Manipal gets a ’Tagore Centre’

Manipal gets a ’Tagore Centre’

Mangalore Today News Network

July 31, 2014:  Speaking after inaugurating the ‘Tagore Centre’ at School of Communication, to understand and explore Rabindranath Tagore, Scottish Center for Tagore Studies, Edinburgh Napier University Joint Director Prof Bashabhi Fraser said Tagore was not a narrow nationalist who believed in universality that needs continuation.  The professor said Tagore was quintessence of Indian culture who has produced innumerable artistic works. He did not believe in imaginative and analytical approach, rather stressed on incidental learning.

She said Tagore’s teaching is more than ever relevant during the present situation of insurrection and cross border terrorism. She said walls featured in his works following his childhood experience. Trees had become a metaphor to Tagore. Bashabi stressed on the relevance of the Centre when she said, “In today’s world of cross border tension, off-shore and civil wars, it is important to remind ourselves the idea of universal brotherhood envisioned by Tagore himself.” She lauded Tagore’s universal appeal, his Nobel Prize winning ‘Gitanjali’ and ‘Shantiniketan,’ his brain child of an ideal educational ‘nest’.

He was an excellent town planer and educationist and also rural reconstructionist. He favored the co-operative movement, who had high respect for Mahatma. He always believed in modernization and was much ahead of his times. The Professor added the area of chauvinism is ending and we need Tagore more than ever.

Stating that Tagore was responsible for women empowerment, Fraser said he was a philosopher who created a genre of dance darama. She said he was an environmentalist, multi-talented true visionary. He has worked on 2300 songs and 2400 paintings, who took forward the nation. He was influenced with the Swadeshi movement that took place in Bengal, she added.