No, I have not forgotten Tagore. How can a student cum teacher of literature ever forget Tagore? To Indian English literature, he got glory. His early twentieth century win of the Nobel for literature gained visibility for Indian Writing in English.
Yes, I do know that those in the know feel that his own translation of the original Bengali Geetanjali in to English is no match to/no patch on the Bengali version. I would not know. My broken Bengali is a product of watching any number of Bengali films. As for "jana gana mana", it is absolutely Sanskritised.
Better not to get in to language debacles, eh, debates. Bitter as it is they are on Bambaiya roads! Instead, let us look at Poem No. XIII from 'The Geetanjali'. The speaker in the poem is describing a mystical feel.
It describes an eager wait. It is intense yet undefined. The welcome song is ever ready, but yet not sung. Either the accompanying musical instrument is not strung properly or the word order is not set right.
The agony of the wait, however, is so passionate that it sears the heart. To capture it, Tagore uses the image of an unopened bud around whom the breeze, nay, the wind is sighing by.
Who is this visitor? Unknown he is, unseen he is, unheard he is. The speaker is just aware only of the gentle footfall in the lane near the home. The speaker's 'lifelong' day gets spent readying the seat for this much awaited visitor. Yet the lamp is yet to be lit, and as yet are not ready the words of the invite.
Read the poem without any reference to the poet's name. Does not it sound like any and every Meera Bhajan? Or a "vachan" by Akkadevi? My favourite most Sant Dyandeva's 'virani' ( songs of separation) sound like this poem of acute awaiting. In the Bengali tradition, Jayadeva's "Geet Govindam" has any number of 'padam' expressing an eager, passionate wait.
Hence my humble submission that unmistakable is the feel of the Bhakti tradition of the Middle Ages in Tagore's "Geetanjali." The unstated yet acutely felt intense love for the beloved becomes a metaphor for the devotee's stung soul striving for the divine. May be, this spiritual signification gives "Geetanjali" the glory it 'nobly' deserves.
Pratima@ Now I am going to be horribly prosaic. Yesterday, I was rushing to reach on time to Raju's place. Suddenly in our backyard, I heard footsteps, some activity.
A thief in the middle of the morning? No, it was the next door neighbour who just jumped in. No permission, no decency. Simply horrible. The whole day, the whole family lingers near our front yard, coughing, spitting, shitting and pissing and pissing (given the simply horrible smell).
They are literally peeping in to the open door, listening to every word while I teach online. They truly need to be taught a lesson. Forever, they are loooooudly yaking away. Why was not that unofficial visit thus declared? How about the decency to inform, to ask for permission?
That is the reason I am wary about the backyard. Earlier, there used to be a proper fence which was absolutely flattened by the construction activities of the peaceful community building a high rise not even hundred feet away. I requested the owner at least hundreds of times to lift the rubble both sides. At least I can build a proper protective wall, right? To no avail!
May be, certain people do not understand decency, gentleness, non-interference. I am thinking of alternatives which would din sense in to dumb heads!
Quote of the day@ Tit for tat! How to extend the tit for tat tactics without dirtying one's own soul? That is the question! Fighting with a pig is no use. One gets dirty, while the pig, anyways, loves the wallowing in the muck!
Word of the day: swine A swine is a pig , a big fat old nasty hog with short legs, thick bodies, and they eat just about anything. If someone acts like a pig, best to simply call such 'swine'!
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