Best gift so far received from my readers

philippe falisse	31 Mar
to me

Dear Mr. Samadder,

I was delighted meeting you and your wife some days ago.
Thanks a lot for your help. I bought the 2 first volumes of "Rabijibani" by Prasantha Kumar Pal.
The books gave so many details about the Jorasanko's Thakur bari and about Rabindranath's
life that I would have liked to buy all the 9 volumes....Unfortunately, there was no more place
in our suitcases and bags!!!

Thank you for the tea and the "Chire baja"....

We came back yesterday in Belgium where it is still very cold (2°). The sun seems to be anaemic!

With my warmest regards,

Philippe Falisse

N.B. By the way, I have been asked to participate in an International Conference on Tagore
in May. This is organised by the ICWA and it is scheduled for 9,10 May.

Mr. Philippe Falisse one day in March, 2013, came to my place after many correspondence through electronic medium, met us, talked with us in Bengali as he was a learner for three years in Santiniketan, saw my small library and my work shop , is the best gift so far I received in writing SMARAKA GERANTHA. 

Last year in Tagore's life - 1941

Rabindranath came to Calcutta from Santiniketan on 17th Sept 1940 being  seriously ill. and went to Kalimpong on 19th Sept violating Doctor's advice. He became seriously ill thetre on 26th Sept. Getting the news of his illness Doctors hurried to the spot but could not make him fit. He was again brought to Calcutta on 29th Sept. From 29th sept to 29 th Nov , for two months, he was under treatment. On 29th Nov he again came to Santiniketan. This time he began narrating poems orally which one had to take down.He narrated " Dada haba chila bisham shakh". . 25 th July 1941 he laft Santiniketan for ever and came to calcutta for treatment.
On 30 th July he narrated his last poem "Sesh Lekha" which was taken down by A.K.Sen, brother of first Chief Election Commissioner (Sukumar Sen (1899–1961) was an Indian civil servant who was the first Chief Election Commissioner of India, serving from 21 March 1950 to 19 December 1958.^[1] Under his leadership, the Election Commissionsuccessfully administered and oversaw independent India's first two general elections, in 1951–52 and in 1957. He also served as first Chief Election Commissioner in Sudan.
Sen was the older brother of the more famousAshoke Kumar Sen (1913–1996), Union Law Minister and a noted Indian barrister. Another brother was Amiya Kumar Sen, an eminent doctor, who was the last man to seeRabindranath Tagore alive.), prior to his operation.. He used to tell poems verbally.On the
The Government of Tripura sent a messenger to offer him a title of "Bharat Bhaskar" on 13th May 1941..

Rail coach used by Rabindranath Tagore 

২৫ জুলাই ১৯৪১, রবীন্দ্রনাথ শেষবারের মতো শান্তিনিকেতন ছেড়ে চলে গেলেন। ইস্ট ইন্ডিয়ান রেল তাঁর জন্য একটি বিশেষ রেল কোচের ব্.

Tagore's remit expanded to science in his last years, as hinted in Visva-Parichay, 1937 collection of essays. His respect for scientific laws and his exploration of biology, physics, and astronomy informed his poetry, which exhibited extensive naturalism and verisimilitude. He wrote the process of science, the narratives of scientists, into stories in Se (1937), Tin Sangi (1940), and Galpasalpa (1941). His last five years were marked by chronic pain and two long periods of illness. These began when Tagore lost consciousness in late 1937; he remained comatose and near death for a time. This was followed in late 1940 by a similar spell. He never recovered. Poetry from these valetudinary years is among his finest.A period of prolonged agony ended with Tagore's death on 7 August 1941, aged eighty;and 3months he was in an upstairs room of the Jorasanko mansion he was raised in. The date is still mourned. 

I'm lost in the middle of my birthday. I want my friends, their touch, with the earth's last love. I will take life's final offering, I will take the human's last blessing. Today my sack is empty. I have given completely whatever I had to give. In return if I receive anything—some love, some forgiveness—then I will take it with me when I step on the boat that crosses to the festival of the wordless end. But the operation couldn't make his survive. He died on 7th Aug 1941.At the time of his death he was 80 yrs and 3 months of age.

(The Last Photograph of Rabindranath Tagore

May 8, 2012 at 6:53 am (Uncategorized)

Dear Friends,

On the occasion of the 151th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, we are publishing, as a mark of tribute, a very rare photograph of his. This photograph, in fact, is his last photograph and it was taken while he was being brought to Kolkata from ‘Santiniketan’ in July 1941, that is, a few weeks before his demise in August 1941.

