Mail News Service
Jamshedpur, June 30: �It was back in 1912 in England that Rabindranath Tagore was invited by poet Rodin Stein to his home where Kobi Guru recited selected pieces from his legendry collection of poems, Gitanjali, where the other immortal poets of his generation like Ezra Pound, Yeats and other famous few sat fascinated.
They acknowledged that Tagore was the greatest poet of their time. In fact, they were so impressed with Rabindranath�s poetic brilliance that the poets who heard his recitations that day that they proposed his name for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Their proposal bore fruit and the Vishwa Kavi was bestowed the world�s most prestigious literary award in 1913.
Tagore�s recitation from select portions of Gitanjali at Rodin Stein�s house in 1912 was no ordinary event because his brilliance, lucidity of expression of varied moods and sentiments left a linger flavor in the minds of the other distinguished poets present on the occasion. As a tribute to the Kobi Guru on winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 that June 30 every year is celebrated as International Tagore Poem Recitation Day,� stated Tagore Society general secretary Asish Chowdhury as the city�s leading literary and cultural institution, Tagore Society celebrated the day at Rabindra Bhawan today.
Chowdhury further observed that such programs were organized to infuse inspiration in the young poets and writers who aspire to attain greatness. �They should read and take inspiration from Tagore�s immortal literary creations,� he said.
Popular elocutionists recited Tagore�s poems in Bengali, English, Santhali, Marathi, Hindi, Odiya and Telegu. The elite panel of elocutionists today included Shadashib Roy, Subir Das, Chaitali Sathpathy, Sanhita Lahiri, Dr Utpal Das Shadangi, A Ravi Kumar, Kalyani Dasgupta, Shriram Chandra Majhi, Ratnabali Sengupta, Kalyani Dasgupta, Dr Lakshmisree Banerjee, Manisha Shekhar Joshi, Sreshtha Ghosh, Dr Shantanu Chakraborty and Shipra Mahanty. The recitations comprised six in English, 19 in Bengali and one each in Santhali, Marathi, Hindi, Odiya and Telegu.
The city�s literary pursuant ensured a full house at Rabindra Bhawan today.