Rabindranath Tagore Week by Shivam House

This year marks the 150th birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. Rabindranath Tagore was not just an Indian jewel but a global phenomenon who has inspired generations with his work. Shivam House had the opportunity and a privilege to celebrate the life of a great man Rabindranath Tagore.

Rabindranath Tagore received Nobel Prize for his collection of poems called ‘Gitanjali’ in 1913. But he was not just a poet. He was a writer, playwright, musician, painter, thinker, philosopher, educationalist, socialist and so on. Shivam House made a humble effort to show the versatility of this genius man throughout the week.

The week started off with showcasing a documentary on the life of Rabindranath Tagore. In the documentary, the writer of Tagore’s biography Krishna Dutta, talks about the life and journey of Rabindranath Tagore. The documentary had a brief description of Tagore’s work, his journey to the western world, his contributions and the impact he made on people throughout the world. Most interestingly it also had the rare footage of the conversations that Tagore had with great men like Mahatma Gandhiji and Einstein.

On the second day of the week, Vaishvik Patel (Grade 9) and Atmiya Patel (Grade 12) gave a speech on Tagore’s work as writer. On Wednesday, Het Adhvaryu (Grade 9) talked about Tagore’s contribution as a poet. He talked about one of his famous works, ‘Gitanjali’. On Thursday, Manju Ma’am explained the educational philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore. His efforts of establishing the university where western scholars get-together and discuss techniques of success of eastern scholars and ways to exploit their techniques for their benefit. This talk was duly appreciated by the teachers as well by the students. On Friday, Vishlesh (Grade 11) gave a very dynamic presentation on Tagore’s work as a musician and a painter. The nature of content and lucidity of his presentation impressed all. He was proficiently guided by Rashmi Ma’am and Sharmil Ma’am and Mrugesh Sir in making that presentation.

The assembly for the junior students (grades 1 to 5) was interesting as well. Along with other information on Tagore’s life, some of the small kids from Shivam House tried to explain the meaning of few lines from our national anthem ‘Jan gan man’ every day.

Shivam House also chose to display Tagore’s life and his versatility on the soft boards. One of the soft boards had a timeline highlighting important years and events in the life of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. On the other soft board, versatility of Tagore was on display as his work from different domains like painting, writing, poetry and music showcased.

The week was building up for a big finale on Saturday which is the day for creative assembly. As always there was an anticipation of excitement amongst the students of Atmiya vidya Mandir for the creative assembly. Great people like Tagore give their message through their creations. Shivam House selected 2 of Tagore’s many creations for the Saturday assembly. The assembly started with ‘Rabindra sangeet’. A group of around 20 students sang one of Tagore’s famous Bengali songs translated in Hindi. The song had a very soothing impact on all the students and teachers present in the prayer hall. The lines of the song ‘Ye Jivan pavan karo’ had a clear message for the students as to what is the goal of our lives. The group had students ranging from grade 6 to grade 10 singing their melodious voices. This event was a perfect blend of soothing music and melodious voices accomplished by Somnath Sir.

Rabindranath Tagore was also very famous for his plays which were humorous and an eye opener for the general mass. Students of Shivam House enacted a riddle play, written by Gurudev himself called ‘Trouble in fame’. The total length of the play was about 15 minutes, but it was so engaging that the students felt it finished very quickly. Some of the act from the protagonist Pranshu Savani (grade 10) and other characters in play made the audience burst into laughter. But the message of the play was very clear: “Let us accept who we are and recognize the flaws in us and try to correct them, rather than ignoring them by pretending we don’t have them at all. As a student when we don’t understand something, we must ask questions and then do our work on our own rather than pretending that we know and face the consequences.”

In the end the host for the day and also the house captain, Sagar K Patel thanked everyone for their support and participation in ‘Tagore week’.

Compiled by: Shivam House