Song, dance, prayer and remembrance, all will come together on May 9 (Pochishe Baisakh), when India and the world will start a year-long celebration of 150 years of Rabindranath Tagore. And, if you were expecting a flurry of festivals, a rush of books and films surrounding Tagore?s phenomenal treasure trove of poems, essays, songs, journeys, it?s been rather quiet so far. Sadly, we haven?t been able to celebrate a national poet like the UK does Shakespeare or Dickens.
Visva-Bharati, the cradle of education the poet visualised in the lap of nature, will begin the day early with a Baitalik (walk around the campus) singing his songs, hold an exhibition of Gurudev?s life at Kala Bhavan, the fine arts section, inaugurate a computer literacy programme at the rural extension centre at Sriniketan and so forth.
In Kolkata, Rabindra Bharati University, which is located at the Tagore family home in Jorasanko, and now has another campus in the northern part of the city, has also drawn up a series of events to mark the occasion. Vice-Chancellor Prof Karuna Sindhu Das says the university has sent an Rs 15-crore proposal to renovate Jorasanko Thakurbari, where the poet was born. ?It is 225 years old and needs to be renovated, for which we have already got Rs 17 lakh. With the Prime Minister himself at the centre of Tagore?s 150 year celebration, we are confident funds won?t be a problem,? he says.
Both Visva-Bharati and Rabindra Bharati universities are also putting together plans to revisit the poet?s works?his songs alone number 2,200. For instance, Visva-Bharati will publish a book on his paintings. ?About 450 of his paintings will be put in an album,? says Amitava Choudhury, deputy registrar, and PR incharge. Visva-Bharati also has an ambitious plan to publish a kala kramik or companion to all of Tagore?s works. ?We want to launch one volume this year,? he adds.
Visva-Bharati will take a look at his unpublished work. ?Some diaries have been found and a lot of unpublished material,? says Choudhury. An attempt will be to record for posterity Rabindra Nritya (Tagore?s dance dramas) from the handful of people who learnt the art from Tagore himself. The slew of plans will entail an expenditure of Rs 100 crore, says Choudhury, ?and being a central university, we hope funds will flow?.
Rabindra Bharati has sent a proposal to the state government to launch a fine arts campus in north Bengal, ?somewhere near Bagdogra,? says Prof Das. ?We also want to launch a China gallery, a Bangladesh gallery and many more galleries to commemorate his journeys,? he adds. On the anvil are books on various family members of Rabindranath Tagore who helped him become the poet and artist, including his brothers, sisters-in law and nieces. It has sent a proposal to the Centre to have a wider translation of Tagore into major languages.
The West Bengal government has earmarked Rs 1 crore for the celebrations and chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has sought funds from the Centre. The Railways, too, spearheaded by Mamata Banerjee, has decided to remodel Bolpur station?it already dons the Visva-Bharati colours of yellow and brown?and has named Naktala metro station as Gitanjali, after the poet?s Nobel winning collection of poems and songs.
But the question Tagore readers are asking is, are we doing enough to make Tagore relevant today. Arunava Sinha, who is translating three Tagore novellas, Nashtaneer (Broken Nest), Malancha (The Garden) and Dui Bon (Two Sisters), says ?every generation should get a Tagore translation in its own idiom?. Many of Tagore?s stories are astoundingly contemporary. For instance, the running thread in all these three novellas is that none of the couples have children and is a huge trigger for relationships breaking down. ?What can be more contemporary than that,? points out Sinha.
If you ponder on his work, there can be infinite possibilities?why not a nationwide literary festival on Tagore; or a contest a la Indian Idol of Rabindrasangeet singers to find out the next Kanika Bandopadhyay or Debabrata Biswas, two of the finest exponents of his songs; or even a fashion show?the Tagore household had many fashion icons; or a festival of theatre and food?the Thakurbari women were phenomenal cooks; remixes of his songs and so forth.
Some Tagore readers throw a challenge to Bollywood, which is always complaining of a dearth of stories. Delve into Tagore?s trove, read his love stories?get Anurag Kashyap interested in Shesher Kabita, one of Tagore?s most popular novels. If only we had something more than fairly indifferent translations. That?s the challenge Tagore?s legacy-bearers should take up, as we celebrate 150 years of a poet, who reached out to the universal man through his work. It will be the best birthday gift too.
