A visit to the Tagores'..

Dec 31st, 2008. My connecting train to chennai is at 2:50 pm which left me with around 6 hours of free time. I bought a Kolkata Guide map for Rs. 25 at the Howrah Station and went on scannig for the places which could be seen in the given span of time. One name that i finally settled on was Rabindra Bharati University which also houses Rabindra Museum. And so i started for it.


The place is also known as Thakurbari in the local lingua. The building that has currently been converted into the University was once the house of Tagore Family. One look at the family chart of the Tagores' and you would understand why a house of that size was needed for a family. It was the place where the Master poet Rabindranath Thakur spent his childhood and breathed his last.


It can be reached from the Howrah station by State transport Buses or Taxis. I chose the Taxi mode so as to save maximum amount of time. It cost me Rs 70....fare enough! As you enter the gullies that leads to the university, the local Kolkatan charm oozes out from every corner of the street. Vendors frying pakodas and filtering out those Rosogullas from the Kadhai, the early morning prayers and sacred chantings from the temples, trams moving swiftly in and out of the street...India gets busy in those streets early morning !


I reached there before time as the house cum museum would open at 10:30 a.m. So i spent the time chatting with the caretakers and getting to know more about the place. The University is large and beautifully constructed. Sprawling lawns and greenery everywhere, it looked an ideal place for learning.


Finally the museum opened and i was the proud first visitor of the place. The ticket costs Rs. 10 and you cannot take any electronic device inside the premises. The whole house is divided into 3 phases. I liked Phase-I the most. Phase-II and Phase-III were actually galleries which consisted of beautiful and famous paintings and sketches of Rabindranath himself, his brother Abanindranath and other members of his family. Phase-III also had pictures of various international visits and legendary figures meeting Tagore.


Its only when you see the place you realise how simple and a traditional Indian home Rabindra Bhavan is ! No doubt the family was an affluent one in those times, still the same simplicity and charm adorns every traditional indian home no matter how rich or poor. There were a few poems hanging on the walls of some of the rooms, written by Tagore on original manuscripts. I managed to note down a few of them after borrwing a piece of paper and a pen from the guard nearby.

This particular poem hangs in his living room:

Your creation's path you have covered

With a varied net of miles

Thou Guiliful one

False belief's snare you have

Laid with skilful hands

In simple lives

With this deceit have you left a mark

On greatness;

For him kept no secret night

The path that is shown to him by your star

is the Path of his own heart

Ever lucid

Which his simple faith

Makes eternally shine

Crooked outside yet it is

Straight within

In this is his pride

Futile he is called by men

Truth he wins

In his inner heart washed

with his own light

nothing can deceive him

The last reward he carries

To his treasure house

He who has easefully borne your wile

Gets from your hands

The unwasting right to peace.

Another one from the room where he took his last breathe.

When I leave from home let this be my parting word

that what i have seen is unsurpassable.

I have tasted of the hidden honey of this lotus yonder

that expands on the ocean of light,

and thus i am blessed

Let this be my parting word

In this playhouse of infinite forms i have had my play

and here have i caught sight of him that eludes all forms

All my living body and limbs have thrilled with his touch

who is beyond touch

and if the end came

here let it come

Let this be my parting word.

The watch hands showed 2 pm and my train was to whistle off in an hour. I started off with the vivid images and the sweet Rabindra sangeet still floating in my mind.