Tagore,who gave us an identity,the finest lines and the loftiest thoughts and who was a product of profound intellect and aesthetic sense, represents that pinnacle which human intellect can attain, that acme of artistic excellence which no amount of AI can ever hope to emulate.For literature- arts,to be more precise- to be appreciated in its holistic sense, the final output is but a process,a continuum which we see and appreciate.The bigger process is latent.The angst,the pleasure and the rationale which combine to lead an artist to that fascinating denouement, are the raw materials.Greene had written of grief and how it spurred his creativity.All artists go through that process.Our quest should be to analyse the artist through his works, not end at reviewing them.
The great sage had famously consoled us with those immortal lines ‘more laagi koriyo na shok…….More Patro rikto hoy nai’.Indeed, it is an unending fountain which blesses us with nectar every time we approach it.Tagore’s works are akin to nectar, its sweetness and sublimity match and perpetually bewilder us.Yet, he was human who went through all the emotions.The accoutrements are with many of us but not the manifestations, the talent,the energy and aesthetic sense to convert it to words,to transmogrify them to art.Tagore has not just done this over more than six decades,he has never ceased to amaze us with his novelty and diversity.An artist with the Midas touch, whatever he touched- created rather – has attained gold standard.A supreme artist that he was, his divinity lies herein.We read his Jobonsmriti and we are lost in thought, in profound contemplation of the philosophy of life.Reading him has become all the more necessary for the water are rather shallow and muddy,for the mind is too cluttered with garbage and half-baked shapeless mass and the need to cleanse junk is of paramount importance.Tagpre does this for us.He is like the fire which purifies,pacifies and invigorates us.
PARTHA BASU
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