Tagore and Me is a book that speaks to your heart. It pulsates and to hear its heartbeat, you have to keep it close to your heart. The book takes you to traverse in the world of Tagore, his lines touch you again and again but this time, in a unique, Promila Arora kind of way.
Arora’s poems, though they are triggered by Tagore’s quotes, are neither interpretations nor explanations of the quotes. Her poems are on their own poetic journey. Though they reflect and elaborate a similar kind of intense emotion, they create their own pathways, flowing through which the reader is elated over the way beauty is further beautified.
Rabindranath Tagore has been explained, interpreted, and commented on many times but Arora’s work is unique in its content and style. She writes about how she perfumes herself and runs after a deer following the creature’s musk; she explores the sky, the rainbow, and the clouds—all of which is inspired by Tagore’s own thought.
Arora also writes,
“Fragrance was all around
But where the musk to be found
Broken helpless and paralysed
I sat down and closed my eyes…”
It seems that while reading Tagore’s lines, the author stepped out of her own self to immerse in Tagore’s stream of emotions and her words poured out of her on their own and created another piece of literature. While she uses Tagore’s quotes as springboards for expressing her own inner self, Arora’s lines are full of unique imagery and metaphor.
Profound thoughts on life and death are expressed by Tagore, when he writes,
“The greatest distance in this world is not between life and death, it is when I am standing before you and you don’t know that I love you”. On this quote Arora writes:
“Such distance is immeasurable
As the hurt feelings are irreparable
Life and death cover in a breath
The pangs of one sided love is living death
None can bridge it with effort at its best
This distance in the world is greatest”
The poet says that since her childhood, Tagore’s poems and music have been resounding in her heart and soul and that she murmured his lines even in her sleep. She lived with his words all the time, which took expression in her poems in this book. Tagore’s light and wisdom as expressed in his works so overpowered her that she was overwhelmingly
enriched as a recipient and wrote her poems with an unquenchable zeal.
Further when Tagore writes’
“If thou speakest not, I will fill my heart with your silence”, Aurora writes:
“Oh my lord
I came to your door
I sobbed with folded hands
Knelt down and implored
I choked
Thy silence pierced my heart
I lay at your feet
And filled my heart
With your silence
Lo! I was drenched
In your deep love
I accept your silence as your gift”.
Tagore and Me is a kind of book which one wants to read over and over again. It touches upon topics like love, life, death, beauty, rainbows, clouds, and above all, man’s relationship with God. The book is a beauty in its own right, decorated with enchanting pictures of the paintings of Tagore.
Dr Uma Trilok holds a doctorate degree in Education Management and has been associated with several academic institutions. She writes both in English and Hindi, and her published works include Teesra Bindu, Of Autumn Roses, Khayalon Ke Saaye, and The Mindscape.
