Rabindranath Tagore standing in front of one of his houses in Santiniketan. This photograph was taken in 1935. Photographer: Hiran Kumar Sanyal. "Gurudeb's songs are wrapped around my life so densely that it is not possible to express it in a few words. When I came to Santiniketan with my parents for the first time, I was only six months old. My childhood and youth were spent in the environment of Gurudeb's and Dinendranath's songs, dances, and acting. Starting from my childhood until the end of Gurudeb's life for an uninterrupted interval of three decades there was no end to listening to and receiving his songs. In my heart I am still listening to his songs - inspired by him I am still singing - and this is how I brought my boat to land near the end of my life. It is a blessing to be able to live my life in such a liberal musical environment. In my life, in happiness and in sorrow, in joy and in pain, at all times, Gurudeb's songs are dependable. Just like during his life I received his affectionate companionship and inspiration, after his death I have gathered from his songs support for living, inspiration for mind. Otherwise, how did I get the strength to deal with suffering and hardship? I am an artist, not a creator. I present Gurudeb's creations. He wrote to me: 'I would like to advise only the following. You grew up in this aashram. If under the influence of cinema etc due to some temptation you descend from your moral high ground then it will disgrace me and this aashram. Second, my songs are in your collection. It is your responsibility to propagate my songs in the correct form.'" Santideb Ghosh. The third day of April, 1986. Translated from Bengali.     "Da(n)ri-a aachho tumi aamar                               Ganer o-pa-re. Aamar    sur guli pai charan, aami                               pa-e ne toma-re.      Batas ba-hey mo-ri mo-ri      Aar be(n)-dhe re-kho na tori,      a-so a-so paar ho-a mor                               hri-doy ma-jha-re." Previous  Next  List  Home