Rabindranath Tagore

A one-of-a-kind study of the life of one of India's most influential national figures Rabindranath Tagore, a name very close to many people's hearts, evokes a feeling of pride, awe and inspiration and continues to arouse curiosity about this multi-faceted personality. This book chronicles the Poet's contributions in the context of the period to which he belonged, bringing into light those incidents, anecdotes and issues which have often been overlooked but, nonetheless, are significant as they enable us to understand Tagore better. His role as a son, brother, husband, father; his accomplishments as a poet, philosopher, writer, painter, choreographer, actor; his relations with his family, friends, contemporary writers and poets, as well as predecessors; his correspondences with the political leaders of his time within the nation as well as abroad; and, above all, his interpretations about life, revealing his quest for love, faith and devotion and his deep-rooted anguish. Tagore's unfulfilled dreams and expectations as projected in the broad sweep of this lucid narration reveal two facets of the Poet - a man of extraordinary abilities yet a man having ordinary expectations, who could thereby understand the joys and sorrows of the common man keeping aside his own gains and losses. Contents: Preface; The world of Jorasanko; Out in the open world; Back home, a writer with promise; Meditating on the Infinite Being; At the crossroads; A story-writer; A playwright and an actor; A difficult Poet; A girl remembered; A school in the lap of nature; Indian quietude and European restiveness; His political thoughts; Plays of a different kind; Translating his own poems, and the Nobel Prize; The Poet s nomadic mood; Against materialism and nationalism; Raising funds for a dream; The message of the East; An Argentine adventure; Regal reception in Europe; A many-splendoured mind; In the West for the last time; In the thick of national problems; The last flourishes; The failing body; Genealogy; Bibliography; Acknowledgements.