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Mungpoo, Aug. 8: The state government has decided to set up the Nepali Akademy at Mungpoo, made famous by Rabindranath Tagore’s visits.
The assurance on the Akademy’s revival — the second in a month — came on the bard’s death anniversary.
The Akademy has been defunct since 1985 and on July 13, on the birth anniversary celebrations of Nepali Adikavi Bhanubhakta Acharya, a Mamata Banerjee aide had promised its reopening. Theatre personality Bibhash Chakrabarty had visited Darjeeling on that day and had conveyed Mamata’s message that the Akademy would be revived.
Today’s announcement was made by north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb at a programme held in Mungpoo, 32km from Darjeeling, to observe the death anniversary of Tagore.
“The chief minister wants to set up the Nepali Akademy here in Mungpoo. I will also propose to her to set up a Rabindranath Tagore International Research Centre at the museum here.”
The Akademy had been established for the promotion of the Nepali language which was recognised under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution in 1979. It used to award the Bhanu Bhakta Puraskar for literature, drama, music and art.
But with the Gorkhaland agitation starting in the 1980s under Subash Ghisingh, the Akademy stopped functioning. Even after the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council was formed in 1988, Ghisingh, who was then at the helm of affairs, did not attach much importance to the Bhanu Bhakta Puraskar.
Instead, the DGHC instituted the Agam Singh Giri Puraskar in literature and demands for the revival of the Akademy fell on deaf ears despite several pleas from quarters like the Kurseong Pustakalaya and Nepali Sahitya Sammelan.
The Bhanu Puraskar was revived in 2002, but from then onwards it came to be awarded by the Bangla Akademy.
Indra Bahadur Rai in whose name a college is being set up at Gorubathan in Kalimpong sub-division received the Bhanu Puraskar that year. However, the awards for the other three fields have never been revived.
Even the Bhanu Puraskar for literature was stopped after 2006, this time because of the uncertainties in the hills that preceded the revival of the Gorkhaland agitation the next year.
The details of the new Akedmy are, however, unknown. The earlier Akademy had a 23-member committee with then chief minister Jyoti Basu as the chairperson and then information and cultural affairs minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee as its vice-chairperson.
“The district magistrate, who used to be called the district collector was the executive chairman of the Akademy and the secretary used to be of the rank of the assistant director of information,” said a district official. The Akademy also had two other government employees as committee members.
The chairperson of the Siliguri-Jalpaiguri Development Authority Rudranath Bhattacharya, who was also in Mungpoo today, said: “The people of Siliguri and Jalpaiguri would also be happy to extend financial assistance to the Rabindra museum at Mungpoo, apart from the government’s initiative.”
Since Mamata Banerjee government has taken over, there have been frequent visits by ministers and people’s representatives from the plains to the hills to bridge the gap between the two regions.
Minister Deb said the government had sanctioned Rs 5 lakh for the museum recently and the electricity connection would be immediately restored. The museum is currently being looked after by the directorate of cinchona and other medicinal plants even though no separate funds have been allotted by the government for the purpose.
The museum is of much importance as Tagore had visited Mungpoo four times from 1938 to 1940 because of his love for the place and special bond with Maitreyi Devi, the daughter of his friend Surendranath Dasgupta. Memoirs of his stay here were published by Maitreyi Devi in her book Mungpoote Rabindranath (Tagore by Fireside).
~TT
Facelift for Hills Rabindra Bhawan
Deep Gazmer, The Times of India
MONGPOO (KURSEONG): A unanimous conclusion has been arrived at to save the losing memories of Rabindranath Tagore at Mongpu, where the Nobel laureate stayed on four occasions during his visit to the Hills between 1938 and 1940.
Rabindra Bhawan at Mongpu, 31 kilometers from Darjeeling, houses several artifacts, photographs and personal belonging of the bard. At the Bhawan, one can still find the bed on which Tagore slept neatly tucked, the mahogany desk on which he penned some of his famous poems and the also the colors that were used to sketch the paintings.
