Rabindranath recalled on birth anniv

The 157th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore was celebrated across the country on Tuesday. 

The government and different socio-cultural organisations observed the day with elaborate programmes.

The main national programme was held at the Shilaidah Kuthibari, an ancestral mansion of the erstwhile Tagore Zamindari, at Shilaidah in Kumarkhali upazila of Kushtia district in the afternoon.

Finance minister AMA Muhith was present as the chief guest while information minister Hasanul Haq Inu was a special guest at the event chaired by cultural affairs minister Asaduzzaman Noor.

Besides, the local administration of Kushtia organised a programme at the Tagore Lodge, Kuthibari in the morning.

Many people, including foreigners, thronged Kuthibari Bakultalal, pond and Amrakanan on the occasion.

Dhaka University organised a programme marking the birth anniversary of the great poet.

Channel i organised a Rabindra Mela (Rabindra Fair) on its premises.

Tagore was a poet, visual artiste, playwright, novelist, as well as a composer whose works reshaped Bangla literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Born on 7 May, 1861 at Jorasanko Mansion in Kolkata, he was the youngest of 13 surviving children of Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi.

He became Asia's first Nobel laureate after winning the Nobel Prize in literature for his book 'Gitanjali' in 1913.

Two of his songs are now the national anthems of Bangladesh and India -- 'Amar Sonar Bangla' and 'Jana Gana Mana' -- respectively.

Tagore wrote novels, short stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays on political and personal topics. 'Gitanjali', 'Gora', and 'Ghare-Baire', 'Chokher Bali' are among his best-known works.