Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West."
Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic strictures. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced), and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed鈥攐r panned鈥攆or their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla.
The complete works of Rabindranath Tagore (唳班Μ唰€唳ㄠ唳︵唳� 唳班唳ㄠ唳Σ唰€) in the original Bengali are now available at these third-party websites:
All the nostalgic feels ... The writing is really beautiful.
Tagore is still one of my favourite authors when it comes to poetry, nonfiction and fiction. He was one phenomenal personality and I just can鈥檛 stop reading and rereading his books.
This book 鈥楳y Boyhood Days鈥� is a short memoir of the author鈥檚 younger days. It鈥檚 written with such wit and humour that it feels like he鈥檚 talking to you as his most trusted friend.
The author narrated in such a singsong language about his education, the people in his household, the teachers or the gurus who taught him, his journey in learning in various subjects and his surroundings. But most of all I love his musings on solitude and his description on Calcutta.
It鈥檚 a short read with short chapters. You will complete reading this book of just 87 pages in one day.
Writing one year before he died, Tagore's reminiscences about his childhood come off as very nostalgic and evocative. The youngest of thirteen(!) children, Tagore was a much loved child, not only by his parents but by his elder brothers and sisters. He also made a very close friend in his sister-in-law, Kadambari Devi, as they were pretty much children together.
I loved how Tagore contrasts life in 1940 as compared to the last decades of the 1800s, and bemoans the loss of greenery and old-style life. Of course, you would expect an 80 year old man to become evocative and lyrical about his childhood even if it was a horrible one, and Tagore's certainly wasn't! I loved the contrast between the cultures of the times. Women were no longer observing purdah, people had electricity, not to mention chocolates.
It is hardly surprising that Tagore went on to win the Nobel. He was schooled in music, wrestling, drawing, English, gymnastics, in addition to the usual school curriculum. Several of his brothers were already writers and composers, though I am not sure if any of their work remains. The family was in the forefront of change, what with abolishing purdah in their home, sending girls to school, and so on.
My Boyhood Days covers Tagore's younger days until he goes to England. I really enjoyed this and am looking forward to reading the more detailed My Reminiscences at some point soon. Even if you aren't really interested in Tagore, this book is worth reading because of how beautifully evocative it is!
Oof. This is not a good book for a first encounter with Rabindranath Tagore if you're not already familiar with India.
It's sad, because I was really looking forward to it. A recollection of Tagore's childhood, written near his death, it also has so many aspects I usually love: autobiography, an author who received the Nobel prize for literature (in 1913), short stories of childhood and imagination, a 19th century time frame (Tagore was born in 1861), life when old traditions still existed in parallel with the things we know today, and the promise of splendid, evocative prose.
Alas, Tagore's "Boyhood Days" could use a critical edition.
Amartya Sen's 12-page foreword is a bit of an introduction to the man himself, his later beliefs, his core ideas and his achievements (including creating a new genre of music), but you can feel his disappointment at the translated text not having quite the same charm as the original Bengali. That's never a good sign.
Radha Chakravarty explains her choices in translation: in order to preserve the atmosphere of the original, she chose to retain in Bengali words without a direct equivalent in English. She also strived to "achieve a 'modern' translation with an 'old-time' atmosphere" - and as a translator, I'm fully aware of how difficult such an endeavor can be. Sadly, although her intentions were commendable, I think the result is too esoteric for a general audience.
Which brings me back to the idea of a "critical edition" (which this is not).
As I was reading the book, I realized I had no idea what a 19th century Indian household looked like. I'm familiar with the European 19th century. I am somewhat familiar with the US's 19th century. I know something about the Japanese 19th century. But I have no idea what India's 19th century looked like - except for the fact that the British were there.
Between the Bengali words (not all explained in the dictionary at the end of the book) and the cultural references, between Tagore's allusive, poetic style and the narration aimed towards children growing up in the '40s, I was lost. Entirely.
