Sunday, 9 May 2010

Tagore's 150th Birth Anniversary

Today is 'Pochishe Boishakh', Tagore's 150th Birth Anniversary. Like thousands of Tagore loving Bengalis I woke up with a feeling of celebration. But the spirit of celebration drowned within moments as I found myself to be the only one to feel that way. I live in Mumbai, hence finding too many Bengalis around me is not a possibility, but the ones I know are too 'modern' or maybe indifferent to know about Tagore. To them, he was just a great poet and artist.

The past 3 months I have been regularly searching the internet to find any program or event to mark this day in Mumbai; I found none. Today's newspaper has extensive writings on Mother's Day, and how celebrities celebrate mother's day, but there is not a mention of Tagore.

The whole day has gone by and my only connection with Bengali and Tagore has been courtesy 2 Bengali channels, 24 Ghanta and Star Ananda.

Is Tagore only for Bengalis? This has been a question on my mind for a long time, but after today, my question is, are the Bengalis forgetting Tagore?

No comments: