Love for Tagore
I started reading Tagore, like many Bengali boys, growing up in middle class educated households, in school. I really like reading Tagore’s short stories and essays. The beauty and magic of Tagore’s stories for me is the layers of meaning they have each time I have gone back to them as I grew older. I cannot claim that I understood them when I was young, but over time, I started reading them over and over.
Then, last December, I discovered that I can read the entire volume of Tagore’s encyclopaedic work collection online at
Really nice. Try the collection if you will.
When we moved from India to New Zealand, I rued that I had to leave my favourite collections of Bengali books (I have recovered and brought back some of them from my collections, over several trips, but these are quite expensive to bring back).
I totally agree with your observation about the abuse of Tagore’s legacy in Bengal. And thank you for your very kind words about my Bengali writings. You are much too kind, Mrinal.
