If the postmaster would have taken Ratan home, what would his mothers feelings be?

This is an interesting question.  Certainly, I think that
there would have been some level of awkwardness between Ratan and the postmaster's
mother.  However, I think that this could have been overcome.  Ratan had taken to
appropriating his mother as her own.  In their conversations, when the postmaster would
refer to his mother and sister, Tagore indicates that Ratan would appropriate them, as
well, by using terms of familiarity.  Being an orphan, Ratan would not possess any other
frame of reference other than to accept the postmaster's mother as her own.  Even if the
postmaster's mother would not have been a good sort, it is not as if Ratan, being an
orphan, would have her own mother to which she could cling or run.  This would have made
the transition to the postmaster's mother's life easier for her and made Ratan more
adroit for adaptation.  If the postmaster had declared his loyalty and sense of respect
for Ratan, it would have been something that Ratan's mother would have accepted over
time. To bring Ratan home to his mother would have displayed a sense of commitment and
honor to Ratan that the postmaster lacked at the end of the
story.