Thursday 7 May 2015

throwback thursday - TBT #9


may 7th is the birthday of Rabindranath Tagore -  poet, artist, philosopher and thinker. he was the first non-european to be awarded the nobel prize for literature, in 1913.

he was knighted by the british in 1915 but renounced it in 1919 after the jallianwallah bagh massacre in amritsar.

his verses have been chosen as the national anthem of two countries, india and bangladesh.

seen below is a photo of rabindranath tagore with einstein, taken in 1930.


we had to read tagore's famous verse "where the mind is without fear" back in school, and it has remained etched in my memory ever since.

another of tagore's famous songs in bengali, "ekla chalo re" was used as the theme song for the indian government's 'clean india (swachh barath) mission' launched in 2014. click here to hear the beautifully rendered version by kishore kumar, one of india's much loved singers.

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