Oct 17
By Bhaswati Ghosh
In one of his most powerful poems (Patraput, 15), Tagore declares himself an outcast, one who has renounced the bondage of religion and ritual. He likens himself to Bauls and their search for the man of the heart, a quest to find divinity in humanity, not in external or imagined symbols. This is the other, everyday Tagore – internalized in universes that don’t often feature in scholarly discourses.
By Bhaswati Ghosh
Sahana Bajpaie is a leading name in the realm of Rabindrasangeet singers. Brought up and educated in Santiniketan, Sahana trained in Indian classical music and Rabindra Sangeet under Bijoy Sinha, Madhumita Roy, Chitra Roy, Shyamoli Bandopadhyay, Chandan Munshi and Mita Huq (Bangladesh) among others. She speaks to Bhaswati Ghosh
By Manisha Banerjee
Coming to posters, Shyamali was the perfect ambassador for blending art with activism. Even in the prison in the USA, she made posters with her drawings and scribbled on them words of protest. These were long banners on cloth which she could hang from trees that spoke of her concern for the world.
By Aseem Asha Usman
The festival is celebrated for three days in the second week of May, to coincide with the birthday of Rabindranath Tagore and held in collaboration with Jamia Schools and Department of Sculpture, Faculty of Fine Art, Jamia Millia Islamia. It is always celebrated based on themes inspired by Tagore’s philosophy, life and works. This year (2015), the theme of the Utsav was ‘Santiniketan’.
By Goirick Brahmachari
Ma lost her voice the day Baba died. They had fallen in love in the winter of 1960. For years she sang and Baba sang through her.
By Ruma Chakravarti
Wilfred Owen was arguably Britain’s best war poet. Sir Rabindranath Tagore, as his mother Susan Owen addressed a letter that she wrote to Tagore in 1920, was certainly India’s finest.
By Koral Dasgupta
For quite some days I have been watching this house every time I cross it. I thought for once I will find its occupant lazing outside on the veranda. But it didn’t quite happen and each time I killed my instinct of knocking the door and going ahead uninvited. But the house makes a statement by itself, which draws my attention and my speed naturally slows down when I am walking past.
By Lisa D. Ellis
The desire of every writer included in this issue to relate his or her successes and frustrations in the hope that in the process, their story will ultimately help them form valuable connections. In coming together in this way to share our art, we all play a meaningful part to help keep good writing alive for future generations, regardless of whether the work is read in print, electronically, or in some other form we can’t yet anticipate.
By Kimberly Bunker
I’ve come to understand that getting published comes down to two main, and almost unrelated, things: 1. Good writing, and all that that entails, and 2. Connections. Of course, both are highly ambiguous and relative terms. How do you know if your writing is good enough, and if your connections are important enough?
By Kathy Brown Ramsperger
My most recent, encouraging rejection: “Although your manuscript seems a unique idea, we regret to inform you of our decision not to pursue further collaboration at this time.” How do I know that’s a personal rejection? A typo, and the words “unique idea.” That’s often the only clue you’ll get.
Yet triumphs do occur as well.
By Paige Bonnivier Hassall
When I contemplate the business side of writing, I can’t help sometimes but wonder: Am I writing fiction, or playing baseball? When did literature become something to be read aloud by a sportscaster? And is my daughter doomed to inherit this prosaic world?
