A date with Tagore and his women

Rabindranath Tagore - a poet, writer, playwright, composer and philosopher worshipped by millions - was also a man heavily influenced by the fascinating women who were part of his life.

“Gender and social issues in the works of Rabindranath Tagore” was the topic of discussion at a function organised here on Wednesday by the All-India Women's Conference to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of the Nobel laureate. Lok Sabha member and chief guest Girija Vyas inaugurated the event with singer Jayati Ghosh setting the mood for the rest of the day.

“Tagore grew up with his 14 siblings in his family's Jorasanko mansion, his family were extremely rich upper-caste Pirali Brahmins and the women who married into the family were often very young, uneducated and overwhelmed by the intellectual and social superiority of the Tagore household but almost all of them educated themselves to be worthy and equal of the Tagore men,” said Ms. Aruna Chakravarti who talked in detail about the women who looked after Tagore in his early life and formed the bridges to his later success.

Full report here Hindu

UN honours Tagore, Neruda, Cesaire

The top UN cultural body Unesco on Tuesday launched a programme honouring India's Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore and two other humanist poets, Pablo Neruda and Aim Cesaire.

Each of the three poets, in his own way, carried high the standard of humanist values, said the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).

Beyond their different geographic, social and political contexts, Tagore, a Bengali poet at the time that India was under British rule, Chile's Neruda and Cesaire - from the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe - showed a commitment to speaking for the voiceless, it said.

Full report here Economic Times

The perfect ode to Gurudev

You make me endless, such is your pleasure” (Translation from Tagore’s Gitanjali, Poem 1) To pay a painstaking tribute to Gurudev Rabidranath Tagore on his 150th birth anniversary celebration, Chennai-based ace Bharatnatyam danseuse Anita Ratnam choreographs an aesthetically designed offering, woven from the bard’s casket of creative gems. Recently premiered at Kolkata’s well-known G.D.Birla Sabhaghar auditorium, Ratnam’s rendition drew critical acclaim and accolades. Responding to her performance titled Handful of Dust, the internationally renowned dancer shares: “This humble homage on Gurudev is one in a million such compositions, compiled by many other Indian artistes, who too have been deeply touched, inspired and moved by Tagore’s treasure-trove of works at some point of time or the other. As for me, I’ve always admired his multitude of works till the present moment.”

Having grown up in South India, outside the cauldron of Bengal (where Tagore’s glory is still given a deified status and the man himself, revered as a sacrosanct figure), the dancer feels that the Nobel Laureate’s rich magnum opuses and timeless verses still need an expansive amount of translation to make it more accessible to the rest of the country. “Other provinces at large are still left deprived of reading Tagore’s repertoire in parts, let alone in its entirety. Agreed it is not humanly possible to grasp a versatile genius’s depth of creations and understand its underlying essence in a lifetime. But at least we can try to scratch the surface, which becomes inescapably unwieldy in want of extensive interpretations and paraphrased versions of his volumes of literary texts,” she says. “After the lift-up of a rigid copyright act, things however, seem to breathe easy and give way to leniency from the erstwhile straight-jacketed codes and set parameters to be followed. Even my fellow Bengali artiste friends, scholars and connoisseurs hailing from this part of the world have repeatedly rued over the strict possession of the Tagorean legacy, which had noticeably remained confined within a clique of handful few staunch custodians. Now hopefully, the trend is changing to augur well for a better future. And to welcome a rewarding tomorrow, the next-gen posterity has to possibly carry forth the Tagorean heritage amidst contemporary developments, progressive experiments and futuristic evolutions,” she opines with a note of observation. At the formal request of the cultural wing of the Union government, Ratnam gave her consent to dedicate her act in honour of the bard.

Full report here Asian Age

Tagore gala begins in Spain with book

Perhaps a historic wrong was set right when Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore reconnected to thousands of admirers in Spain - one of the few countries in Europe to which he had called off his visit - with a new book.

The compendium, 'Redescubriendo a Tagore (Rethinking Tagore)', was released on Monday. It is part of a larger project, Tagore in Spain, a celebration of his literature and performing arts in several cities in Spain and Costa Rica which begins this weekend.

