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Utsav: Celebrating Tagore in Delhi

Kavita CHARANJI, New Delhi
Creativity came to the fore at the recent Utsav: Celebrating l agorc in the 21st Century, held in New Delhi. The venue, the India International Centre, buzzed with activity as Tagore lovers -- basically artistes and scholars -- from India, Bangladesh, Italy, Spain, Finland and Canada descended in droves to feast on a medley of Rabindra Sangeet. dance, films on the great bard as well as exhibitions and academic sessions.
Though the spectacular event got off to a start on March 27, for this correspondent the real Utsav began the previous day over lunch with Bangladeshi danseuse and general secretary of the Shahdona team Lubna Mariam; former Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka. Veena Sikri and two others from publishing houses. Here after a long spell was a touch of Bangladesh as Lubna discussed the possibilities of translating books from Bangla into English and from regional Indian languages into Bangla. Meanwhile Veena, as an honorary advisor at the Academy o(Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia University, talked of her current mission to set up a Bangladesh Studies Programme, the first of its kind in India. The proposal, now awaiting clearance by the University Commission, envisages a comprehensive teaching, research and exchange programme between India and Bangladesh.
The festival kicked off on March 27 with Upasana, an invocation by Alpana Roy in Bengali and Kumkum Bhattarcharya in English. Here under the shade of a massive, gnarled tree called Ficus Rumphii (Pilkhan or Pakur), Bangladeshi artiste Laisa Ahmed Lisa presented a Puja Porja-er Gaan (devotional song).The devotional songs by Tagore included the mellifluous Probhu amaro priyo aamaaro. Ke bashileaaji and Naiba daako roibo tomar dware. Lisa describes this as her first concert in Delhi and is full of praise for the '‘intelligent and appreciative audience.”
As dusk descended, the scene shifted to the beautiful Fountain Lawns. Here, renowned singer Iffat Ara De wan embarked on Rabindra Sangeet. particularly Tagore songs on spring: Asha jawar pother dharey, Rodono bhora e boshonto and Likhono tomar dhulai hoyeche dhuli, among others. As she sang, a koel (kokil) in the neighbouring Lodhi Gardens too burst into song, recalls Iffat, pointing out laughingly that she and the bird were engaged in a neck to-neck competition.
Later in the evening Monisa Nayak (Kathak) and Arushi Mudgal (Odissi) presented Tagore for the
Six Seasons’ — interpretations of Rabindra Sangeet in Odissi and Kathak.
The next day saw Bangladeshi artistes Aditi Mohsin and Bulbul Islam presented Tagore's love songs. Aditi points out that she sang Chokher joler laglo joar and Kobe tumi ashbe bole, along with others. “Gurudev's eternal message is that of universal brotherhood, love and the awakening of the self,” says Aditi, in explanation of her penchant forTagore.
One of the major events at the Utsav was Nahi Debi, Nahi Sarnanya Nari (a poetic drama based on Tagore's Chitrangada). The Indo Bangladeshi collaboration featured music, dance and a Hindi play reading. The superb rendition of the dance was directed by Sharmila Banerjee who also did the choreography and
costumes. Conceptualised by Lubna, the drama was directed by Rajinder Nath. The dance-drama was presented by Shahdona of Bangladesh along with Delhi's Bikalpa.
After this programme, guests flocked to have a taste of Bengali cuisine, served up by Shawkat Osman from Dhaka. The large crowd of gourmets, says Osman, relished culinary delights such as EcchorNarkol and PanirPaturi.
An interesting sidelight of the closing day of March 30 was a celebratory dance and music procession, which culminated in a Basant Utsav, celebrating the advent of spring. Dressed in brilliant hues of yellow, the artistes were led by Sharmila and Odissi dancer Madhvi Mudgal on the cymbals. The troupe performed the typical Tagore stick dance. The last day also saw the renowned Rczwana Choudhury Bannya regale the Delhi audience with Tagore songs such as Prabhu toma lagi, Jagate ananda and Khancher pakhi chilo. "Cultural exchanges such as this are the best way to build mutual understanding and tolerance. The listener has to go deep into Tagore's lyrics to discover the beauty of his music," she says.
Meanwhile Radha Chakravarty, a reader in English from Gargi College, Delhi University and wife of Pinak Chakravarty, the Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka, has her own view. The coordinator of the academic sessions of Celebrating Tagore in the 21st Century, Radha is full of praise for this unique event. In her words, "To have speakers from countries such as Bangladesh, India, UK and Canada on a single forum is a rare opportunity for an exchange of views on Tagore's relevance in the 21st century." And no, this is no run of the mill academic seminar, she says, “The academic aspect goes along with a larger festival of the arts. People are taking back fresh ideas and we are discussing the possibility of publishing a collection of papers that were presented at the seminar. And of course, such cultural exchanges between Bangladesh go a long way in promoting interaction, friendship and goodwill."
The 26-member Bangladesh team, coordinated by Lubna, took back with them some wonderful memories of the culturally rich Utsav. The bottom line is that Tagore can transcend all barriers between nations.
"We want Tagore to be as important to India as he is to us. The songs, dances and music can help build bridges between the two neighbours," says Iffat. Truly the artistes were cultural ambassadors for India and Bangladesh — and it showed in the splendid and well appreciated Utsav.