A Letter to Rabindranath Tagore Ji

To,
6/4,
Dwarakanath Tagore Lane,
Jorasanko,
Kolkata 700007

“Love does not claim possession but gives freedom.”

Our love for Art didn’t ever let us feel too much pride in what we created, it kept us grounded for what we were working on. Just as you said, Rabi Ji.

It is pleasing to read Geetanjali as you left it. An Offering to God literally translated to “ An offering of Songs”. Your unfathomable pain and unshaken devotion to God are captured in the moving prose verses.

“Where the mind is without fear and the head held high; Where knowledge is free;”

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls”

We still see your love for humanity depicted, as you believed in universal humanity. 7th May 1861, was a gift to Indian Literature. Nobody knew, how glorious these 80 years were going to be. Your father Debendranath Tagore was already reforming the world, an activist and leader of Brahmo Shamaj, and mother Sarada Devi couldn’t spend many years with you. You lost her when you were 14. Painful as it seems, you turned those emotions into your power. You started writing poems at the age of 16.

“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”

So, you decided to step into the sea of literature yourself. You did not decide to cross it. You stayed in the sea until you turned it into an ocean. You released your collection of poems under the pseudonym ‘Bhanusimha’, at the small age of 16. Poet, Storyteller, writer, philosopher, social reformer, composer, and painter. Literature and Art engulfed you, I believe being homeschooled let you realize the importance of creativity. By the time you matured you were managing a family estate, the project that got you close to the common humanity and pushed your interest towards social reforms.

“Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.”

Being a literary genius, you extended a hand to your love for humanity. You also stressed on the concept of compassion and living in the way, for the benefit of others. It turned out with the name of Shantiniketan. A school with Ideals of the Upanishads. Where practical activities were a priority as if you knew the needs of the modern world. Principles and ideas were a part of your young home school.

“A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it.”

You started participating in the Indian Nationalist movement in your own non-sentimental and visionary way. You gave us our National Anthem ‘ Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka ‘. Nobody knows that you gave two other countries their National Anthem too, ‘Amar Sonar Bangla’, the national anthem for Bangladesh and ‘Nama Nama Sri Lanka Mata’, in Bengali, for Sri Lanka. Your contribution through literature, in the fight for freedom, attracted Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to become a good friend.

1913, the time when India was struggling for freedom, you became the first Non-European to receive a Nobel prize. As the Geetanjali was translated to English and was loved worldwide. You became a symbol of Glory for India as Britishers knighted you with the name of ‘Sir’. The patriot in you could not accept the honour of the British empire, so you resigned it, as a protest against the British policies in India. You were known across the world for the English translated versions of your creations. Touring across continents you became a messenger of peace and culture of our country.

“Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.”

You wrote it loud and clear. A treat of your imagination, among your fifty and odd volumes of poetry, are Manasi (1890) [The Ideal One], Sonar Tari (1894) [The Golden Boat], Gitanjali (1910) [Song Offerings], Gitimalya (1914) [Wreath of Songs], and Balaka (1916) [The Flight of Cranes]. The English renderings of your poetry, which include The Gardener (1913), Fruit-Gathering (1916), and The Fugitive (1921). Some of your major plays are Raja (1910) [The King of the Dark Chamber], Dakghar (1912) [The Post Office], Achalayatan (1912) [The Immovable], Muktadhara (1922) [The Waterfall], and Raktakaravi (1926) [Red Oleanders].

You left a mark on society with your easy, understandable writings, you embraced the power of ink. That’s still evident in Les Prix Nobel. The first edition of your autobiography is still imprinted in it.

“Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come. “

We are living in the Dawn for which the bright lamp like extinguished. A free world. You hoped for a world full of freedom, and so you gave yourself up to the Nationalist Movement for freedom of India. You dreamt of a free world, where people write freely, express their thoughts freely. We knowingly or unknowingly celebrate the freedom of expression. We are sorry to not see you in it. 7th August 1941, was when you took your last breath. Your last poem was “Shesh Lekha” which was released in October 2011.

“Let it be my last word that I trust thy Love”

“Jodi Tor Dak Shune Keu Na Ase Tobe Ekla Cholo Re”
(“If no one responds to your call, then go your own way alone”)

We will always remember you with these words of motivation.

তুমি অমর(Tumi Amara)
Art Culturati.

Written by Harsh Srivastava