IIAS gets a Tagore Centre

The HRD ministry,the sources said,had also approved grant for creation of infrastructure on the IIAS campus in the Summer Hill area after renovating a nearby building to make the centre functional within a month’s time.

A small house near IIAS,Woodfield,is the place where Tagore had lived in Shimla with his brother Satyendranath Tagore,the first Indian to join the Indian Civil Services in 1863. Here,Tagore wrote eight poems,which later became part of Sonar Tari,a collection of 19 poems by the poet.

The institute,which recently renovated an old swimming pool and converted it into a mini-poll theatre,has started a film festival to screen films made by Satyajit Ray on Tagore’s works. Khokababur Pratyabartan by Naresh Mitra and Choker Bali by Rituporno Ghosh are the other two films being screened.

The Centre,which will be a permanent Tagore Chair at the IIAS,will have four fellows,including one exclusively working on the poet’s works in the fields of visual art,theatre and music. Tagore had composed more than 2,200 songs and was a prolific painter,writer and playwright.

The other three fellows will study Tagore’s works in the Indian literature,humanities and social sciences. The funding will be provided by the HRD ministry .

The setting of the Tagore Centre in Shimla also coincides with UNESCO’s plans to commemorate the poet’s 150th birth anniversary falling on May 9,2011.