Bishamber did not notice his wife's resentment or Phatik's misery; the teacher caned him; his cousins jeered. Tagore also blames the general attitude to boys of fourteen, whom no one dares to love openly.

Extract 2: The ending

Later in the day Phatik's mother burst into the room like a whirlwind, and began to toss from side to side and moan and cry in a loud voice.
Bishamber tried to calm her agitation, but she flung herself on the bed, and cried: "Phatik, my darling, my darling."

(1) · 3 marks · Short answer
(i) Why is Phatik lying ill? What had happened the previous day?
(2) · 3 marks · Short answer
(ii) What does Phatik say in his delirium before his mother arrives?
(3) · 3 marks · Short answer
(iii) How does Bishamber behave during the illness?
(4) · 3 marks · Short answer
(iv) How does the mother's behaviour here contrast with her earlier attitude?
(5) · 4 marks · Long answer
(v) Explain Phatik's last words, 'Mother, the holidays have come.' How do they give the story its title?

Show the answersAnswers

After losing his lesson-book and being insulted by his aunt, he felt a malarial fever coming and, fearing to be a nuisance, disappeared the next morning, trying to go home. He was out all day in torrential rain until the police brought him back soaked, muddy and burning with fever.
He asks, 'Uncle, have the holidays come yet? May I go home?'; cries, 'Mother, don't beat me like that! Mother! I am telling the truth!'; and calls out depth-soundings like a sailor: 'By the mark!--three fathoms...'
He carries Phatik in, brings a doctor, wipes his own tears, holds the boy's burning hands and sits by him all night, and tells him he has sent for his mother.
Earlier she scolded and beat Phatik, favoured Makhan and was relieved to send him away; now she rushes in 'like a whirlwind', flings herself on the bed and calls him 'my darling', showing the love she had hidden or neglected.
Phatik had been told he could go home only when the holidays came; now, near death and not seeing anyone, he announces that the holidays have come. The words suggest his release from suffering and his final journey, so the 'home-coming' is ironic: he is reunited with his mother, but his true going 'home' is death. (The Bengali title, 'Chhuti', means holiday.)

Home-coming – Rabindranath Tagore: exam-level solved questions

Ordered from exam level to HOTS. Cover the solution, write your own, then compare step by step.

Example 1: MCQ: the stranger · 1 mark · MCQExam level

The grey-haired stranger who arrives by boat is:
(a) the village schoolmaster (b) the owner of the log (c) Phatik's maternal uncle, Bishamber (d) a police officer

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

The mother recognises him: 'Why, Dada!'

Answer: (c) Phatik's maternal uncle, Bishamber.

Example 2: MCQ: why he runs away · 1 mark · MCQHarder exam level

Phatik disappears from his uncle's house because:
(a) he wants to join a circus (b) he is trying to go home after his aunt's insult and the onset of fever (c) his cousins have hidden his book (d) his teacher expels him

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

He lost his book; the aunt insulted him; fever began; he feared being a nuisance.
His words: 'I was just going home'.

Answer: (b) he is trying to go home after his aunt's insult and the onset of fever.

Example 3: The log incident · 4 marks · Short answerHarder exam level

Describe the log incident and what it reveals about Phatik and Makhan.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Phatik's plan; Makhan's defiance.
Phatik's solution; the result.
Traits.

Answer: Phatik planned to roll away a log meant for a boat's mast. Makhan sat on it and would not move. Unable to carry out his threat to thrash him, Phatik ordered the boys to roll the log with Makhan on it; Makhan fell, then scratched, beat and kicked Phatik and went home crying. It shows Phatik as a resourceful, mischievous leader anxious about his 'regal dignity', and Makhan as stubborn, provoking and quick to complain.

Example 4: The narrator on boys of fourteen · 4 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency

Summarise what the narrator says about a boy of fourteen. Do you agree?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Why adults find him a nuisance.
What he needs.
Personal response.

Answer: He is neither ornamental nor useful; too old to be petted, he is called a baby if he lisps and impertinent if he speaks like an adult; he is growing awkwardly and is painfully self-conscious. Yet at this age he most craves recognition and love, and becomes devoted to anyone kind to him; no one dares love him openly, so he becomes like a stray dog. Response: many teenagers would agree that adults often misread them, though families today may be more understanding; the passage remains true in its main insight.

Example 5: Phatik's change · 4 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency

Contrast Phatik in the village with Phatik in Calcutta.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Village: leader, confident, free.
Calcutta: silent, backward, lonely.

Answer: In the village he is the ringleader and 'despot' of the boys, bold, mischievous and free on the river-banks and meadows. In Calcutta he becomes shy, nervous and the most backward boy in school, gaping silently at questions, caned, jeered at by cousins and slighted by his aunt. The change shows how much a child's confidence depends on love and belonging.

Example 6: Explaining an image · 3 marks · Short answerHarder exam level

Explain: 'Now he was himself plumbing an unfathomable sea.'

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Literal: sailors measure depth with a plumb-line.
Figurative: Phatik sinking into death.

Answer: In delirium Phatik repeats the sailors' calls of depth he had heard on the river-steamer. The narrator says he is now measuring a sea too deep to measure: he is sinking into the depths of illness and death, an unknown from which there is no return.

Where the marks are

How a typical answer is marked: the value points the examiner looks for and the marks each earns.

