A tribute to Rabindranath Tagore on his 150th Birth Anniversary

"Klanti amar khôma kôro, probhu  Pôthe jodi pichhie poWi kobhu  Ei je hia thôro thôro kãpe aji êmontôro,  Ei bedona khôma kôro, khôma kôro probhu. "   Bengali poet, novelist, educator, and an early advocate for Indian Freedom Struggle, well he is none other than Rabindranath Tagore, one of the greatest writer in modern India. Born at Jorasanko thakurbari to parents Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi Tagore took his early education first from tutors and then at a variety of schools. His first composition was 'Jol porey pata norey'. This born poet won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for his book 'Geetanjali'. Two years later Tagore was awarded the knighthood, but he surrendered it in 1919 after the Jalianwala Bagh Massacre as a mark of protest. Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms. He set up Shantiniketan on the outskirts of Kolkata . His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to political and personal topics. Gitanjali, Gora and Ghare-Baire are his best-known works and his verse, short stories and novels were acclaimed for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and contemplation. Tagore was perhaps the only litterateur who penned anthems for two countries: Bangladesh and India: Amar Shonar Bangla and Jana Gana Mana. Tagore once said, "Whatever fate may be in store for my poems, stories and plays, I know for certain that the Bengali race will need my songs, they will sing my songs at every Bengali home, in the fields and by the rivers, I feel as if music wells up from within some unconscious depth of my mind, that is why it has certain completeness." Tagore's influence over Gandhi and the founders of modern India was enormous, but his reputation in the West as a mystic has perhaps mislead his Western readers to ignore his role as a reformer and critic of colonialism.   On 9th of May as India celebrates his 150th birth anniversary, the Government of India has constituted a National Committee under the chairmanship of Prime Minister of India for commemorating the 150th anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. A smaller National Implementation Committee, headed by Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister has also been set up to work out the operational details, and it has held its first meeting on 5th May, 2010. Rabindra Jayanti will also be celebrated in Assam and its various parts to mark his birth anniversary with various cultural programmes. The Department of Cultural affairs, Assam in association with Greater Guwahati Rabindra Jayanti Utjapan Comitee under supervision of Excise Minister Gautam Roy has organised a cultural programme at Rabindra Bhawan, Guwahati on 9th May. Apart from that Rabindra Jayanti will be celebrated in Pandu area of Guwahati with a day long programme, while functions have been organised in Silchar,Tezpur and Dhubri along with the rest of the country.