Prelude to review of Tagore Birth anniversary celebrations

My Saturday (the 21^st of May) didn’t take off well. But it did end grandly, just the way I’d love a Saturday to bring curtains down on a hectic week (yeah yeah, my office works six days a week). A friend of mine, very generously gave me two passes to a Bengali cultural event that marked the culminations of Rabindranath Tagore’s 150^th birth anniversary celebrations.

If and when there is a rendition of Tagore songs, my mother is not likely to miss an attendance. So I took her, with my 10-month-old son in tow to the recital of Tagore’s songs by Mr Agnibha Bandyopadhyay, from Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata followed by presentation of dance drama, “Valmiki Pratibha” . The programme, as expected, was audio-visual treat.

The evening was a personal milestone as it was my son’s first cultural evening. And did he enjoy! He is familiar with Rabindra Sangeet (many of them are his lullabies); he was amazed to listen to the same songs with accompaniment of musical instruments. So much so, he tried to ‘sing’ (at top of his voice) with Mr Banyopadhyay and kept clapping at his own masterful rendition.

The dance drama, “Valmiki Pratibha” was delightful; thanks to brilliant choreography and flawless acting. The programme needs to be mentioned separately, and not as a part of my musing. So keep a watch on my blog for a review of the event. Nagpurkars, spare yourself the trouble of digging out for Sunday’s newspapers; there ain’t nothing except one pathetic article in one local paper. Surprisingly there, the reporter has very successfully portrayed Tagore as a petty poet churning out ‘songs and poems of different taste’ (the way a roadside vadapav vendor may create different chutneys to keep his customers hooked)!