Page 179 - EducationWorld Oct. 2022

Books

Ranjan following in the of the 4th century ruins
footsteps of Lang or cast- of Aihole in Karnataka. A HISTORY OF SRINIKETAN:
ing him in his own image? Just as I thought there was RABINDRANATH TAGORE’S
In fact, there’s no subter- nothing left to discover PIONEERING WORK IN RURAL
RECONSTRUCTION
fuge or deliberation here. in the void created by the Uma Das Gupta
The whole thing occurs intensive digging, another
quite spontaneously and half-destroyed temple NIYOGI BOOKS
why not? A young man of exclusive and primal Rs.450 Pages 234
researching his Ph D is so beauty would spring out
besotted with his subject, a and I would remain in awe
writer like himself, a wan- of my anub huti. direct experience of village Tagore’s first
derer adopting so many I felt the same exhilara- life wherein he closely ob- experience of
countries and languages tion while co-excavating served the glaring poverty village life and close
that he belongs to all of John Lang. Hope you do and misery of the peas- observation of the
them or none at all. What too. antry, and which planted glaring poverty of the
would be more natural MRIDULA GARG (The the seed of the Institute peasantry planted the
than that over the years Book R eview ) of Rural Reconstruction seed of the Institute of
spent together, they grow (IRR) he would eventually Rural Reconstruction
more and more alike? Amit Tagore’s rural establish in Sriniketan,
Ranjan’s painstaking yet in the Birbhum district of
exuberant craft in pen- western Bengal in 1922. Tagore) and examine its
ning this book does not reconstruction Tagore’s unease pioneering features of inte-
allow one to fit it in any with the dismal state of grated thought and action.
narrow category — novel, initiative India’s villages turned “The idea… was premised
biography, literary history, him, as Uma Das Gupta on a unique proposition of
historical, social and politi- ORN INTO A writes in the blurb of ‘bringing life in its com-
cal commentary. wealthy family in this enlightening book pleteness’ to village India
As the title of this cri- BCalcutta in 1861, under review, “into a through the Santiniketan-
tique makes amply clear, there was very little scope, man of action”. Economic Sriniketan alternative edu-
what Ranjan does is to so to speak, in Rabin- development of villages cation,” writes Das Gupta.
take a cluster of forgotten dranath Tagore’s child- was at the core of Tagore’s The book is divided into
ruins and excavate them hood years to experience Sriniketan-IRR experiment 11 short chapters plus four
bit by bit, discovering new country life first hand. but there was (also) the appendices and a visuals
edifices and artefacts. He It was only in the 1890s, ‘other’ no less important section. Indeed the photos,
explores the anatomy of a after Tagore was well past goal of infusing joy into curated from the collec-
tale but then feels it’s not youth, that he was tasked the lives of village people. tion of Rabindra-Bhavana
fully done. It needs excava- with the supervision and He knew intuitively that Archive, is the real treat for
tion, not just examination management of the fam- poverty was not the only Tagore lovers. Following a
z
or investigation. So, he re- ily’s ( amindari) estates in problem; unhappiness was succinct introduction, the
turns to the told tale again the rural areas of eastern also a problem. author narrates the causes
and again and each time Bengal. Expectedly, the Srinik- which motivated Tagore to
excavates something new Based in Selidaha/ etan-IRR model combined think about and act on the
for the reader to freshly Shilaidaha, headquarters and connected rural and dire need of rural recon-
wonder at. of the Birahimpur estate urban ideas and grassroots struction in colonial India.
Impatient readers might (in the then Nadia district) reform, humanism and On this issue of the
sometimes find this repeti- located on the banks of economics, science and village as a site of reform,
tive process a bit tedious the mighty River Padma, arts/crafts, tradition and Mahatma Gandhi too was
but if you are a true aashiq Tagore’s long stint in the modernity, agriculture and not far behind the poet,
of both truth and fantasy, Bengal countryside gave industrial technology, local though the two differed on
you would thank Amit birth to some of his finest and global/universal. ways and means to address
Ranjan for inviting you to literary creations. This slim volume by Das rural reform from a mod-
come excavate a site called But what many of us Gupta on Sriniketan-IRR’s ern perspective. However,
John Lang with him. may not be aware of is that history attempts to docu- one of the more serious
It reminded me of my the lengthy sojourn was ment the work of rural differences which Tagore
witnessing the excavation the city-bred Tagore’s first reconstruction (begun by had with nationalists of the

180 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2022