Anniversaries are a great time to commemorate men. Yet, even more importantly, it is a greater time to comprehend them. 2012 is the 150th birth centenary of the ‘Sage of Santiniketan’, the revered Rabindranath Tagore. For most of us brought up in the post-reforms era the man inspires an imagery of a bearded bard composing prose by the Padma river. Tagore maybe a permanent persona in the Indian national consciousness, but it is only in Bengal, and more so in Bangladesh, that his renderings are still relevant. This event, together with the upcoming centennial celebrations of his Nobel in literature next year, gives all of us beyond the Brahmaputra a chance to learn a little more about his legacy.

Tagore was an activist, thinker, poet, playwright and rural reconstructionist all rolled into one. His credentials as a great poet have been a source of continuous contention, particularly in the West. To some degree, the grouse against the man who gave us the ‘Gitanjali ‘is a given. To the non-Bengali, it is indeed rigorous to relate to his writings whereas the English translations take away the wonder from his work. That is why Tagore could never become the people’s poet.

It is Tagore the thinker who is more timeless. His ideas on nationalism, universalism and humanity borne out of the philosophy of oneness espoused by the holy Upanishads still hold water. As an ideologue of India’s independence struggle he was admired by a spectrum of icons ranging from Gandhi, Nehru and Bose. One of his greatest tribute to the nation that will surpass all else remains his scoring of India’s national anthem. Tagore may have for the most part been the bard from Bengal, but this one composition is the cultural heritage of the entire country.