Latest news with #SongOfferings
NDTV
09-05-2025
- General
- NDTV
Mamata Banerjee Pays Tribute To Rabindranath Tagore On His 164th Birth Anniversary
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday paid tribute to Rabindranath Tagore on his 164th birth anniversary, and said the Nobel laureate's creations have been illuminating the whole world. Ms Banerjee, in a post on X, also quoted a few lines from Mr Tagore's famous collection of poems 'Gitanjali' (Song Offerings). "On the birth anniversary of poet Rabindranath Tagore, we pay our heartfelt respects and bow to him. We remember him not only on 25th Baishakh, but every day. He is in our direction, in our language, in our hope - in everything! The whole world is illuminated by the light of his creation," the chief minister said. Mr Tagore's birth anniversary is celebrated as 'Rabindra Jayanti' on 25th Baishakh, according to the Bengali calendar.
New Indian Express
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Poetics of playfulness
After almost two years of writing a column on traditional games, I circle back to a basic question — Why play? How important is play? The more I research traditional games and the more I understand play, the more I realise how intrinsically interwoven it is with so much of our lives. Commemorating the birthday of Rabindranath Tagore (May 7), I thought it would be interesting to understand his views on play through his lens. I draw inspiration from two of his works on the subject. Tagore is perhaps best known across the world for Gitanjali — a collection of poems for which he received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, for its English translation, Song Offerings, making him the first non-European and the first Asian and the only Indian to receive this honour. When My Play was with Thee was originally published as Song 97 in the Gitanjali collection. In the poem, the poet tells us about how God used to be his friend and play with him in the jungle. At that time, the poet did not realise who the form was. However, he always considered God his best friend. This immortal poem of Tagore captures that strong essence of play and the belief that one could in sheer innocence and faith befriend God and play with him as a friend. This idea is echoed in numerous mythological stories and legends across the country.
