& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

A JOURNEY TO WHERE THE MEMORIES ARE

by Chanchal Sarkar
NO time machine can whisk us back to 1882, the year In which the present Tagore Kuthlbarl In Shclaidah wns built: the old one. an Indigo planter's bungalow, had been claimed by the Padma The 18 room, threc-stortcd mansion with Its wivy boundary wall and act on 30 blghas of land, rang then With song, children's laughter and the eager arguments of those drawn to thal remote but beautiful place by Ihc almost
Mmiik-so creative energy of one **an At other times the Kuthlbarl was profoundly quiet when that one man, hts zamlndan administration work easily disposed of, sat at his Labk from which he could see both the Padma and the Goral and wrote for hours on end or kept endless assignations with his beloved, turbulent, sca-wtdc Padma, turning over tn his mind words of new songs and setting them to tune.
Wc didn t travel in his long, twelve bearer palanquin with its cane bottom, nor In a bar* down the Goral Instead, we were tn a four-wheel-drive hard lop jeep. Though a parched Goral makes Ils crossing feasible and there is a road beyond, we jounced and bounced past six miles of villages and fields After a hundred years. I wonder tf what we saw along the way was very different from what the poet would have seen from hts palanquin or barge Old men with grizzled spade beards and skull caps Women who workid ever so much harder than men. looked curiously at us. visitors from another world as we zoomed past in afr-con-dittoned aloofness, the children were not shy at all but too slender and the cows patient but much loo small and bony to do much pulling The Padma has. of course, moved away and to a stiver streak somewhat short of the hortoon. This the poet would have found >to tressing as did we But the visit was an Inner experience, an affirmation of faith, an expression of gratitude for so much received, and a touching of base. Could the old house be made more attractive and meaningful? I think so The East Pakistan Government took over the Kuthlbarl In 1061, and, of course, successive Bangladesh Governments have not wavered In their epneern. The Kuthlbarl Is adequately looked after, its staff of thirteen —
guides, gardeners, side alien dants etc — are very friendly and cooperative but it has Io be much more than a monument It must be a kind of steady burning flame to which we can quietly lake our own little wicks for lightening
It cannot be a ptace where busloads of picnickers crowd
to take in white looking for a noisy romp It cannot be Just another distinctive building that hi holding up well after a hundred years The Kuthfearl could be made much more interesting The rooms could be furnished exactly ss they once had been If the original pieces are not traceable er beyond repair then copies could be made What remains of the original things like the long molor boat, the palanquins, the wide bed and the tables and couches must not be exposed to the touching and testing ofThe curious and the name scratchers.
Once restored, the rooms should be visible but not open to entering. There should be picture post-cards, cassettes, records and books for sale and short, simply written guide notes for visitors especially from age groups or education.il k-vcls not likely to know much about Rabindranath Tagore and his ideas There Is no need to have a Tagore Industry as Salzburg has its Mozart Industry, but people must know what they are seeing
The Kuthlbarl simply cannot cope with the Invasion of students and others descending In hundreds. The numbers allowed In at a time must be controlled. A small entry fee might make for greater nsponslblllty and also bring In some Income to be ploughed back. And around the Kuthlbarl there must grow a small complex where, sometimes In the open air and sometimes inside, people can talk. meet, discuss and make music. Besides, the concept should also, perhaps, stretch out to the Kuthlbarl at Shajatpur
Should all thia be left to the government? That would be a great admission of failure The Deputy Commissioner of Kushita. Mr Hafiz Ahmed. Is a nice, courteous man. eager to do what he can. But he has a tot on his plate, the Kuthlbarl proper Is under the Depart
ment of Archaeology, the Rest House is the Zlla Pari shad's responsibility while the roads arc Mr Ahmed's. And so there Is the eternal crisis of coordination that mars our sub-continent. It to for the
Tagore as the symbol of the Bengali Identity to organise the refashioning of the Kuthlbarl to be an Instrument of that identity