Lover’s Gift and Crossing

Rabindranath Tagore (7th May 1861 – 7th August 1941) was an iconic figure in the Indian cultural renaissance. He was a polymath poet, philosopher, musician, writer, and educationist. Rabindranath Tagore became the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in 1913 for his collection of poems, Gitanjali. He was called Gurudev, Kaviguru, and Biswakabi affectionately and his songs are popularly known as Rabindra Sangeet.Although Tagore wrote successfully in all literary genres, he was, first of all, a poet. Among his fifty and odd volumes of poetry are: Manasi (1890) (The Ideal One), Sonar Tari (1894) (The Golden Boat), Gitanjali (1910) (Song Offerings), Gitimalya (1914) (Wreath of Songs), and Balaka (1916) (The Flight of Cranes).The English renderings of his poetry, which include The Gardener (1913), Fruit-Gathering (1916), and The Fugitive (1921), do not generally correspond to particular volumes in the original Bengali.Tagore’s major plays are Raja (1910) [The King of the Dark Chamber], Dakghar (1912) [The Post Office], Achalayatan (1912) [The Immovable], Muktadhara (1922) [The Waterfall], and Raktakaravi (1926) [Red Oleanders].He is the author of several volumes of short stories and many novels, among them Gora (1910), Ghare-Baire (1916) [The Home and the World], and Yogayog (1929) [Crosscurrents].Besides these, he wrote musical dramas, dance dramas, essays of all types, travel diaries, and two autobiographies, one in his middle years and the other shortly before his death in 1941. Tagore also left numerous drawings and paintings, and songs for which he wrote the music himself.He also played the title role in his first original dramatic piece- Valmiki Pratibha.

Married to words, Bob is a poet, novelist and consulting educationist with several books, novels and poetry in paperback. Bob has been teaching since 1982. He has inspired countless students in his teaching career, teaching them that happiness comes from a healthy body and mind. Many of his students hold eminent posts as medical doctors, army men, air pilots, DJs, business magnates, you name it. Most of them are constantly in touch with him even after his two decades of service in the teaching field. He tutors English where he also gives talks on Happiness that can be achieved by living a simple life, minimum wants and living one day at a time. That is, living for the Now. Bob lives in Kolkata but dreams of mountain mist floating through the open window and bringing the soft peals of bells from the Buddhist temple into his room. An Honorary D. Litt. from World Academy of Arts and Culture, California, Bob is a member of Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature, the SAARC Apex Body. www.facebook.com/bobdcosta, bob.dcosta14@gmail.com www.amazon.com/author/bobdcosta