鈥淲hen everyone went to bed, I would roam about, like a follower of the Brahmadaitya," Tagore says at one point. Now, what am I to do with that? What does a follower look like? What is Brahmadaitya?
"But there was no stemming the tide of his song. He was especially partial to the ragini bihag," we're told about a tone-deaf adult. What is this? What does it sound like? I don't know.
Every page (and these are short pages, that I can cover top to bottom with the palm of my hand) contains on average 2-3 words in Bengali, creating difficulty and obscurity. I say on average - page 36 has: paan, betel, chuna, khoyer, catechu, albola, amburi, sandesh, ustad, raga; also two verses of songs in Bengali. Aside from those, page 36 also has the names of what I assume are well-known things: Nagaloka, Jadubhatta, Kafi; although Jadubhatta might be a person, it's hard to tell from the context of "a major ustad Jadubhatta ensconced himself in our house". Does this mean a major master of music of the type Jadubhatta, or a major master of music called Jadubhatta?
You see my problem here.
I have very little to say about the stories themselves. I'm afraid that, trying hard to understand them, I probably didn't.
This reminiscence by Tagore of his boyhood days when Calcutta was an emerging metropolis and capital of British India takes us to a Calcutta whose streets used to be lit up by gas-lamps, where horse-carriages took the elite around, which housed dreams of better lives for those on the outskirts. Both is Bengali and in English, Tagore's writing characteristically shows a depth of nostalgia and fondness for what is gone. In this world of Calcutta, Tagore places his lonely childhood which ironically fostered an imagination that led to the composition of invaluable works of literature. He takes readers on a journey of how a huge zamindari household functioned during the time, especially from the perspective of an adolescent. This short read will be fascinating to those who want to know more about old Calcutta and Tagore's early life as well as another chance to experience the master's art.
Tepat seperti judulnya, Tagore menumpahkan kesan-kesan masa kecil yang tertanam erat di benak dalam halaman-halaman buku ini. Tanpa alur cerita, tanpa dialog, tanpa protagonis dan antagonis. Hanya kesan dan ingatan. Khayalan-khayalan masa bocahnya yang telah melambung tinggi, pelajaran dan guru-gurunya, kehidupan bersama keluarganya, juga kenangan-kenangan saat ia pertama kali belajar menuliskan karya-karyanya. Kita telah mengenal seorang Rabindranath Tagore, tetapi ternyata masih ada Tagore-Tagore yang lain, yang meskipun tidak mendunia seperti Rabindranath, tetapi tidak jauh dari dunia tulis menulis. Dari penuturannya, terlihat bagaimana bakat Rabindranath muda terasah dan terbentuk oleh abang-abangnya, Jyotirindranath dan Dwijendranath yang memiliki penerbitan majalah Bharati, juga pada Satyendranath yang memberi jalan kepada perbendaharaan sastra Inggris kepadanya.
Selain menceritakan masa kecil penulis, buku ini juga sekaligus mencermati perubahan kebiasaan India di masa tersebut dengan gaya hidup di masa tuanya. Saat kehidupan tradisional pedesaan tergantikan dengan hiruk pikuk kota dan modernitas. Komentar-komentar singkat padat melukiskan perubahan tersebut dengan sangat apik, ini misalnya: "Anak-anak modern tidak mendengar cerita peri dari mulut ibu mereka, mereka membaca sendiri dari buku-buku cetakan" "Acar dan sambal kini dibeli di Newmarket dalam botol, masing-masing botol ditutup gabus dan disegel lilin" "...ada sejenis kembang gula mawar yang harus dibeli. Aku tidak tahu apakah kantong anak-anak modern masih lekat dengan gumpalan gula berlapis wijen ini, dengan sekelumit wangi mawar... Masih adakah? Jika sudah tidak ada, sudah tidak ada gunanya diadakan kembali."