Extract part (v), 4 marks: 'Explain Phatik's last words, "Mother, the holidays have come." How do they give the story its title?' Indicative split (Class IX papers are marked by schools). (4 marks)

Step	Marks
Link to the uncle's promise of going home in the holidays	1
Phatik near death, not seeing anyone	1
Meaning: release from suffering / death	1
Irony of the title 'Home-coming'	1

Where students lose marks in Home-coming – Rabindranath Tagore

The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.

Mistake: Saying Phatik simply died of malaria
Pupils give a medical answer only.
Do this: Explain loneliness, neglect, homesickness and the run in the rain that led to the fever, and the ambiguity of the ending.
Usually costs: Theme and interpretation marks.
Mistake: Muddling who lied
Pupils say Phatik lied to his mother.
Do this: Makhan falsely said Phatik hit him (at home); Phatik had not hit him then.
Usually costs: Context marks.
Mistake: Missing the irony of the title
Pupils say only that he came home for the holidays.
Do this: Home-coming = release or death; the holidays never came in reality.
Usually costs: Title questions.
Mistake: One-sided character sketches
Pupils describe the mother as only cruel.
Do this: Show both her partiality and her final anguished love.
Usually costs: Character marks.

Practice questions on Home-coming – Rabindranath Tagore

Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.

Q1 · 1 mark · MCQExam level
How old is Phatik when he goes to Calcutta?
(a) twelve (b) thirteen (c) fourteen (d) fifteen
Hint
The narrator's reflection.
Answer
(c) fourteen.
Q2 · 2 marks · Short answerExam level
What did Phatik give Makhan before leaving, and what does it show?
Hint
Three treasures.
Answer
His fishing-rod, his big kite and his marbles, 'in perpetuity'. It shows his excitement and his generous, forgiving nature at the moment of departure.
Q3 · 2 marks · Short answerHarder exam level
Why was Phatik's mother 'somewhat distressed' though relieved?
Hint
His eagerness.
Answer
She was relieved to be rid of a troublesome son, but hurt to see how eager he was to leave her.
Q4 · 2 marks · Short answerHarder exam level
What did the aunt say when the police brought Phatik back, and how did Phatik respond?
Hint
Send him home.
Answer
She said, 'What a heap of trouble this boy has given us. Hadn't you better send him home?' Phatik sobbed, 'Uncle, I was just going home; but they dragged me back again.'
Q5 · 3 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
Why do you think Phatik cries 'Mother! I am telling the truth!' in his delirium?
Hint
Recall the scene at home.
Answer
He is reliving the injustice when his mother believed Makhan's lie and beat him. It shows how deeply that unfairness hurt him and how much he wanted his mother to trust him.
Q6 · 4 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
Write an assignment plan (300-400 words) on 'Home-coming as a study of a neglected child'.
Hint
Class IX assignments are 300-400 words.
Answer
Plan: introduction (Tagore, Chhuti); neglect at home (mother's prejudice, Makhan's lie); hopes of Calcutta; the aunt's coldness; the narrator's reflection on age fourteen; school failure and the lost book; the flight in the rain; Bishamber's late kindness; the ironic ending; conclusion on children's need for love.
Q7 · 3 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
Is Bishamber a good guardian? Give two points for and one against.
Hint
Kindness vs awareness.
Answer
For: he offers education out of kindness; he nurses Phatik devotedly and sends for his mother. Against: he does not notice (or check) his wife's resentment and Phatik's misery until too late, and puts off Phatik's request to go home until the holidays.

Test your recall

Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.

1.Who wrote Home-coming?Show answer
Rabindranath Tagore.
2.What is the name of Phatik's younger brother?Show answer
Makhan.
3.Where had Bishamber been working?Show answer
In Bombay; he had returned to Calcutta.
4.When did the holidays begin, according to the uncle?Show answer
In November.
5.What did Phatik lose that led to his aunt's insult?Show answer
His lesson-book.
6.What are Phatik's last words?Show answer
'Mother, the holidays have come.'

Quick revision checklist

The night before the exam: can you do each of these without looking?

Can you retell the story in the order: log, lie, uncle, Calcutta, book, flight, fever, ending?
Can you summarise the narrator's reflection on boys of fourteen?
Can you explain the irony of the title?
Can you compare Phatik in the village and in Calcutta?
Can you describe the mother, aunt and uncle with evidence?

Home-coming – Rabindranath Tagore: frequently asked questions

Does Phatik die at the end?

The story does not say so directly. The doctor calls his condition critical, he is 'plumbing an unfathomable sea', and his last words are ambiguous, so most readers understand that he dies; in answers, say the ending strongly suggests it.

What is the original Bengali title?

'Chhuti', meaning 'holiday'. The English title 'The Home-coming' keeps the idea of going home.

Is the Treasure Chest translation the same as the one on Gutenberg?

It may not be. Check any quotation against your prescribed book.

Why does Tagore include the long reflection on boys of fourteen?

It turns Phatik's story into a universal comment on adolescence and explains why he suffers so much in a house where nobody openly shows him love.

Based on: CISCE ICSE 2028 English (01) syllabus (Classes IX and X); CISCE ICSE 2028 Appendix I: List of Prescribed Textbooks; CISCE Regulations for ICSE Examination Year 2028; CISCE ICSE 2028 Appendix I: List of Prescribed Textbooks; Rabindranath Tagore, The Home-coming, in The Hungry Stones and Other Stories (Project Gutenberg eBook #2518, public domain)