When
my fascination with India began piquing my curiosity during my college years,
I'd come across the name of Rabindranath Tagore, who, like his contemporary,
our very own Jose Rizal, was born in the same year in 1861, and together, they
also shared the distinction of being a writer, poet, and social reformer.
 |
| Wearing a Jose Rizal shirt when I visited his contemporary Rabindranath Tagore's house in Kolkata |
While
my personal library, which contains more than a hundred books, half of which
are still unread, only has one Rabindranath Tagore title: The Postmaster, a
collection of short stories published in 1891, I remained interested in his
life. Therefore, upon discovering the transformation of his family's ancestral
home in Kolkata into a museum, I suggested to my friend Aileen that we ought to
visit it.
 |
| A bust of Tagore greets visitors entering the museum |
After
a cab ride, during which the driver informed us that the museum was
"somewhere here, just ask around," upon dropping us off, we found
ourselves walking for nearly an hour in search of the museum. It turns out that
Rabindranath Tagore's birthplace isn't your normal residence. It covers 35,000
square meters and has housed Rabindra Bharati University since 1962.
 |
| The grounds of Rabindra Bharati University where the ancestral home of Tagore is located |
Also
known as the Jorasanko Thakur Bari (taken from two attached “sanko” or bridges
and the Bengali translation for "House of the Thakurs," with Thakur
being the anglicized version of "Tagore"), the residence was first
built in 1784 on property provided by a wealthy member of the Sett family, who
was one of the most influential people in Kolkata at the time, to Prince
Dwarkanath Tagore, Rabindranath's great-grandfather.
Jorasanko
Thakur Bari or the House of the Thakurs (Tagore)
Built
in between two bridges, the Jorasanko Thakur Bari, also known as the House of
the Tagore, became an integral part of Bengali culture and society.
Rabindranath Tagore's family developed close associations not only with the
city's business circle but also with the intellectuals of the era.
 |
| Totally liking the architecture |
The palatial red brick mansion, occupying 35,000 square meters of land, was where renowned thinker, writer, and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore was born, took up early education, and also where he breathed his last.
 |
| The different galleries inside the museum |
In
between his extensive travels across the globe—again, much like our own Jose
Rizal—Tagore would always come back here, and because of that, he has brought
home with him countless mementos, letters, and artworks from him and his family
that now make up the collection of the Rabindra Bharati museum, established in
his honor following the founding of the Rabindra Bharati University in 1961—the
birth centenary of Tagore.
 |
| Our friendly cab driver who gave us a tip to just "ask around" because the museum was just "around here somewhere" |
The
Rabindra Bharati Museum's collections include 2,071 books, 770 journals, 16
artworks, 27 sculptures, and 208 personal mementos. The West Bengal government
acquired forty of Tagore's original paintings and notebooks from his family and
has since displayed it all at the museum.
 |
| My friend Aileen |
The
museum not only showcases anything about Rabindranath Tagore, but it also has
galleries dedicated to leading figures in Bengali Renaissance art as well as
works encompassing Western art.
 |
| Inside Tagore's House |
My
favorite, of course, is the gallery that shows Rabindranath's extensive travels
abroad, showing rare photographs and travel journals to countries such as
China, Italy, Mexico, Japan, the United States, the UK, Sri Lanka, Iraq, and
more.
The
museum's ban on photography turned out to be a blessing because it allowed me
to concentrate entirely on the exhibits, reading the captions on the
photographs and descriptions of the items, all of which discussed Rabindranath
Tagore.
Walking
out of Jorasanko Thakurbari had me contemplating the many similarities between
Tagore and Rizal, as well as learning about their many differences. One thing
is for sure though: both of their writings have impacted their respective
countries in terms of history, literature, and identity.