With warm regards,

Anurag Banerjee

Founder,

Overman Foundation)

Gandhiji in Santiniketan, last visit - 1940

Gandhiji came to Santiniketan  for the last time with his wife,  on 6 February, 1940. Gandhiji was greeted in the Amrakunja . Next day he visited Santiniketan. Rabindranath requested Gandhiji to take over the charge of Viswabharati while he was leaving Santiniketan on 19th february, 1940.
Rabindranath inaugurated the Telephone in his office at Santiniketan on 24th July, 1940.
Oxford University awarded Honourary Doctorate degree to Rabindranath Tagore on 7 Aug 1940.
Rabindranath came to Calcutta for treatment on 17th Sept 1940, and was advised to take rest. But he went to Kalimpong  on 19th Sept..
He became seriously ill in Kalimpong. Having learnt his illness the Doctors hurriedly went to the spot and he was taken to Calcutta. He remained confined to bed for two months. But wrote a poem "Rogasajhya".
He came to Santiniketan when he used to utter Rhymes (Chara) orally.   The eight months he stayed in Santiniketan totally bedridden.He didnot take any nursing from any person so far but now he was under the care of two nurses.
Even in his illness he used to say poetry orally.
  

Subhas Chandra Basu in Santiniketan and grand daughter Nandini got married.- 1939

Subhas Chandra Basu, Congress President, came to Santiniketan on  21st January, 1939. He was greeted both in Bolpur and in Santiniketan. Jawaharlal Nehru opened the Hindi Bhavan in Santiniketan. Subhas Chandra again came to Santiniketan when Jawaharlal Nehru was also in
 Santiniketan. Both of them discussed separately with Rabindranath.
In the month of February Babu Rajendra Prasad and Lord Bishop Metropolitan from Calcutta came to

Santiniketan.
Rabindranath congratulaed Subhas Chandra by wire informing him about his correct attitude of keeping his dignity and forbearance against the ill treatment of the then Congress Leader.
rabindranath was invited by Subhas Cghandra Basu to lay the Foundation Stone of Mahajati Sadan in Calcutta which was accepted by him and the job was performed.
 The first volume of the Collected works of Rabindranath along with his introductory notes was published on 11 nov 1939.
On Dec 20, he sent a telegram to Gandhiji about Subhas Chandra Basu.
The grand daughter Nandini (adopted by Rathindranath) was married on 30th Dec 1939. 

"Chandalika" and Maitrayee Devi and Rabindranath's paintings exhibition opened in London- 1938

Rabindranath came to Calcutta for his treatment. At the same time a team from Santiniketan also came to Calcutta for stage performance of Chandalika. Chandalika was staged in Chaya Cinema hall. Rabindranath was advised not to go to the hall. But ignoring Doctor's advice he went there.
Though Chandalika was first staged in Santiniketan in Dolutsab (Basanta Utsab).
Rabindranath came to Kalimpang this time in summer  vacation. A recitation done by Rabindranath was broadcasted from Radio in Kalimpang. Then he went to Mangpu at the invitation of  Maitreyee Devi. he stayed there for about a month in June.
This time Sarbapalli Radhakrishnan, Dr. Meghnad Saha, Lady Anne Hope, wife of Governor Lord Linlithgo,  and her daughter visited Santiniketan..

 Maitreyi Devi (or Maitreyī Devī) (September 1, 1914 – January 29, 1989) was a Bengali-born Indian poet and novelist, the daughter of philosopher Surendranath Dasgupta and protegé of poet Rabindranath Tagore. She was the founder of the Council for the Promotion of Communal Harmony in 1964, and vice-president of the All-India Women’s Coordinating Council. Her first book of verse appeared when she was sixteen, with a preface by Rabindranath Tagore. She wrote Rabindranath--the man behind his poetry.She was the basis for the main character in Romanian-born writer Mircea Eliade's 1933 novel Bengal Nights. In her Na Hanyate novel, written as a response to Bengal Nights, Maitreyi Devi denied claims of a sexual affair between her and Eliade during the latter's sojourn in British India.
Havel Hall in Kalabhavan in Santiniketan was opened and the Poet delivered a lecture on this occasion .
Lord Jetland opened a painting exhibition of Rabindranath in London.

Rabindranath went to Patisar, his Zamindari Estate for the last time.

Rabindranath as a Jamindar ( Holder of an Estate )

When Annada Shankar Roy was the District Magistrate of Rajshahi District in pre-independence Bengal, he visited PATISAR, the Jamindari-estate of Rabindranath Tagore. The Silaidaha Jamindari was by then divided among the siblings of Maharshi Debendranath. Rabindranath inherited the Patisar estate, where as Satyendranath Togore sold the debt ridden Silaidaha estate to the Roys of Bhagyakul.

The Patisar estate by then a financially weak entity, the jute business, the main revenue generator, was on the decline. Rabindranath himself ceased to visit Patisar regularly, infact he was last present there almost a decade back, he was  too busy in setting up his unique educational institute in Santiniketan. The many co-operative banks Rabindranath set up to offer loans at cheap rates to cultivators were almost defunct - the borrowers did not pay back. The several welfare funds, through which schools and hospitals were oce run without any Government ( i.e British ) help, were at severe distress then. Most of the schools and hospitals were closed. Those welfare funds were generated by 50% contribution by the Jamindar and 50% by the locals. Annadashankar met elders who were still very proud to declare that they ran schools and hospitals with their own money. With the decline in Jute-Business everything collapsed, and yet, among the many Jamindaris Annadashankar visited, Patisar was unique in the respect that there was a Jamindar named Rabindranath who actually worked hard to form co-operative banks and welfare funds for the welfare of the people of his own estate, a revolutionary thinking for any Jamindar at that time.

