Before I begin the blog on Rabindranath Tagore's birthday, here is a little self introduction about me for my Cognizant friends from other accounts. I work for the Wyndham Hotel Group account. After spending a long time at the client location in New Jersey, I had an opportunity to work at Kolkata center. I took up this opportunity mainly because of all the fascinating ‘Bong’ colleagues/friends I had met in New Jersey. I'm like any other normal, average Tamilian. I have an affinity for spicy meals, poor in languages, can't speak Hindi or Bangla if my life depended on it, won't ask for directions and adore Rajnikanth. Well, I don't adore Rajnikanth, but you get the general idea!
This May 08th, was the 151st birthday of Rabindranath Tagore, the legendary Bengali artist. In our office, there were plans already to pay tribute to the great man. Mails were sent out, asking for contribution from our colleagues, both in terms of money and participation. I had volunteered to play and sing 'Purano Shei Diner' with a keyboard. I knew the song because it was part inspired by the ‘Auld Lang Syne’. I had to drop the plan eventually as we couldn't get permission for a keyboard to be brought to the premises, but I was still looking forward to the program.
As for Rabindranath, we all know the great man, Bengali or not. He was sort of a national treasure, the author of 'Gitanjali' and more famously, the Indian national anthem was composed and written by him. But clearly, I knew little. He is revered in Bengal, and after witnessing the tribute, I can understand why.
Bengalis are artistic folk. It shines through their music, their cooking, their language, their music and their expressions. You have to live at close quarters and experience it. Half of the folks in my floor could sing well. I mean, sing really well. In my state (Tamil Nadu), I'm considered to be quite good at music, but I felt humbled by what I had seen. Almost everybody could sing, like in really sing. Their singing was effortless, the recitations were brilliant and even their quotations had the air of an artist. I refused to believe that there could be this much talent in a software office with minimum rehearsal. I saw people who could immerse themselves in theatre and excel.
As I read more about Rabindranath, I understood why he meant so much to the Bengalis. He could quite possibly be considered as the father of modern Bengali art renaissance. He was the quintessential Bengali. He excelled at any art form. He wrote poems, prose, short stories, plays, novels, he even composed and painted. He excelled in all of them. How many of us can take up painting at the business end of our active lives and still paint enough material to put up an art exhibition in France? All of this, possibly being color blind too.
What really impressed me was the fact that there so many Rabindranath aficionados on the floor with me. It's arguable if there would have been such a turn out in any other part of India that I've been to, to celebrate a renewed poet and artist's birthday. While it's nowhere a slight on the other good folk that I've met, it was impressive to see modern engineers proud of their heritage and their past, and doing something worthwhile to honor it.
The program anchors were Niladri and Paramita (Bangla) and Soahom (English). After the initial introductions, we were promised some good music (RabindraSangit), recitations and plays (Natok). Without further ado, 3 lovely ladies from the Ceridian team (Basab, Aparajita and Sagarika) were signing the opening song. All I could say is that it was really nice to hear it.
Soon, the performances were coming thick and fast. Tania, Sananda from WHG team, did a couple of really gracious Bangla songs. The Travelport team breezed through a group number, and my personal favourite of the performance, Tanaya sang a really well controlled song. Partho from PACE team performed a high pitched number as well. The FamilyDollar team performed some beautiful songs on A Minor accompanied by Krishnagopal Basu's guitar. Krishna plucked a solo treble song on his guitar as well.
The control they had in their voice and the sweetness of the words they pronounced were a treat for the ears. If I could enjoy it so much without understanding a single word, I can only imagine how much it meant to people who can understand all of this.
Soon, the 'piece-de-resistance' would come. From what seemed like a sedate start, Arnab Samadder just exploded. I have seen some passionate speech making, from the gully cricket captains in the dusty streets of Chennai to the mock role plays in the Battery Park, New York by semi professional actors. But this one was right up there. There was conviction in his voice and there was passion in his heart. He delivered the recitation with so much authority as well.
Yet, we rattled through the remaining acts. There were quizzes in between. I was assured that the questions were tough, but the audience just gobbled the prizes. Each question was answered within 2 seconds, and multiple hands went up. Judges had a difficult time selecting the one who was the first to answer.
We still had time for Niladri reciting a poem by the great man Rabindranath Tagore, a well sung Bangla song by Gyan Ranjan whose mother tongue wasn't Bangla. Nilanjana did a heartfelt rendition of Shesher Kobita. I didn't understand what she said in Bangla, but the foreword she said was beautiful. This was a celebration of parting she said, and Rabindranath had showed them to celebrate a sad occasion with a melodramatic flourish.
Thiruvalluvar, an enlightened soul who lived in Tamil Nadu a while back, well make it 2000 years ago, once said 'when there's no time for knowledge, feed your stomach a little yet'. True to that, as the performances finished and we were left craving for more, the team had arranged for traditional Bengali lunch.
As we munched through the lunch, reminiscing about the performance, I was glad that I had the chance to sample something great. We/I just had a peek into the Bengali tradition and to celebrate a remarkable man's life with some of his authentic work. Above all, what mattered was the authentic enthusiasm shown by some artistic software engineers.