It has been co-edited by Indranil Chakravarty, a professor of Film Appreciation at the Whistling Woods International Film Institute in Mumbai, and scholar S.P. Ganguly, professor of Spanish studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

The editors said Tagore had remained popular in Spain despite his decline in popularity in the rest of the Western world after World War I, where he was seen as an Eastern mystical poet removed from the harsh realities of life.

Full report here Times of India

UNESCO tribute to Tagore`s legacy

Rabindranath Tagore is the flavour at the UNESCO House on Avenue de Suffren in Paris this week as part of a literary initiative to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of the Nobel laureate.

He will share the limelight with poets Pablo Neruda and Aime Cesaire.

A two-day initiative, "High-Level Sponsoring Committee for the Reconciled Universal for Rabindranath Tagore, Pablo Neruda and Aime Cesaire", beginning Monday will strive to reconcile the literary ideas of the 20th century behemoths.

While Neruda, who won the Nobel Prize in 1971, preached multi-culturism and spent several years in India, Cesaire was the founding guru of "Negritude" - the concept of black identity in French literature.

The inaugural capsule will cast the spotlight on Tagore with "Remembering Tagore".

Full report here Zeenews

Odissi tribute to Tagore

On the 150th birth Anniversary of Legendary bard Nobel Laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore; eminent Odissi Dancer Mrs. Dona Ganguly will pay a classic tribute in the form of Odissi here in Bhubaneswar on 12th Sept 2011.

In a press meet here in bhabenswar she gave this information of her plan. She herself with her team mates of Mokhsya Manjari will act in the poem written by Great Rabindra  Nath Tagore. The same has been translated into Odia by Sangeeta Goswamy. The name of the play is “Chitrangada.”  This 1.15 hour duration act will be performed in Rabindra Mandap on Monday evening.

Dona started learning dance from Amala Shankar, wife of world famous Dancer Uday Shankar when she was a kid of just 3 year. It was the turning point of her career when she shifted to Odissi under the guidance of Guru Giridhari Nayek. The most significant development took place when she came across her Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra. Under his guidance, she got opportunity to develop her skill which enabled to prove her talent in Odissi on a number of occasions in several programme held in India and abroad.

Full report here OrissaDiary

Dasara with Tagore in 1922

While Mysore gears up for Dasara, many historians and senior citizens become nostalgic thinking about writer Rabindranath Tagore. Wondering what brings the connect?

Well, the Nobel laureate came down to the royal city in 1922 to partake in Dasara festivities. Administrators had placed at his disposal a Rolls Royce and two first-class compartments were reserved to fetch him and his party on a train from Bangalore.

And, no less than the dewan Mirza Ismail was in-charge of arrangements for the dignitary's visit.

This is what the dewan wrote to Tagore on September 25, 1922 which shows the significance Mysore administrators attached to his visit.

Full report here Times of India 

Tagore and his penchant for dance

Our starting point is the account which Santidev Ghosh — a remarkable chronicler of dance-related events in Rabindranath Tagore’s life — has provided, alongside his own account of learning dance in the Indian subcontinent and abroad with Gurudev’s encouragement. Santidev documented, like a faithful Boswell, what he saw as the process of efflorescence of 15 Tagore’s dance-interests, observed over three decades at Santiniketan.

Tagore’s Mystique of
Dance
Utpal K Banerjee
Niyogi
Rs 1500

What was the evolutionary nature of Tagore’s dance persona? What were its cardinal features? And what kind of cross-cultural liaisons did he undertake to arrive at a clear philosophy and a coherent choreographic mind that could lead to a genre of Rabindra Nritya?

Tagore had a teenage exposure to Western dance in England and retained an obvious interest for the terpsichorean muse all his life. Seminally inspired by Spencer and Wagner, he penned, in the 1880s, two musical dramas and one opera, and encouraged his students in Santiniketan to participate in song and dance, himself participating in these activities wholeheartedly. Once Visva-Bharati was formed in 1921, his interest gathered momentum. He appointed dance teachers, and often appeared on stage as a dancer himself in his plays and musicals. He proceeded to compose several celebrations of the seasons and create musical dramas like Notir Puja, Tasher Desh and Shap Mochan — to be accompanied wherever feasible, by dance.

