Gandhiji went to Santiniketan along with his wife Kasturba on 17th Feb, evening. The details of their visit were described by a students, Prafulla Chandra Choudhury, in his article "Arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Gandhi at Bolpur" and Sudhakanta Roychoudhury in "Asrame Sreeyukta Mohanchand Karamchand Gandhi O tar Sahadharmani" . But Rabindranath was not present on the occasion as he was in Calcutta. He wrote to Andrews 0n 18th Feb.; "I hope Mr. and Mrs. Gandhi have arrived in Bolpur, and Santiniketan has accorded them such a welcome as befits her and them.I shall convey my love personally to them when we meet."
Gandhiji could not stay because he went to Pune at the news of sudden death of Gopal Krishna Gokhale on 19th Feb.
Rabindranath came to Santiniketan on 22 Feb and wrote Gandhiji a letter. This was the first time that Rabindranath wrote a letter to Gandhiji;
" Dear Mr.Gandhi,
That you could think of my school as the right and the likely place where your Phoenix boys could take shelter when they are in India has given me great pleasure -- and that pleasure has been greatly enhanced when I saw those dear boys in that place . We all feed that their influence will be great value to our boys and I hope that they in their turn will gain something which will make their stay in Santiniketan fruitful. I write this letter to thank you for allowing your boys to become our boys as well and thus form a living link in the Sadhana of both of our lives./Very Sincerely yours."
Having learnt the death news of Gokhale Gandhiji went to Pune on 20th Feb. he again came to Santiniketan on 6th march. This time he first met Rabindranath. 
Gandhiji wrote in his diary on 8th Mar, "Gurudev left for Calcutta. Had a talk with Andrews about his conduct." Gandhiji left for Calcutta en route to Rangoon. Gandhiji wrote;" I am habituated to be mixed up with the teachers and the students . I went there and discussed with them about self-reliance.If the students and the teachers cook their food by themselves instead of the paid cooks, It is much better, if it maintains the health of your stomach, is controlled by the teachers and the students become self-sufficient and get the lesson of cooking their own food. I said the teachers about this. Some of them nodded their heads . Some appreciated the experiment." On enquiry about the opinion of Rabindranath, he opined if the teachers would agree to this, he should be glad and said to the students, "this is the way to Swaraj ".
Practice of one's self-energy was the basis of social reform of Rabindranath.
