Hellen Keller was a highly intelligent lady. She became very glad to meet Rabindranath Tagore. She read Rabindranath's Gitanjali and Gardener. Rabindranath too read the poem "Khanchar Pakhi Chilo" and some other poems. Hellen Keller touched Rabindranath's lips throats felt music of sound coming out of his heart. She was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. She said; "the caged bird does not have imaginative power, but he feels what is freedom." She wanted to know the meanings of the terms "God, Light, love" from Rabindranath Tagore and got them into her memory. Rabindranath also sung the song " Ami Chino go chini Tomare'. Hellen was loved India and did not want for long time for freedom. She could not wait much as there was a good number of visitors outside. Hellen had offered her book "The world I love In (1908)" to Rabindranath as a gift in which she wrote a line from "Gardener", " I forget, ever forget, that the gates are shut everywhere I dwell alone". The book is now kept in Rabindra Bhavan.Hellen wrote this meeting with Rabindranath in her book, Midstream / My later life [1930];
" When Rabindranath Tagore visited America, he came out to see me, accompanied by a large number friends and admirers. He was tall and stately.His long grey hair and beard mingling together gave him the appearance of an ancient prophet. serene, gracious, he saluted me in a monotone, almost like a prayer. I told him I was pleased to meet him because I had his poems and I knew that he loved humanity. " I shall have cause for rejoicing," he said gently , " if my writings reflected my love of man ....The world is waiting for men who love god and their fellow creatures and not themselves,
After the Stately One had seated himself in the centre of a circle of friendly and reverend listeners, he talked of poetry, of India and China, and and the power of the spirit that alone can bring freedom. He spoke sadly of war clouds hovering over the world. " The West is trying to thrust opium down the throat of China, and non-compliance by the Chinese means taking possessions of their country, and Asia doth prepare weapons in her armories, and her target is to be the heart of Europe, and nests are being built on the shores of Pacific for the vultureships of England . Japan the farthest east , is already awake. China will rouse herself when the robbers break through her walls... Yet love of self can have no other destination than self-destruction. Love of God is our only fulfillment . It has in it the ultimate solution of all problems and all difficulties." The other subjects she had discussions with Rabindranath were published in Journal.
Hellen said to the Poet, " Sometimes I became astonished why India could not earn freedom."
A prolific author, Keller was well-traveled, and was outspoken in her anti-war convictions. A member of the Socialist Party of America and the Industrial Workers of the World, she campaigned for women's suffrage, labor rights, socialism, and other radical left causes. She was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1971
