Kolkata celebrates Rabindranath Tagore's birth anniversary

Kolkata: It's been 151 years since the famous poet Rabindranath Tagore was born in Kolkata at Jorasanko thakurbari, perhaps the most prominent centre of the Bengal renaissance. As we remember one of the tallest figures of Bengal's history, the city of Kolkata truly turns into a Tagore city.

With the carnival of colours and songs, Kolkata paid homage to the man whose life continues to inspire generations. And it's not just on traffic signals, Rabindra Sangeet was in the air across the state on Tuesday, declared a state holiday.

Singer Usha Uthup says, "When I used to sing songs at pubs at Park Street, I have often sung Rabidnra Sangeet in English and people used to enjoy it, which means people like Rabindra Sangeet."

Kolkata paid homage to the man whose life continues to inspire generations.

Shaoli Mitra, a theatre personality, says, "Even if it means reaching out through Facebook and twitter we need to make the young generation aware of who Tagore is and what his thoughts are."

The man whose work was picked for India's and Bangladesh's national anthems, was also clearly the icon of choice to break the ice between Hillary Clinton and Mamata Banerjee.

No wonder then Tagore has never been restricted to the pages of history, his thoughts are the soul of the everyday Indian.

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