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Spirit News Blog - Rabindranath Tagore
By Dr. Vidagdha Bennett
Jorasanko Thakur Bari
25th January 2008: It has been raining heavily all night – a solid, drenching rain with no intermission. Nor did it arrive with thunder and lightning. It just came; to deluge the alleyways and the little stalls of the street vendors, to wash the dust from buildings and rickshaws, to cleanse the air and give the parched city a taste of winter. I emerge to find that everyone has pulled out their humble assortment of vests, scarves, socks and black umbrellas. Our hotel guard is wearing a thick woollen khaki uniform that looks as if it may have done service in the British army long ago.
After greeting my new acquaintances – the old man who sells the English newspapers and charges four times the newsstand price, the manager of the internet shop who has taken pity on my inept skills, the moneychanger who waves enthusiastically from behind his counter when the dollar climbs up a fraction, the young cook who makes perfect lemon pancakes and milk coffee on a tiny, antiquated stove – I reflect on the day’s itinerary.
As if by design, my Lonely Planet Guidebook falls open at the map showing destinations to the north of the Maidan and my eyes light on two words: Tagore’s house. It is, without doubt, the perfect day to go to the house of the Poet.
“The sky is overcast with clouds and the rain is
ceaseless. I know not what this is that stirs in me – I
know not its meaning.”
- Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali 27
I catch a taxi to Jorasanko Thakur Bari, the distinguished seat of the Tagore family. It is located at 6, Dwarkanath Tagore Lane in north Kolkata. This vast and spacious red brick dwelling was built in 1784 by Prince Dwarkanath Tagore, the Poet’s grandfather. In his book, “Rabindranath Tagore: His Life and Work” (1921), Edward Thompson describes it intriguingly:
“The Jorasanko house is a vast, rambling congeries of mansions and rooms, representing the whims of many generations.”
Documentary by Satyajit Roy
Rabindranath Tagore biography and poems at Poetseers
My Country Awake by Tagore
Tagore Song - Amar Raat Pohalo
In this video Rabindranath Tagore is singing in his own unique voice. The sound quality is by no means perfect but it certainly is a treat to here the great poet / musician singing.
The fish in the water is silent,
the animals on the earth is noisy,
the bird in the air is singing.
But man has in him the silence of the sea,
the noise of the earth
and the music of the air.
From Stray Birds by Rabindranath Tagore
[translated from Bengali to English by the author]
New York: The Macmillan Company, 1916
Photo by Abedan Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries
Currently at British Museum there is an exhibition of Tagore's entitled "The Art of Peace: Paintings by the poet Tagore"
My Country Awake
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; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening thought and action; Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
- Tagore Poems at Poetseers
- Listen To Martin Sheen Recite "My Country Awake" by Tagore at Wired For Books