"Dr. Sir Rabindranath Tagore accompanied by Mr. C.F.Andrews, and son-in-law Mr. Ganguli reached Palghat Yesterday [ 7 feb] morning by mail from Coimbatore. The members of the reception Committee, led by Messrs. I.A.Subbaramiar, High Court Vikil amd mr. K. Kunhikattan Thampan and others received the distinguished party at the Olavakot Junction and escorted them to Palghat. On alighting from the train Sir Rabindranath was given a great ovation amidst cries of Vande Mataram. The National Indian Boysscouts under Dr. A. Govinda Menon, the president of the Palghat troop, presented a Guard of Honour."
In the afternoon on that day he was greeted by Pentland Gardens at 5.30 pm. Entry fees were charged a@ Rs. 3,2 & 1 to enter the hall. Still the hall was completely filled up.Sree Subhramanier offered him a written felicitation, written on green silken and printed by Calicut Vidyalasam Press which was within a box made up of Sandel Wood with ivory fitting by the art School of Tribandram. After short welcome address, rabindranath 'gave a most thrilling address on " The Message of the Forest". and kept the large audience spell-bound for nearly half an hour. On behalf of the residents Rs.1008/- was gifted to Rabindranath for Santiniketan.
On the next day 8th Feb in the morning Andrews fetched Rabindranath to the Banol Mission Hall to receive the greetings of the students of Palghat. The paper New India wrote in its editorial in reply to the address of Rabindranath Tagore;
" He addresses public bodies in his mother tongue generally and not least in the English language...It was difficult to get mastery of a foreign language. He was not in the habit of standing and speaking because that
was not natural with them. It was natural to sit down and not really to think while standing. His message, they would find out in almost in all his writings. He had great love for students always and wished to be among themselves in the same level with them, and not seated on a platform. That was their fault. Had they given him a seat among them he would have spoken all that was best in him and all that he had in his hearts. But in that situation he felt separated from them and that was more than an excuse with him for not saying much.However, he would express his gratitude in a formal manner and as they were waiting for another lecture, he would not take much of their time and therefore resume his seat."
Andrews delivered a lecture on the development of history of Santiniketan and its speciality.
Rabindranath then went to visit the Sanskrit Girl School at Kalpathi. ( Kalpathi or Kalpathy also known as Dakshin Kasi or the 'Varanasi of the South is an early Tamil Brahmin settlement (agraharam) in the Palakkad District of Kerala state, south India. Kalpathi is very famous for Kalpathi Ratholsavam, Temple car festival held annually at the Sri Visalakshi Sametha Sri Viswanatha Swamy temple where the deity is Lord Siva (Lord Viswanatha). Kalpathy is located 3 km from Palakkad town and consists of Old Kalpathy and New Kalpathy )