Just like the title, Tagore poured out his most memorable childhood impressions into this book's pages. Without storylines, without dialogue, without protagonis and antagonis. Just memory and impressions. His childhood imaginations soared high, his teachers and their lessons, his life with his big families, also some recolections when he first learned to write his works. We all knew one Rabindranath Tagore, but the truth was, there were many other Tagores, maybe not as world wide known as Rabindranath, but not that far away from writings realm. From his words, it shown how young Rabindranath's talent was sharpen and moulded by his brothers, Jyotirindranath and Dwijendranath who had publishing company for Bharati magazine, also for Satyendranath who had given way for English literature repetories.
Beside that, this book also loked throughly the alterations of Indian cultures and peoples of that time with the life styles during his old life. When the traditional rural living had been replaced by the tumult of the city and modernity, his sharp, solid and short comments summarized it beautifuly. These are some examples: "Modern children do not hear fairytales from their mother lips, they read it themselves from printed books."
"Pickels and chilli sauce now have been bought from Newmarket inside a bottle, shut with cork and sealed with wax."
"...there was a rose candy that should be bought. I don't know wether these modern children's pocket still sticky with this sugar clump covers with sesame and a bit of rosey scent.... Does it? If it doesn't, then there's no used to brought it back."
Tagore's reminiscence of his early childhood days really comes to picture in this book. He has savored various instances of his boyhood like schooling, life with his family, his imaginative play and many more during his reminiscence. As he himself describes, the way of the world has entirely changed from those times, in his real time the people not even had the time to take a restful nap. Though the world had changed a lot for him when he takes a look back from his age of eighties, the world today is having its shortest breath in the process of change ever in the human history. Even 5 - 10 years seems like a bygone age today. So reading his boyhood days was like a quick peep into an India with its calm and peaceful village life. Ultimately, the book makes one see the young Tagore who in a way was lonely yet very well embraced by the arms of love by his family members. From this book I see that childhood has its own way of relating to everybody. I have to say Tagore really touches ones heart with such a poetic delicacy with prose into ones own childhood memories via his. The translator has tried her best to not lose the essence of the original work in Bengali which she propounds to be much more tranquil in nature. And I suppose her effort has been worthful :)
This book is an autobiographical writing by Tagore. His childhood in Kolkatta. I am a big fan of Bengali literature so I was expecting a lot more from this book since this is my first proper reading of Tagore. I think it is the translation from Bengali to English. Perhaps the translator was unable to do justice to his writing. But I was bowled over the introduction written by Amartya Sen about Tagore and childhood in general. The importance of freedom and exposure to music and the intellectual curiosity that ends up shaping ones personality. I haven't read any of Amartya Sen's writings either but I am definitely going to do so.
An informative and enjoyable read about one of the greatest poets of India. Loved reading about the various bengali traditions and and happenings in the 1800s. The various late evening plays, the naughty pranks and the many strollings under the mango trees in the garden, all provided an overall fun reading. A few parts could have been edited to avoid making this account dull at time but nevertheless, worth reading.
In 'My Boyhood Days', the legendary author and poet Rabindranath Tagore narrates the journey of his adolescent age. This was Tagore's second memoir, after 'Jeevansmriti'. He describes in the book how was his life during his adolescence, how was his family, how was the environment, how they were financially and things like that. Recommended to all fans and followers of Rabindranath Tagore and anyone who will like to experience the life events of a legendary person.
When poetry is in your blood since childhood , no doubt you get noble for that afterwards! These are basically memoirs of childhood and teenage days of Tagore. They let us travel to city of joy during late 19the century. Beautiful is very shallow word for anything created by Gurudev!
A gentle, even whimsical recollection of his early days in Kolkata written in old age. What is lost is lost in fact is gained in the burnishing of his linguistic skill and the ever golden days of youth.
The autobiographic account of childhood of one of the most celebrated poets of our times. The poetic instinct and lyrical flow is evident in the entire reading. A short book to read and preserve.
The translation is a tough read, because it's still awash with Bengali words. It's tough to get a sense of what he's talking about without constantly looking things up.