Tribute to Tagore

Updated on: Thursday, February 16, 2012

A century after he penned down his school-life experiences in Jibon Smriti, the present students of St Xavier’s Collegiate School congregated to offer a token of appreciation to Rabindranath Tagore, who had a short stint at the institution as a student.

St Xavier’s Collegiate School collaborated with HMV Sa Re Ga Ma to release a CD titled Muktapushpa. The chief guest, Professor Krishna Bose, former member of the Parliament, lit the inaugural lamp in the presence of Father K K Devasy, the principal, Father Sebastian James, vice principal, Noomi Mehta, honorary secretary, Alumnorum Societas and S Karim, the chief content manager of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa India Pvt Ltd.

The idea of launching the CD was conceived two years back on the institution’s 150th year celebration when the students had organised Sanskriti, a fest to honour the tradition and cultural heritage.

Fr James, who had contributed extensively towards launching the CD, explains the reason behind selecting Muktapushpa as the title. “Mukta, which means pearl, is a symbol of purity and unlike other precious stones, it does not need polishing. Akin to the pearl, Tagore was also a gem that needed no polishing.”

“Back then, Tagore thought that formal education might ruin creativity; today he would be pleasantly surprised to see the students of his own school pioneering such a creative innovation,” said Professor Krishna.

“We have all grown up listening to and reading Tagore’s creations; the first song that I learnt was his. There is a little Tagore in every one of us and this CD just commemorates that,” she mused.

Students under various age brackets have lent their voice to the album. “There was a different kind of happiness while rehearsing for the songs and the feeling just escalated during the actual recording,” reminisced Shoham Kar, a student who worked on the project.

“This CD is unique as it has been compiled entirely by amateur singers but the quality they offered was par excellence. I would also request every music lover to buy CDs rather than download them from the Internet as music piracy is killing the industry,” said Karim.

The event came to a melodious end with the students and teachers singing the famous ