From Calcutta to Ilot: A Personal Journey with Tagore

Musings

By Dr R Neerunjun Gopee

On Monday last, June 1st, being invited as Chancellor of the University of Mauritius, I attended the 18th Tagore Memorial Lecture held at the RTI. The guest speaker was the President of the Republic, Shri Dharambeer Gokhool. 

I had not had the opportunity to attend the previous lectures and so looked forward to this one because of my connect with Tagore and West Bengal where, in Calcutta (now Kolkata). I studied medicine from 1965 to 1971.

“An innovative educationalist, he founded the residential school Shantiniketan in a rural area. The objective was to develop the student’s personality rather than merely preparing him for a profession. Based on ancient Indian traditions and a vision of the unity of humanity transcending religious and cultural boundaries, multiple disciplines such as arts, science, social sciences, education, music, fine arts, agriculture and rural development studies were taught there. Several Mauritian students have been privileged to study at Shantiniketan…”

My ‘encounter’, so to speak, with Tagore dates back to my childhood: there was a framed colour painting of him in our sitting room (it is now in possession of my cousin – we had grown up together). The next level of interaction was learning about him and his works during the weekly Indian Culture class (one period) that was held on Friday afternoons by Prof Ram Prakash at the Royal College Curepipe, from Form 4 to HSC. We read passages from his Gitanjali, and recited poems as assigned in the Indian Cultural Society which was presided by Prof Ram Prakash, and that met once a week after classes.

In 1961, Tagore’s centenary year, Prof Ram Prakash produced a radio play — there was no TV then! – of his The Post Office in which I took part. Four years later, in 1965, on an ICCR scholarship from the Government of India, I was to fly to Kolkata. Ironically, I hadn’t included Kolkata as a choice among the three colleges applicants were required to list. My karma, I believe, was what took me to Tagore’s Bengal, to immerse myself even more in Bengali culture, which is alive largely because of Tagore, especially his songs – Rabindra Sangeet – that are sung and heard on the radio daily in every household there.

This brings me to the comprehensive exposé by the President, a former academic at the University of Mauritius who had graduated from the University of Delhi in the 1970s and said that he had made a trip to Kolkata during those days. Pointing out that ‘Tagore’ was the anglicized version of ‘Thakur’ (like many of our own anglicized and frenchified name spellings), he introduced the attentive audience to the illustrious, cultured and wealthy family and the influences that had shaped Rabindranath. Next, he proceeded to share details of his literary works, foremost among which and known to all Tagore lovers is the Gitanjali, which won him the Nobel Prize in 1913, the first Indian and Asian ever to be conferred this honour.

Tagore was deeply inspired by the Hindu scriptures, the Upanishads (especially the Isa Upanishad) that shone and showed through in both his poetry and his philosophical writings. He had also suffered the loss of members of his family early on – father, wife, sister-in-law, son and daughter, and later his only grandson. As a result, he had a period of depression and sadness which are also reflected in his writings at that time. However, he overcame this personal tragedy and suffering by transforming it into universal love and humanism which became the hallmark of his legacy.

An innovative educationalist, he founded the residential school Shantiniketan in a rural area. The objective was to develop the student’s personality rather than merely preparing him for a profession. Based on ancient Indian traditions and a vision of the unity of humanity transcending religious and cultural boundaries, multiple disciplines such as arts, science, social sciences, education, music, fine arts, agriculture and rural development studies were taught there. Several Mauritian students have been privileged to study at Shantiniketan, which later expanded into Viswa Bharati University.

Having reached RTI early, I strolled through the campus and reflected that this was the perfect and appropriate sylvan setting for such an institution honouring Tagore. Not only was he a lover of nature, he also reveled in its beauty, splendour and harmony – all present at RTI, Ilot.

He was a writer, novelist, playwright, poet, painter, musician, composer of songs (2000  Rabindra Sangeet), humanist, world thinker and philosopher who, besides, travelled widely across all continents and being honoured everywhere. Indeed, he achieved the status of a legend in his lifetime and remains so today as a towering world figure. He was a friend of the French writer Romain Roland, and the recorded conversation between him and Einstein when they met is a sublime philosophical exchange.

The President read the first lines from one of his poems and ended his speech by reciting in full the iconic poem which begins with ‘Where the head is held high…’ and ends with ‘Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.’

The winds of nationalism were blowing across the world and had reached India in the late 19th century, with a fervour that had surged in Bengal. There were Bankim Chandra Chatterjee of Vande Mataram fame, and Shri Aurobindo with his brother Barin whose writings aroused awareness of freedom and self-government as opposed to dominion status. Tagore couldn’t help but be inspired by this nascent nationalism, but for him, given his spiritual inspiration, ‘national independence meant nothing if it were not preceded by social and cultural revival from within.’ It seems that the recent elections in West Bengal have vindicated this vision of his.

After the President’s speech, there was also an Award Ceremony for the prize-winners of the On-the-Spot Painting and Drawing competition. Children from all communities of the island shared the prizes; this confirmed if need be, our true ‘mauricianisme’ which I have always maintained needs no formal sociological definition as it is a lived reality for all true Mauritians.

According to tradition, after the national anthem was played, there was the lighting of lights ceremony by five ladies, always a very elevating moment. This was followed by a short cultural programme – the rendering of two songs of Tagore by local artist Varsha Bissessur Dulooa and her accompanying musicians, The second one was the iconic and gripping Jodi tor daak shune… which was composed in 1905. It is an invariable item at any function honouring Tagore – and was also heard during the celebration of his 165th birth anniversary at the IGCIC on May 9th organized by the small local Bengali Association which I had the pleasure to attend.

I must confess that I have since been tuning in anew to my daily dose of Rabindra Sangeet …

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 12 June 2026