The 150th birth anniversary celebrations for Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore will kick-off virtually simultaneously in both New Delhi and Dhaka with grand functions and other events planned to mark the occasion.
While vice-president Hamid Ansari has already reached Dhaka to participate in the joint celebrations marking Tagore’s sesquicentennial year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be inaugurating the celebrations here on Saturday. The planning minister of Bangladesh, Air Vice-Marshal (retd.) A.K. Khandker will be the chief guest at the New Delhi function.
The back-to-back joint celebrations are the result of the joint communique between the two countries which was issued when Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina has visited India last year in January.
Incidentally, Tagore had written not only India’s national anthem but that of Bangaldesh too. As part of the joint celebrations, on the platter in the coming months are seminars, cultural exchange programmes, etc.
In India, the sesquicentennial celebrations will include the release of a six-pack DVD of Tagore stories on film as well as the documentary that noted filmmaker Satyajit Ray had made on Gurudev.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi has organised a series of functions between May 7 and 13 as part of the celebrations. Among the programmes will be Rabindra Sangeet performances by artistes from Bangladesh, music recitals and dance dramas.
A three-day exhibition of books related to Tagore, music and portfolios on him jointly organised by the Sahitya Akademi, Lalit Kala Akademi and Sangeet Natak Akademi will also be on display at Vigyan Bhawan beginning May 7. The same day, Union minister of culture, Kumari Selja and Mr Khandker will jointly inaugurate an exhibition titled ‘Circle of Art: The Three Tagores’ to commemorate Tagore’s anniversary.