Full report here Pioneer

The genius of Tagore, on a different canvas

When Pritish Nandy was a young man, he came out with an unpriced book that contained translations of the last fifteen verses Rabindranath Tagore penned. "Unpriced because the Vishwa Bharati then had a bizarre regulation that Tagore's works could not be published," says Nandy.

To commemorate Tagore's 150th birth anniversary, starting tomorrow, the National Gallery of Modern Art ( NGMA) will present Shesh Lekha-The Last poems of Rabindranath Tagore-a unique exhibition where Nandy and artist Paresh Maity collaborate to celebrate the literary genius of the man.

The concept of the show hinges on the poet's inimitable text and combines the beauty of the written word with art. Taking a cue from Nandy's translations, Maity has created 15 corresponding watercolours. "His words are thought-provoking and almost picturesque," says Nandy. "And though Paresh hadn't been doing watercolours for a while, I felt they were the best medium to capture the landscapes of Tagore's mind." What is of particular beauty about these poems, considered by many to be some of Tagore's finest works, is the sense of serene melancholy that informs the diction.

Full report here Times of India 

'How many remember Ghalib, Faiz, Kabir and Tagore'

In our special series on the India You Didn't Know, eminent painter S H Raza remembers Indian greats Ghalib, Tagore, Faiz and Kabir -- and lauds our inheritance of different forms of Indian classical music.

We Indians have inherited a rich cultural heritage which demands that we study it, understand it and be worthy of it. But when one sees objectively what is happening today, I feel that it is quite a disaster. We are not able to treasure what a truly remarkable heritage we have inherited, at least a majority have failed to do so.

I have stayed in Europe for about 60 years and now I am very happy to have come back home this year. I still cherish fond memories of my childhood in Madhya Pradesh, where my father was a forest officer, and I held a close bond with the tribals there.

I also love travelling to the Ajanta and Ellora caves. But today, I feel a lot of people get carried away with petty and inconsequential things in life. We should go back to our roots and study the Bhagwad Gita, Ramayana, the Bible and Quran. It is not merely about wearing a cross or a kurta pyjama.

How many of us can recall the truly great Hindi and Urdu writers and poets? How many of us remember the works of Ghalib and Faiz, Tagore and Kabir? Not many, I fear.

Unfortunately today, I feel the public at large are more focussed and interested in the things that are so superficial; money is not everything. Yes, one should have it, but it is never the objective of art, religion or culture.

Full report here Rediff

Tagore's life on wheels enthrals

Ranchiites got a chance to know about Rabindranath Tagore's life and thoughts as the Sanskriti Express arrived here on Monday.

Sanskriti Express with five coaches is an exhibition on wheels, which features Tagore's legacy in literature, music and painting.

Inaugurated by DRM G Mallya, the train attracted a vast crowd of admirers of Tagore. Animesh Roy, 10, who came with his father, said: "I am really inspired by Tagore; I want to be like him someday".

Savita, a student of Gossner College said "As the train will be leaving on Tuesday, I skipped my classes to see this wonderful and inspiring exhibition".

Full report here Times of India 

Tagore anniv marked in Sri Lanka

Indian Cultural Centre in Colombo has inaugurated a five-day long film festival focusing on works of Gurudev Tagore on Thursday to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of noble laureate Rabindranath Tagore in Sri Lanka.

Senior Sri Lankan Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama in the presence of High Commissioner of India Ashok K. Kantha opened the film festival yesterday evening at the National Film Corporation Hall, the High Commission said in a statement.

Full report here Colombopage

A poet's muse writes back

After being performed in front of an 8,000-member audience at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata, the Bengali play Key Tumi's second showing was in Bangalore on Tuesday as former chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification Sharmila Tagore took to the stage at Chowdiah Memorial Hall. This was the first time the veteran actor performed in the city.

Written and directed by Dr Amit Ranjan Biswas, a London-based psychiatrist and playwright, Key Tumi is in the form of a soliloquy. Tagore's is the solo spoken part, as the narrative is in the form of an open letter that she enacts on stage. The action of the play is interspersed with Tagore songs performed by vocalists Lopamudra Mitra and Paromita Bandopadhyay.

