Lesser-known short stories by Rabindranath Tagore

Babus of NayanjoreThis is a story about the landlords of Nayanjore ldquothe Babusrdquo who lived extravagant lives before the floods washed away their wealth Kailas Babu the protagonist who is the last descendant of the lot travels to Calcutta having lost all of his landed property However he carries with him his ancestral pride and his heirloom The narrator elaborately lists what the latter included ldquoa silver cruet for sprinkling scented water a filigree box for ottoofroses a small gold salver a costly ancient shawl and the oldfashioned ceremonial dress and ancestral turbanrdquo Babus of Nayanjore deals with class conflicts and the ideas of being selfmade versus inheriting ancestral propertyFrom Stories from Tagore translated by Charles Freer AndrewsMisplaced HopeForlorn Hope Bengali DurashaAfter arriving in Darjeeling the narrator ldquoa freshly bloomed Bengali Englishmanrdquo finds the urge to go for a walk down the Calcutta Road During his walk as little drizzles of rain and clouds of fog envelope the town he comes across a weeping woman who reveals herself to be the daughter of Ghulam Kader Khan of Badraon She has a story to share Her story casts light on the austerity of Brahmanism and the extent to which she went following Kesharlal a Hindu Brahmin until she realised that it wasnrsquot so much a path that showed the right way of living but a mere habit a practiceFrom Selections from Galpaguchchha translated by RK ChattopadhyayThe Two Sisters Bengali Dui BonThe Two Sisters deals with ideas of human frailty desire and the complications within certain marriages that often leave a sour taste in everyonersquos mouths The story revolves around the life of Shashanka and his wife Sharmila An unexpected turn of events takes place when her sister Urmimala arrives to stay with them The story is reflective of the representation of lsquothe womanrsquo that came to be drawn by men in the period of nationalism in 1930s and rsquo40s India The opening lines are telling when the narrator says ldquoThere are two kinds of women or so Irsquove heard some pundits sayrdquo While this is written as a novella it reads like a short story because of its pace From Two Sisters translated by Nirmal Kanti BhattacharjeeA Wifersquos Letter Bengali Streer PatraThis epistolary story as the title suggests is a letter written by a wife after 15 years of being married She confesses about how she felt within the house in which she lived with her husband She also opens up about writing poetry in secrecy which helped her all these years Recognising her own intelligence she fights for her independence When Bindu her sisterinlawrsquos sister comes to stay with them she begins to witness similar events unfolding which snatch Bindursquos freedoms too The story was adapted into a Bengali film by Purpendru Pant in 1972 One may identify the role of the protagonist portrayed by Madhavi Mukherjee who played the betterknown Charulata in Satyajit Rayrsquos filmFrom Selections from Galpaguchchha translated by RK ChattopadhyayHungry Stones Bengali Kshudhita PashanTagorersquos ghost stories are not always the first choice of his readers when they read his writings But such stories make for some of the most interesting finds Hungry Stones captures a brief moment in the life of a collector of cotton duties who goes to stay in a house which was the former palace of Emperor Mahmud Shah II Hersquos given a warning by the clerk ldquoPass the day there if you likehellip but never stay the nightrdquo Soon he is enchanted by its spell and the spirits of its past residents some anguished souls who left curses behind In 1991 the story was turned into a film adaptation by Gulzar He called the film ldquoLekinhelliprdquo ldquoButhelliprdquo a word uttered ever so frequently on recognising a moment of doubt From Selections from Galpaguchchha translated by RK ChattopadhyayLOG ON TO ebookstoresArtful masterpiecesFace of a woman inspired by Kadambari Devi ink on paper on display at National Gallery of Modern Art New DelhiApart from being a poet and a writer Tagore was also a painter Having grown up in a family of artists he learnt how to paint but his style was unlike that of his nephews Abanindranath and Gaganendranath Tagore who led the Bengal School of ArtHe never wished to name his paintings urging the viewers to read them as they liked His early art often entailed shapes of imagined animals ldquoa probable animalrdquo as he would call these His later portraits however were some of the most melancholic ones reflecting his own grief over the death of those he loved and lost Whatrsquos so beautiful is that he founded VisvaBharati University which would be a ldquoseat of learningrdquo a space for creative ideas to flow freely and flourish Kala Bhavan the fine art institute continues to see passionate art students pursue their dreams A Quick View Clip from Sothebyrsquos YouTube video on Tagorersquos Paintings httpswwwyoutubecomwatchvmBYu0dFhRjk A Detailed Lecture on his Art Clip from Smithsonian Education on YouTube httpswwwyoutubecomwatchvKYriVkYlFHg