Born without any knowledge of his parentage, Mahesh drives a bicycle rickshaw for a living in a town in India, prays to Bhagwan Shri Kishan, and lives in an unhealthy shanty hut. He is friendly with Sheela, who works as a maidservant, hopes to marry her someday, much to the chagrin of Kalu Dada, who lusts after Sheela. One night while returning home he comes across an abandoned male baby near Bhagwan Shri Ganesh's Mandir. He looks for the family of this child, asks for help from the Mandir's Poojary, as well as a Mullah and a Hawaldar, all in vain. When he tries to abandon the child, he is literally forced to adopt him, and when he does so, he faces considerable opposition from his neighbors, and ends up hating the child. He neglects the child, and as a result the child gets inflicted with polio. Mahesh has a change of heart, decides to look after the child, names him Hindustan, starts his treatment, gets him crutches, and after facing many hurdles, gets him admitted in Bishop Cotton ...