The form of the play is abstract and mystical, said Biswas, who has also written a dramatic piece based on the life of Rabindranath Tagore, Hey Bondhu Bidaye, which was performed in Bangalore in 2010. Key Tumi is an open letter from a woman who is a poet's muse, to the poet who loves and worships her. Some have chosen to interpret it as a play based on the relationship between Rabindranath Tagore and his sister-in-law Kadambari Debi, but I would like to clarify that she is never named. The protagonist is a woman who is timeless and transcendental," said Biswas.

Full report here Times of India

UNESCO team to visit Visva-Bharati varsity

A United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) team will be visiting the Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, this week to consider the possibility of declaring it a world heritage site.

The Ministry of Culture, through the Archaeological Survey of India, sent a dossier to the UNESCO earlier this year nominating Santiniketan as India's official entry for World Heritage Sites.

A review committee from the UNESCO would examine the proposal and visit the premises including Uttarayan, the complex where the residences of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore were located, the archives and museums and various other buildings which house murals, frescos and paintings, said a senior varsity official.

The team would also meet officials, cultural personalities and experts after which would consider the proposal and see whether the Vishva Bharati can be declared a heritage site. They would also see which areas of the University's sprawling 150 acre campus could be included.

Santiniketan was nominated as the official entry in 2010 keeping in mind that the country is celebrating the 150 th Birth Anniversary of the National Poet this year.

Full report here Hindu

Literary project to highlight Tagore's love affair with China

China's love affair with Rabindranath Tagore will be the theme of an Indo-Chinese literary collaboration which will see contributors of the likes of Amartya Sen among others.

The publication of the book on Tagore will be the first of a series of works to come out following an agreement between Sage Publications India and Central Compilation and Translation Press, China.

The two parties had signed a pact to publish Indian management books in Chinese and original scholarly works by Chinese scholars into English.

As the first step of this agreement, Sage India will publish in English the book on Tagore, which will have both Indian and Chinese contributors, says Sage India, MD-CEO Vivek Mehra.

"The first write-up is an original essay by Amartya Sen," Mehra said.

Full report here Times of India 

80 years later, Russia recalls tryst with Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore visited Russia in 1930 and recorded his impressions in Letters. A Russian Bengali scholar recalls what the many-sided poet means to Russians Rabindranath Tagore visited Russia in 1930.

A Russian scholar, who teaches Bengali, recalls her love affair with iconic Indian poet and what he means to Russians India will be formally marking the 150th birthday anniversary of iconic poet-philosopher Rabindranath Tagore next May.

The celebrations have already begun in Shantiniketan, the university founded by the sage poet in West Bengal, with spirited renditions of songs, dances and plays composed by the bard. Russia, however, is celebrating its tryst with the Nobel laureate in September this year. It’s exactly eighty years since Tagore visited the Soviet Union in 1930, an appropriate time to look back at the man, his legacy, his connection with Russia and how Russians see this many-sided polymath.

For many Indians, Tagore is more than just a writer and poet: he is a symbol of its cultural glory and renaissance, the first Indian to win international literary acclaim. He penned India’s national anthem, and, has the unique distinction of having authored national anthems of two sovereign countries. Tagore’s song (‘Aamaar sonar Baanglaa’: My Golden Bengal) first became the anthem of liberation for the people of Eastern Pakistan, and then became the national anthem of a free Bangladesh.

Full report here Oye! Times

Tenure over, envoy continues Tagore tryst

Twenty-four thick and short volumes squat on the racks of the Chinese consulate in Salt Lake. Pick any one and leaf through the pages. To the average Calcuttan, the Chinese letters will be all Greek. Till one looks at the cover where in golden letters is inscribed in Bengali the name of our greatest philosopher-poet.

Mao Siwei smiles fondly at the books. “Yes, these are the complete works of Tagore. A Chinese publisher brought this out on his 140th birth anniversary. It costs 890 Yuan, which is equivalent to Rs 6,000-plus.”

