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City commemorates 100 years of Tagore’s visit

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Call to rename temporary Assembly building as Rabindra Bhawan

SHILLONG: Shillong on Friday commemorated the arrival of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore at Rilbong Brookside cottage hundred years ago.
It was on October 11, 1919 that Tagore landed in Rilbong for a sojourn and stayed at the cottage for 20 days before proceeding to Sylhet.
People paid floral tributes to Tagore’s statue in front of the cottage. Prayers and songs from dawn to dusk were added attractions.
Artistes dressed as Tagore and his family members re-enacted the bard’s first footfall as they entered the Brookside premises; ‘Tagore’ even stopped and looked at his statue before moving inside the cottage along with his ‘family.’
At a programme organised by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in collaboration with state Arts and Culture department in the evening on ‘100 years of Tagore’s first footfall in Shillong’, a hundred singers sang Rabindra Sangeet paying eloquent tribute to the poet.
Speaking on the occasion, former minister Manas Chaudhuri suggested naming the auditorium, which houses the temporary Assembly, on the Brookside cottage premises as Rabindra Bhawan once the permanent Assembly building comes up at Mawdiangdiang.
He also wanted more translations of the classic works of Tagore in Khasi language.
According to Chaudhuri, historians should throw more light on why Tagore chose to come to Shillong instead of Darjeeling.
Chaudhuri said Tagore modernised the rigid Bengali language.
“In Khasi Hills, he is very little known and hence the ICCR can take up the task of translating Tagore’s classic works into Khasi,” he said.
“The lure of Shillong was profound. Tagore wanted to get away from the disturbances during that period. He renounced knighthood after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre,” Chaudhuri said.
He termed Tagore as a patriot rather than a nationalist in the context of the raging controversy over nationalism versus patriotism.
“Tagore was against nationalism and his contribution to modern India is noteworthy. He renounced knighthood after 1536 people died in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and it proved that he was a patriot,” Chaudhuri reiterated.
Chaudhuri said the present Brookside complex was earlier used by the Intelligence Bureau and when there was a plan to sell the plots, the then joint director of IB, AK Samanta, thought it should not go into wrong hands and PA Sangma was also instrumental in retaining the place.
Stating that then President Pratibha Patil had gone to China to inaugurate a statute of Tagore, Chaudhuri said, “When I was MLA, I had raised the issue of installing a statue and the then chief minister Mukul Sangma agreed to the suggestion and the Arts and Culture department installed the statue. The credit should go to the government”.
Former Vice Chancellor of Assam University and historian JB Bhattacharjee recalled the contribution of Tagore towards the North East.
“He visited Shillong and the rest of the North East. Tagore glorified Shillong and he came to the hills after he voiced his protest against Jallianwala Bagh massacre as he was disturbed by the incident,” he said.
According to Bhattacharjee, Tagore was the first internationalist and he was instrumental in the marriage of the East and the West.
After leaving Shillong, during his Sylhet visit, he was attracted by Manipuri dance and he took a Manipuri teacher to Shantiniketan, he said.
“Tagore impacted North East. He is one of our own. Tagore has the most translated works in English,” Bhattacharya said.
Tagore scholar Usharanjan Bhattacharya, who was the guest speaker, said that Tagore found Shillong more charming than Darjeeling.
Earlier, city-based writer Uma Purkayastha introduced Bhattacharya.
“The poet stayed for 20 days at Brookside overlooking the legendary Umshyrpi. The bungalow was owned by Kiran Chandra Dey, who was from Chittagong district. He was a divisional commissioner under British government,” he said.
Shillong inspired Tagore and it is reflected in his works, Bhattacharya said, adding Tagore visited Shillong on three occasions while the plan for two more visits did not materialise.
During his second arrival in 1923, he stayed at Jitbhumi bungalow in Rilbong and during his last visit in 1927, he preferred to stay in the rented house of an Italian, Delane Gerade, at Upland road which was later renamed as Sidli House in 1948.
He said during his stay in Shillong, Tagore wrote a good number of letters and famous poems.
“Two manuscripts of his epoch making drama Red Oleanders were written in Jitbhumi. It is interesting to note that the two Kohinoor Exercise books obtained from Kamala Agency, Police Bazar were used for the purpose. Those manuscripts in the exercise book form are preserved in Viswa Bharati archives,” he said.
The ICCR director, Munish Singh, also spoke on the occasion,
Earlier in the day, the Rilbong Sports and Cultural Club and other residents of Rilbong paid floral tributes to the statue of Tagore at the Brookside cottage.

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