RABINDRANATH TAGORE

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free, where the world has not been
Broken up in to fragments by narrow domestic walls..
 In to that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake”

These immortal words were written by an Indian who stood tall in the world of Literature. His writings were translated and read all over the world. He wrote poems, plays, essays, stories and novels. He wrote and tuned songs. He was also an artist and patriot. He was the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore.

Rabindranath Tagore once travelled on a ship along with the great Irish poet, Y.B Yeats. During the journey he showed him his poems, reaching London, Yeats called a meeting of renowned writers and asked the Indian poet to read out his poems to them. When he finished reciting, no one said a word” They don’t like it” thought Tagore. Actually, the English men were speechless with emotion. And then the room filled with applause. Tagore’s poetry had reached the world.

Tagore also met the Scientist Albert Einstein in Germany. The two men talked of science and Nature, and the nature of things. Tagore received the Nobel Prize. He was also given a knighthood by the British Empire, but he returned it two years later when the British massacred Indians at Jallianwala Bagh. Tagore was a reformer and wrote against social ills. He wanted Independence for India, and was a big source of inspiration for Mahatma Gandhi and other freedom fighters.

Tagore was born in 1861 in a rich and prominent family of Calcutta. His father was Maharishi Debendranath Tagore, a scholar and social reformer. His mother Sarada Devi died when he was very young. He was the youngest child. The servants used to beat the children regularly. In such a large house hold, Rabin dranath was in many ways a loner, and wrote his poem when he was eight. When he was 17, a friend published a collection of his poems, surprising him.

Rabindranath Tagore was like a lake, brimming with lotuses. But besides the lotus, there were other flowers too, colourful and bright, pure and white, dark and light. From his creative flow, there bloomed not just poetry, but also musical dramas about a brave new society, and stories of courage and love, and songs that urge us to celebrate the joy of life. He started painting pictures very late in life. By the time he died at 80 years of age, he had taught us that one man can achieve so much with the dream of a child.

Prof John Kurakar