Once Rabindranath watched with dismay that in one of his Jamindari DURBARs Hindus were being offered chairs and benches to sit, whereas for the Muslims it was the flat ground. That was infact the age old social practice, prevalent in Maharshi Debendranaths time, and from even before that. Rabindranath simply refused to attend such a DURBAR. When his advisors pleaded to him to maintain the age old social order, Rabindranath retorted ” I dont beleive in such orders”. The age old practice was dissolved, making Rabindranath extremely popular to the Muslims.

With a failing health Rabindranath atlast decided to visit Patisar for a last time to pay homage to the people of his estate, and Annada Shankar was hastlity called to attend him. People, in huge numbers walked over miles on foot to pay homage to their Jamindar, and they followed him evetywhere. Their devotion for their Jamindar when each of them will try to touch his feet for his blessing , completely stunned Annada Shankar. He heard muslims say ” We havent seen the PAY-GAMBAR. But we have seen THAKUR-BABU”. From them Annada Shankar came to know that once Rabindranath ordered digging up a whole stretch of farm land and put in Tons of HILSA fish as fertiliser. The stench made life miserable for the villagers for months. They knew Rabindranath would not survive as a Jamindar, yet they have never seen any mortal even remotely like him. They all knew that this was the last time they are seeing Rabindranath and their eyes were moist.

Ref: "Rabindranath" by Annada Shankar Roy.

Rabindranath in Almora with his family members.

During summer vacation Rabindranath went to Almora with his family members. He took along with him sufficient numbers of Science books and some pictures drawn by Nandalal Bose. In Almora he wrote "Viswa Parichay" and Charar Chabi. he asked Prof. Pramathanath Sengupta of Santiniketan to write such a book. But ultimately, he took the responsibility in his own hands. He had to  do much labour to find some scientific terms in Bengali.  He had  discussed with others for clearing his  understanding of some topics.
Rabindranath had an idea in his mind to publish science books and to supply those books with minimum price to the ordinary people.
It was a fact that it would not have been possible for him to write such a book if Pramatha Babu did not prepare the structure of such a book.
After writing the book he dedicated it to Satyendranath Basu.
From the pictures of Nandalal Bose Rabindranath wrote some poems for the children which was converted to a book titled "Charar Chabi".
Rabindranath returned from Almora after about two months in 30th June, 1937. He went to Patisar, his zamindary state, for the last time.

Inauguration of China Bhavan in Santiniketan

China Bhavana (China Bhavana : A centre for Chinese studies. Natir Puja, a dance drama of Tagore is painted on its wall under the guidance of Nandalal Bose, pioneering Indian artist)

(The Chinese language class of Prof Tan Yun Shan at Santiniketan. V.Isvarmurti (top right hand corner) was attending a 3 year diploma in Chinese language. Prof Tan Yun Shan was a contemporary of Generalassiamo Chiang Kei Shaik and Mao Tse Thung. Prof Tan established the China Bhavan in the year 1921 and was a close colleague of Rabindranath Tagore)
China Bhavana : A centre for Chinese studies. Natir Puja, a dance drama of Tagore is painted on its wall under the guidance of Nandalal Bose, pioneering Indian artist.As the name suggests, China Bhavan is the Study centre for China, mainly aimed at fostering Indo - China relation and is located at Santiniketan. This promotes the liaison between India and China. The main aim of this study centre is the development of Indo-Sino relations and the cultural relations. This Bhavan offers many research facilities and studies on Chinese culture and societal relations. This place was regularly visited by Chinese scholars to offer their knowledge base to the students in Visvavarati..
Rabindranath went to Almorah along with all his family members.

Rabindranath in convocation of Calcutta University -1937

Rabindranath constructed a poem on the foundation day of Calcutta University. He also wrote a poem on "Africa" . Rabindranath was invited to deliver a lecture in the convocation of Calcutta University. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was the then Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University. This was the first time that a non-official person was invited in the convocation of Calcutta University. Rabindrannath himself, too, delivered his speech in Bengali on 17th february, 1937 which was also an exception .
Rabindranath went to Chandannagar by boat and delivered  a lecture in the " Banga Sahitya Sammelan" .
Democracy of Spain was devasted by Italy.
" Fascism Breeds War."
The rapid rise of Fascism is closely related to the increasing war danger. Fascism means forced labor,
militarization, lower standards of living, and the accentuation of national hatred and chauvinist incitements as instruments for the “moral” preparation for war. It sets the people of one country against the people
of another, and exploits the internal racial and national groups within each country in order to prevent them
from uniting in joint action to solve their common problems.
The war danger arises inevitably out of the very nature of monopolistic capitalism — the ownership
of the means of production by a small capitalist class and the complete domination of government by this
class. The imminent war danger is only another expression of the fundamental crisis of the capitalist system, which continues its existence only at the cost of intensification of exploitation and oppression of the masses at home and in the colonies, and of struggle among the imperialist powers for a revision of markets and sources of raw materials.
Only in the Soviet Union has this basic cause of war been removed. " Rabindranath became the president of "League against War and fascism". he delivered a lecture on the Centenary of Ramakrishna.