Mysoreans are lucky to be getting a rare chance to have a peep into two great lives this week and the next. The interesting coincidence here is that the lives of both these personalities are closely connected with West Bengal, one by birth and the other by domicile.
The Indian Railways, thanks to the initiative of its rather controversial Minister Mamatha Banerjee, who also hails from West Bengal, have launched a special train that showcases the life and times of the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore to commemorate the 150th anniversary of his birth. This special train, “Sanskriti Yatra” mobile museum, will be parked at the Ashokapuram Railway Station near the Railway Workshop for the next three days to enable Mysoreans to see free of cost what has been collected and put together at great cost and effort.
Strangely, in my eagerness to see it and perhaps because of a little lack of information I was there at the Station even as the train chugged in yesterday evening, not knowing that the exhibition was due to be formally inaugurated only today morning. I think readers will forgive my use of the word “chugged” here as although it still occasionally creeps in into our writing and conversation, our trains which are now either electrified or dieselised, no longer “chug” like the quaint steam locomotives of yesteryears.
Although the train itself looks rather drab on the outside, what it has by way of the exhibits inside is quite rich and informative. Its four coaches highlight the different aspects of Tagore’s life and works while the fifth one will exhibit and sell literature and handicrafts from his unique ashram and school, “Shanthiniketan”. This unique exhibition on wheels, which will travel the length and breadth of our vast country, which thankfully has one of the world’s largest Railway networks, will provide a rare chance for us to peep into the life of one of our greatest literary figures, who was the first Indian to be honoured with the Nobel Prize for Literature.
I have not been able to read much of what he has written in Bengali in its original form, which actually fetched him both the fame and the coveted Prize but I have always admired Tagore simply for the simplicity and sincerity that forms the core of most of his writings. His ninety - two word prayer, “Where the mind is without fear” from his most famous work “Gitanjali”, which is one of the many poems that burned themselves into the child’s mind that I once had, is perhaps one of the greatest prayers that expresses everything that a true citizen can ask from God for his country. It forms the very essence and spirit of our patriotism and according to me it is therefore as sacred as our national anthem itself which was again penned by Tagore himself.
Although it should have been a part of every Indian school child’s learning, very sadly, I find that many of our youngsters simply do not know what I am talking about when I ask them if they have read it. Despite the constraints that might have prevented it, I feel if only this train had been parked at the main Mysore station, it would have served its intended purpose better by being more easily accessible to the public.
There is another treat coming our way next week as a double bonanza. As part of the birth centenary of Mother Teresa, a special free exhibition that showcases her life and work will be held for two days starting on Wednesday the 27th October at the auditorium of St. Philomena’s College. It will be the first of the many activities that the Alumni Association of the College is planning as a year - long prelude to its grand diamond jubilee celebration which will be held next year.
Though born far away from where she lived and died, Mother Teresa the Albanian nun chose our country as the arena of the selfless service which she rendered to the destitutes, the dying and even the dead without any discrimination of colour, caste or creed and without the slightest expectation of any earthly reward or recognition. Years of her tireless toil by day and night with her equally dedicated associates was actually unknown even to most Indians before the limelight of the foreign Nobel Prize finally revealed her in full focus.
Actually, as a young medical student in the late seventies when I first met her most unexpectedly in a night train from Bangalore to Guntakal and spent much of the night in a hushed conversation of awe and enlightenment, munching on the sandwiches she shared with all her co - passengers, it never occurred to me that I was talking to a future Nobel Laureate. She never said one word about the nobility of her work or about the greatness of her God and instead only encouraged me to talk more about my own life, aspirations and ambitions as a budding doctor. That was my first and last meeting with her and much of what I know about her now came only much later.
When I look back now I wonder how a person of her stature and vision could have been so humble and patient enough to listen with interest to the voice of so much inexperience and uncertainty. But I suppose that is what real greatness is all about; losing your own sense of importance and finding time to listen to the views of all others including the most ordinary ones. It is certainly one of the Godly attributes which only someone with a sense of closeness to God can possess in ample measure.
We are unfortunately going through a time when materialism seems to be the only mantra of life that seems to make sense to people. Qualities like honesty, sincerity and service to other fellow human beings have all been pushed aside where they are unlikely to be noticed as sources of inspiration. That is why looking at some great lives from time to time becomes very important in keeping us reminded about what the real purpose of life is all about.
I hope all Mysoreans, especially the students and the youngsters, make the best use of this unique opportunity to have a glimpse of the great lives of two of our Nobel Laureates who by being honoured by it have ennobled not themselves but the Prize itself.
