The book was subsequently adapted to a Hindi film, Rahi, by Dev Anand and simultaneously released in English as The Wayfarer.

[5] Gangu is a middle aged peasant living in Hoshiarpur with his wife Sajani, daughter Leila and his son Budhu.

Their pay is not even enough to buy food and many of the merchants offer loans with interest rates so high that repayment is impossible.

Since he is too poor to perform the necessary last rites, Gangu tries to borrow money from Croft-Cooke but is turned away because he is believed to be carrying cholera.

The officer is charged with Gangu's murder, but a trial composed predominantly of Englishmen finds him not guilty.