A Tribute to Rabindranath Tagore on his 150th birthday on Pachise Baishakh as per Bengali Calender, which falls on 09th May 2010, Sunday. Through various functions at Shantineketan and Kolkata, 150th Birthday of Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore will be celebrated through out the year. In the year 1961, his birth centenary was celebrated when his daughter Meera, and eldest son Rathindranath was alive . Many of his students and close associates of Gurudev were also alive then. But today, on his 150th birthday, none of his relatives are alive. 150 years have passed, many changes came in the society but the popularity of his works remains as it was 50 years back and no change is observed. I believe, in the next 150 years also, this popularity will continue.
Rabindranath Tagore is the first Asian person to be awarded with the Nobel prize in 1913 in literature for his book “Gitanjali” and probably the most prominent personality in the cultural world of Indian subcontinent. He is mainly known as a poet, but his multifaceted talent showered upon different branches of art, such as, Poetry, novels, short stories, articles dramas, essays, painting etc. He was a social reformer, patriot and above all, a great humanitarian and philosopher. To understand his multifaceted talent, his works, one has to do research work on him. It is amazing the way he has written so much in his life time.
Bangla culture, especially music of Bengal (India) and Bangladesh too has been greatly influenced by Rabindranath Tagore – by his thousands of songs and poetries. The songs known as Rabindrasangeet is still popular. The songs of Tagore have an eternal appeal and is permanently placed in the heart of the Bengalis. In Bengal its like a rituals in their lives that in every house children learn and practice Rabindrasangeet.
Amartya Sen in his book “Tagore and His India” says : “Rabindranath is a towering figure in the millennium-old literature of Bengal. Anyone who becomes familiar with this large and flourishing tradition will be impressed by the power of Tagore’s presence in Bangladesh and in India. His poetry as well as his novels, short stories, and essays are very widely read, and the songs he composed reverberate around the eastern part of India and throughout Bangladesh.”
