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By Dipaneeta Das:
On Rabindranath Tagore’s 162nd birth anniversary, the Indian Railways recalled the Nobel laureate’s close association with the railways. The eastern zone office of the Indian Railways on Tuesday shared old photos of the Nobel laureate, taken during his train journeys.
In one of the photos, Rabindranath Tagore is seen sitting in a train coach with sunglasses on. The Indian Railways, in a press release, mentioned details about Tagore’s first train journey on February 14,1873 and his last train on July 25,1941.
He was 11 years old when he boarded his first train from Howrah to Bolpur. Interestingly, his last train journey was also between the same stations.
“The great poet and noble laureate, Rabindranath Tagore had a pleasant association with this Railway from the age of 11 years 9 months, on 14th February 1873, till his last journey from Bolpur to Howrah on 25th July 1941,” eastern zone office of the Indian Railways stated.
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Detailing his last journey, the railway said the then Chief Operating Superintendent of East Indian Railway (EIR) Nibaran Chandra Ghosh provided his saloon to the poet and accompanied him on his journey to Bolpur to Howrah. He died almost two weeks after his last train journey on August 7, 1941.
Such was Rabindranath Tagore’s association to the Indian Railways that the Saloon Car in which Tagore took his last train journey has been preserved at Bolpur in Bengal.
“The saloon has been refurbished and is preserved in “Chirantani” near Bolpur station building in the same condition,” the press release said.
The Indian Railways concluded the press release with a quote from a poem in Tagore’s book ‘Gitanjali’.
“At the end of the stony path, in the country of virgin solitude my friend is sitting all alone. Deceive him not. Wake, oh awaken!” it read.
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