Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Rabindranath was black listed and Rathindranath at Selaidah

To overcome the effect of disaster was one of the items of Rabindranath's regular practice and he extended his arms to those who had  similar way of life. But he had to hesitate to go to the house of Krishnakumar where Arabindo lived before his escape which was known to him. 
The Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Special Branch, F.C Daly, in his Circular No.6,  dated 27 July, 1909, informed all the Police Superindendants and to the Calcutta Police Commissioner  the names of 22 black listed persons and asked to keep close watch on their movements. Rabindranath was among the 22 persons.
At this time Prof. Morgan Brooks (1861-1955) of the Dept. of Electrical Engineering of Elinois University and his wife had come to India for a tour. They also visited Jorasanko to meet Rabindranath. He wrote Nagendranath on 14th March,
" Your Prof. Brook had come here with his family. We were  very much pleased to have interactions with them. Mrs. Brook asked me to allow Mira to live with them if she would come to America. We were thinking casually to send Mira to America (her husband Nagendra was staying in America at that time). but we had to drop the idea after getting the information from Nagendra that an American lady, Miss. Bourdett might be available as a companion with Pratima, who might teach Pratima and Mira good English. " Rabindranath asked Nagendra in that letter to enquire about the remuneration she expected for this job.
It is to be mentioned here that after going to Urbanay Rabindranath remained as a  guest of Mr.Brook  on 1 Nov, 1912.  
Rabindranath went to Selaidah along with Rathindranath on 8 March, 1910 and came back on 19 March . Practically they had little work there and   Rabindranath wrote Nagendranath  on 30 Phalgun, " I have come to Selaidah with Rathi for some work, more properly, to take rest  from work. The remaining  portion of work was finished today.It is only an excuse to remain in spring on
Padma  "
He described a long story of this spring to Ajit Kumar,