Social relevance of Tagore
Masum Billah is all praise for a new work on the Bard,
Books on Rabindranath have attracted me since I was in school. The book under review, with Tagore's sketch and the catchy title (Rabindranath and Today's Relevance), has drawn my attention. I could not resist my temptation to go through it to understand the message coming out of it. The book contains eight chapters related to various aspects in the Tagore persona. We practise Tagore'smessage, indeed his ethos, in different aspects of our national life within the ambience of broad Bengali literature. As Tagore touched upon all branches of literature, it is difficult to discover a full Tagore within this little ambit. The book has tried to deal with different dimensions of Tagore literature and the writer has principally tried to focus on the issue of how relevant these are in these present times ---Tagore's position on films, his thoughts on diverse social issues which he revealed at Santiniketan on different occasions. Most importantly, women's love and discussion of family life and philanthropic endeavours and ideas have been depicted here. Multifarious writings have appeared where critics, researchers and writers have explained Tagore from different angles. The author of this book studied at Santiniketan and thus has felt quite a different emotion which manifests itself in this book. In the history of India, Rabindranath Tagore is a giant in every sense of the term. Truth be told, a versatile genius like him is rare in the world. It was Tagore who said, 'If there is no relation between earth, water, air and light and body, education does not become perfect.' He emphasizes the education of the mind, which gains perfection when it comes into contact with these significant elements of life. Again, he claimed the mother tongue to be the mode of education which runs parallel with present-day thinking. Emphasis on female education, mass education and how these can redound to the benefit of society were Tagore's thoughts. Today's world, with its politics and its decision makers' plans to develop villages, disseminate women's education and mass education, has striking similarities with the thoughts and visions of Tagore. Today's Open University idea and plan were conceived by him. Agriculture, industry and the various problems of social life were practically dealt with by Tagore. Rural economic development and agricultural development were given real shape through the engine of his thoughts and imagination. Freedom for him is a way of going forward. He inaugurated an agriculture bank thinking of the rural poor and arranged agricultural loans for them. These facts are not well known to many; and many others remain far removed from the fact that Tagore developed and introduced these modern things a hundred years ago. Use of modern technology and high-yielding crop varieties was practically demonstrated by Tagore. Cooperative health development and rural organizations were established by him. Today's efforts to develop villages were thought of by him a century ago. Author-researcher Uttam Kumar Roy deserves appreciation from the readers as he has tried to reveal these facts before them. Mechanical administration in Europe and America and capitalism get reflected in Tagore's essays, plays and other literary works in various ways. Roy has tried to bring in some examples in this collection. He also tries to make the reader familiar with the striking themes of some of the creations of Tagore such as 'Muktadhara,' which places emphasis on statehood, 'Raktakarabi' which talks about multi devouring, mal-capitalism and capitalist society. Our present social fabric witnesses the same imbalance which Tagore tried to remove through sensitizing society to the need for change and innovation. The period from 1912-1932 in Bengali cinema is known as the Modern Age. During this period the centers of amusement and entertainment for people were 'Rangalya.' Spectators addicted to theatre were influenced into moving toward cinema through Madan Company, which came forward with the popular drama 'Bisharjan' in 1920. Tagore got involved in turning cinema into a source of learning as well as a commercial entity. To develop the play 'Bisharjan' into a film, Tagore in 1920 requested Dhirendranath Chatterjee, principal of Madan Company Art College, to take the necessary steps. But since the college could not manage a 'heroine' for the movies, the dream fizzled out. In his story 'Two Sisters', Tagore shows women as being of two kinds --- as mother and as lover. Humanity is the real power of the soul. Thus Anandamoyee notes the essential truth about people but also acknowledges how human beings quarrel over such truths as race and religion. God has made Gora understand the human soul, which transcends any race or religion. God Himself participates here and allows all to participate. The absence of hatred for any religion in 'Gora' has made it non-communal. Gora does not have any conflict with Hindus, Muslims or Christians. Some folk culture experts believe culture is the 'collective rituals' of a society. A festival may also be a culture which is especially centred on public religious observances. Festivals probably spring from early communal feasts and their attendant sacrifices. They are social in nature and symbolic of the feeling of a whole community. The festivals and fairs observed in rural Bangladesh are largely traditional and ancient. Tagore was deeply attracted to them. The editorial aspect of Tagore's life is important. In his mature age he worked as editor for Sathan, Nabaparjai, Bangadarshan Bhandar and Tatobodhini. Through his initiative emerged the famous Sahona newspaper. It was the dearest and most important newspaper in his life. It contributed enormously to Bengali literature as Tagore enriched it with his numerous writings. In his long writing career, Tagore spent a considerable amount of time on short stories which were to receive global acclaim. He introduced numerous characters in his short stories. Among them women characters with peculiar behaviour, their love and family problems, love of married women, widowers' love, love among unequally aged actors and actresses, social and religious love and marriage serve as the themes of his short stories. Roy throws light on these in all his meticulous manner and, certainly, brilliance.
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