You look for inspiration every day, at every turn. I was inspired. Thank you all, participants and audience for a wonderful time.
I've made a little video as well, for you to relive the moments. You may click here to watch on Youtube as well.
This May 08th, was the 151st birthday of Rabindranath Tagore, the legendary Bengali artist. In our office, there were plans already to pay tribute to the great man. Mails were sent out, asking for contribution from our colleagues, both in terms of money and participation. I had volunteered to play and sing 'Purano Shei Diner' with a keyboard. I knew the song because it was part inspired by the ‘Auld Lang Syne’. I had to drop the plan eventually as we couldn't get permission for a keyboard to be brought to the premises, but I was still looking forward to the program.
As for Rabindranath, we all know the great man, Bengali or not. He was sort of a national treasure, the author of 'Gitanjali' and more famously, the Indian national anthem was composed and written by him. But clearly, I knew little. He is revered in Bengal, and after witnessing the tribute, I can understand why.
Bengalis are artistic folk. It shines through their music, their cooking, their language, their music and their expressions. You have to live at close quarters and experience it. Half of the folks in my floor could sing well. I mean, sing really well. In my state (Tamil Nadu), I'm considered to be quite good at music, but I felt humbled by what I had seen. Almost everybody could sing, like in really sing. Their singing was effortless, the recitations were brilliant and even their quotations had the air of an artist. I refused to believe that there could be this much talent in a software office with minimum rehearsal. I saw people who could immerse themselves in theatre and excel.
As I read more about Rabindranath, I understood why he meant so much to the Bengalis. He could quite possibly be considered as the father of modern Bengali art renaissance. He was the quintessential Bengali. He excelled at any art form. He wrote poems, prose, short stories, plays, novels, he even composed and painted. He excelled in all of them. How many of us can take up painting at the business end of our active lives and still paint enough material to put up an art exhibition in France? All of this, possibly being color blind too.
What really impressed me was the fact that there so many Rabindranath aficionados on the floor with me. It's arguable if there would have been such a turn out in any other part of India that I've been to, to celebrate a renewed poet and artist's birthday. While it's nowhere a slight on the other good folk that I've met, it was impressive to see modern engineers proud of their heritage and their past, and doing something worthwhile to honor it.
The program anchors were Niladri and Paramita (Bangla) and Soahom (English). After the initial introductions, we were promised some good music (RabindraSangit), recitations and plays (Natok). Without further ado, 3 lovely ladies from the Ceridian team (Basab, Aparajita and Sagarika) were signing the opening song. All I could say is that it was really nice to hear it.
Soon, the performances were coming thick and fast. Tania, Sananda from WHG team, did a couple of really gracious Bangla songs. The Travelport team breezed through a group number, and my personal favourite of the performance, Tanaya sang a really well controlled song. Partho from PACE team performed a high pitched number as well. The FamilyDollar team performed some beautiful songs on A Minor accompanied by Krishnagopal Basu's guitar. Krishna plucked a solo treble song on his guitar as well.
The control they had in their voice and the sweetness of the words they pronounced were a treat for the ears. If I could enjoy it so much without understanding a single word, I can only imagine how much it meant to people who can understand all of this.
Soon, the 'piece-de-resistance' would come. From what seemed like a sedate start, Arnab Samadder just exploded. I have seen some passionate speech making, from the gully cricket captains in the dusty streets of Chennai to the mock role plays in the Battery Park, New York by semi professional actors. But this one was right up there. There was conviction in his voice and there was passion in his heart. He delivered the recitation with so much authority as well.
Yet, we rattled through the remaining acts. There were quizzes in between. I was assured that the questions were tough, but the audience just gobbled the prizes. Each question was answered within 2 seconds, and multiple hands went up. Judges had a difficult time selecting the one who was the first to answer.
We still had time for Niladri reciting a poem by the great man Rabindranath Tagore, a well sung Bangla song by Gyan Ranjan whose mother tongue wasn't Bangla. Nilanjana did a heartfelt rendition of Shesher Kobita. I didn't understand what she said in Bangla, but the foreword she said was beautiful. This was a celebration of parting she said, and Rabindranath had showed them to celebrate a sad occasion with a melodramatic flourish.
Thiruvalluvar, an enlightened soul who lived in Tamil Nadu a while back, well make it 2000 years ago, once said 'when there's no time for knowledge, feed your stomach a little yet'. True to that, as the performances finished and we were left craving for more, the team had arranged for traditional Bengali lunch.
As we munched through the lunch, reminiscing about the performance, I was glad that I had the chance to sample something great. We/I just had a peek into the Bengali tradition and to celebrate a remarkable man's life with some of his authentic work. Above all, what mattered was the authentic enthusiasm shown by some artistic software engineers.
You look for inspiration every day, at every turn. I was inspired. Thank you all, participants and audience for a wonderful time.
I've made a little video as well, for you to relive the moments. You may click here to watch on Youtube as well.
TL; DR version : Rabindranath Tagore's 151th birthday. Sing song party at office, talented people sang, I was inspired. Cheerio.