The urgency was evident on Monday with Gautam Deb, the North Bengal development minister in-charge, saying that he would put up a proposal to set up an international institute of research on Tagore at Mongpu. "It is imperative to preserve his work and everything related to him. I will propose to our chief minister Mamata Banerjee to set up a research institute at Mongpu," Deb said on Monday while attending a function to observe Tagore's 70th death anniversary. The Bhawan, which remained neglected for several years, was painted within five days on the order of the chief minister for the occasion. "The condition of the Bhawan was bad but henceforth we will take every step to maintain it. In fact, we can think of making the Bhawan a place of national importance. Besides, Mungpo was dear to Tagore. So we need to develop the area on lines of a tourist destination," said Deb. He also promised to arrange for restoration of the electricity lines to Rabindra Bhawan within a week.
The minister also had a special mention for the Cinchona Plantation which he said would be given all government support. "The plantation is an asset to the state. There is tremendous potential and huge international demand for the quinine and other medicinal plants that are grown here. I will propose for modernizing the factory that will help in turning it into a profitable crop," said Deb.
Sisir Raut, who has taken the initiative to guard and look after Rabindra Bhawan, welcomed the minister's promise with apprehension. "We urgently need to preserve everything at Mungpo and other places in the hills that are related to Tagore. Nothing had been done in the past but now there is a glimmer of hope. But, I will only be happy and satisfied when promises are implemented," he said. Raut is a worker in the Cinchona Plantation and has been looking and guarding Rabindra Bhawan since 2000 with no support. Others like Buddha Thapa and Kumar Gurung, both plantation workers, too, expressed their apprehensions.
"We have seen the state government's attitude for many years. It is only during occasions that there is activity here. Otherwise, it is a desolate place to be in," they said.
In between the promises and assurances and speeches of the dignitaries present, artists from Kolkata, Siliguri and Darjeeling performed Rabindra Sangeet, to keep with the somber atmosphere. The MLAs from Kurseong, Siliguri and Martigara were present along with state government dignitaries.
Facelift for Hills Rabindra Bhawan
Deep Gazmer, The Times of India
MONGPOO (KURSEONG): A unanimous conclusion has been arrived at to save the losing memories of Rabindranath Tagore at Mongpu, where the Nobel laureate stayed on four occasions during his visit to the Hills between 1938 and 1940.
Rabindra Bhawan at Mongpu, 31 kilometers from Darjeeling, houses several artifacts, photographs and personal belonging of the bard. At the Bhawan, one can still find the bed on which Tagore slept neatly tucked, the mahogany desk on which he penned some of his famous poems and the also the colors that were used to sketch the paintings.
The urgency was evident on Monday with Gautam Deb, the North Bengal development minister in-charge, saying that he would put up a proposal to set up an international institute of research on Tagore at Mongpu. "It is imperative to preserve his work and everything related to him. I will propose to our chief minister Mamata Banerjee to set up a research institute at Mongpu," Deb said on Monday while attending a function to observe Tagore's 70th death anniversary. The Bhawan, which remained neglected for several years, was painted within five days on the order of the chief minister for the occasion. "The condition of the Bhawan was bad but henceforth we will take every step to maintain it. In fact, we can think of making the Bhawan a place of national importance. Besides, Mungpo was dear to Tagore. So we need to develop the area on lines of a tourist destination," said Deb. He also promised to arrange for restoration of the electricity lines to Rabindra Bhawan within a week.
The minister also had a special mention for the Cinchona Plantation which he said would be given all government support. "The plantation is an asset to the state. There is tremendous potential and huge international demand for the quinine and other medicinal plants that are grown here. I will propose for modernizing the factory that will help in turning it into a profitable crop," said Deb.
Sisir Raut, who has taken the initiative to guard and look after Rabindra Bhawan, welcomed the minister's promise with apprehension. "We urgently need to preserve everything at Mungpo and other places in the hills that are related to Tagore. Nothing had been done in the past but now there is a glimmer of hope. But, I will only be happy and satisfied when promises are implemented," he said. Raut is a worker in the Cinchona Plantation and has been looking and guarding Rabindra Bhawan since 2000 with no support. Others like Buddha Thapa and Kumar Gurung, both plantation workers, too, expressed their apprehensions.
"We have seen the state government's attitude for many years. It is only during occasions that there is activity here. Otherwise, it is a desolate place to be in," they said.
In between the promises and assurances and speeches of the dignitaries present, artists from Kolkata, Siliguri and Darjeeling performed Rabindra Sangeet, to keep with the somber atmosphere. The MLAs from Kurseong, Siliguri and Martigara were present along with state government dignitaries.
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