Being an only child, books and music had always been good friends to me while at home.  My first induction with Indian literature started from Bengali writings when I was in 12th standard. The intellectual awakening that emerged in Bengal during colonial period gave rise to movement that questioned existing orthodoxies, particularly with respect to women, marriage, cast system,  religion, exploitation based on cast and gender  and the wrong practices such as Sati Pratha, devdasi pratha, the  dowry system etc.   This reflected in the literature written during that time, although I find the same so much relevant even today as it was 300 years back.  

I was tremendously influenced by the writings of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Sharat Chnadra, Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and most importantly Rabindra Nath Tagore. A  few of us friends used to read them regularly and then would engage in hours discussions on various issues. One of our Professors generously helped us out in case of any confusion. Apart from forming my opinion on various social issues,  I also identified myself with very strong, self conceited,  yet feminine and elegant female charactors of novels such as Srikant, Charitraheen, Shesh Prashna  etc. I must say that I am indebted to Bengali Literature and writings  from Amrita Pritam for honing my thinking , will talk about it sometime later.

 Reasoning in freedom: About Rabindranath Tagore, I read English or Hindi translations of many of his novels, short story and later on Gitanjali. The most fascinating thing that I found in the writings of Tagore was the reasoning in freedom to question certain orthodoxies prevailed in the country. For Tagore it was of the highest importance that people be able to live, and reason in freedom and where there is no exploitation based on any cast, religion and community.  His attitude towards politics, culture, nationalism, tradition, modernity and patriotism can be seen in the light of this belief. Nothing expresses this value as clearly as a poem in Gitanjali.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into
fragments by the narrow domestic walls;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
into the dreary desert sand of dead habits;
Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.

Rabindranath’s qualified support for nationalists movement- and his opposition to the unfreedom of alien rule – came from this commitment. So did his reservation about patriotism, which he argued, can limit to both the freedom to engage ideas from outside narrow domestic walls, and the freedom also to support the cause of people in other countries.

His passion for freedom underlies his opposition to unreasoned traditionalism, which makes one a prisoner of the past. This could be understood from a very interesting story. On one occasion when Mahatma Gandhi visited Tagore in Shanti Niketan, a young woman got him to sign her autograph book. Gandhi wrote “ Never make a promise in the haste. Having once made it,  fulfill it at the cost of your life” When Tagore saw this entry, he got very agitated. He wrote in the same book a short poem in Bengali to the effect that no one can be made a ‘prisoner forever with the chain of clay’  He went on to conclude in English, possibly so that Gandhi could read it too, “ Fling away your promise if it found to be wrong” How true..

Tagore always abhorred untouchability and sexual exploitation of women in the name of religion, social conditioning  and always protested against it.  Although he  took pride in the cultural heritage of India,  his vast understanding about Indian culture and tradition gave him strength to question certain beliefs and dead traditions that promoted exploitation, divides and separatism  and that he questioned with appropriate reasoning and rationalism.

Relationship with God: The idea  of direct, joyful and totally fearless relationship with God can be found in the devotional writings of Tagore including the poems in Gitanjali.   From India’s diverse religious traditions he drew many ideas, both from ancient texts and from popular poetry. An ambiguity about religious experience is central to many of Tagores’ devotional poems and makes them appeal to readers irrespective of their beliefs; but excessively detailed interpretation can strip away that ambiguity.

The best poem that I find from Gitanjali  is the following:  

Leave the chanting and singing and telling of beads!
Whom dost thou worship in the lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut?
Open thine eyes and see the God in not before thee!
He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground
and where the path maker is breaking stones.
He is with them in sun and in shower,
and his garment is covered with dust.

Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense!
What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained?
Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.

It conveys such a  beautiful ex-pression of religious freedom, freedom from rituals and sprituality and has so much depth into it. 

Some Hard truths: When i reflect back, i find all these writings  still so relevant. Many women are   burnt alive for dowry. Sati is practiced in some parts of Rajsthan. The girls are denied of their fundamental right to be born and survive. Innocent people are killed by ritualistic fanaticism. The religious divides have been created, so much so that a Muslim family can not rent a house in Hindu neighborhood and vice versa.

Dalits and adivasis are still exploited with bonded labour and displacement. Young girls are succumbed to religious prostitutions such as devdasis or Joginis in the name of religion at a tender age, where parents give them away ot temples to shy away from the responsibilities of bringing them up and getting them married. Hundreds of thousands of children from lower communities  dont have access to basic services due to social exclusion. Women become victim of sexual exploitation in the name of religion or social conditioning where no informed choices are available to them. We accept the status quo so conveniently just by “It happens everywhere” attitude. Don’t we need some sort of a revolution to awaken our sleeping souls?