The first Chinese consul-general in Calcutta since 1962, who ends his tenure in the city this month, claims that among all languages outside India his mother-tongue has done the most for popularising Tagore.

“Every educated Chinese knows of Tagore. Last May, the Indian President unveiled his bust in Shanghai.”

Siwei himself has done his bit too. His brainchild is a China gallery in Rabindra Bharati University. “Three years ago, when the foreign minister of China was due here to open the consulate, he wanted to see Tagore House. When I went there to make the arrangements, I saw the Japan gallery and suggested to the vice-chancellor that there be one on Tagore’s link with China too. His visit in 1924 is important in our cultural history.”

Full report here Telegraph 

Restoring pieces of history - Adi Granth to Tagore portrait

A portrait of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore dating back to the early 1940s had become dull and lifeless. The colours had faded with cracks and stains visible on the surface. But the canvas has got a new lease of life.

This has been made possible by the Indian Conservation Institute-Lucknow (ICI-L), which claims to be the largest centre for restoration of manuscripts and tomes in India.

The ICI-L received the 61 cm by 75 cm oil painting in a shabby condition from a private collector. Beginning with its photographic documentation, the technical staff cleaned the painting with a soft brush using a solvent to undo the yellowing effect of varnish over the portrait.

Further, the paint layer was consolidated with the help of heat seal adhesive. All the cracks were filled up carefully. A protective layer of varnish was applied over the portrait, restoring it to its original glory. Even the name of the painter and its commissioning date Oct 2, 1944, became clearly visible.

Full report here Sify

SAGE India's foray into Oriental publishing

India was the country of honour at the recently concluded Beijing International Book Fair, SAGE India also participated in the fair and had a stall in the Indian pavilion.

Vivek Mehra, MD & CEO SAGE India met He Yan, President, Central Compilation & Translation Press, China at the fair and signed a MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) to publish Indian management books in Chinese and original scholarly works by Chinese scholars into English. The Central Compilation & Translation Press is a wing of the Central Compilation & Translation Bureau, the highest authority in China when it comes to certifying translation from any global language into Chinese and whenever Chinese works are published abroad. Mr He, a highly respected figure is also a member of the Upper House of the Chinese Parliament

As part of this landmark agreement SAGE India will publish (in English with world rights) a recently published bi-lingual edition of 'Tagore and China' by Prof Tan Chung a leading China scholar, currently living in Chicago. Prof Tan has lived in India for many years and taught at the Jawaharlal National University. His father was also a scholar who was brought to India (specifically to Shanti Niketan) by none other than the legendary Rabindranath Tagore. In China this book is published by the Central Compilation & Translation Press. The book is a fantastic scholarly work which includes an original essay by Amartya Sen. We hope to bring this book out in May 2011 to coincide with Tagore's 150th birth anniversary.

This is a landmark moment in the history of SAGE India as we add another dimension to our language publishing programme and begin our Oriental sojourn

Full report here Afaqs

Tagore festival from Sept 24-Oct 3 in LA

The 150th birth anniversary of the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore will be celebrated on a large scale week-long festival from September 24 to October 3, 2010. The festivities will feature photographic exhibition, screenings of films based on Tagore’s literary output, Gandhi and Tagore conference to assess Tagore’s contemporary global relevance, Rabindranath’s Gitanjali, songs by Rabindrasangeet singers, Chandalika dance drama, and Gujarati celebration of Tagore’s Legacy on different days, different time and at different venues.

The festival is being organized by Nalanda International founded by Navin Doshi, businessman, author and philanthropist, and Debashish Banerji, Dean, Nalanda University of Philosophical Research. The festival will explore the contemporary relevance of Tagore and celebrate his wide-ranging and profound contribution to humanity. The Institutional co-sponsors of the festival are UCLA Department of Engineering, Loyola Marymount University, Doshi Professorship, Shah Foundation established by Rashmi Shah, and CSU Long Beach Yadunandan Center founded by UKA Solanki.

Film directors, speakers, dancers, singers and other performers are specially coming from India to take part in the festival. The festival will open on September 24 evening 7pm with photographic exhibition at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles by Padamshri art historian Dr. Praapditya Pal.

Full report here India Journal