Aloo and the narrator of the story are the youngest children in a single-parent family.Their older siblings have all left home. Their mother is a widow who has raised fivechildren on her own. Aloo wants to study medicine, not agriculture. He harbours theambition to go to America to study. He writes to some American Universities hopingto get a scholarship. When a well-known American University offers him ascholarship, Aloo’s dream looks set to come true. However, his mother says that shecannot afford to send him to America. Aloo is very upset. Mother seeks advice fromMr Velji, a school officer. He tells her that getting scholarship is good for Aloo’s futurehe also cautions her that she may lose him if she lets him go so far away. Seeing herson’s disappointment, Mother decides to let her son go in the end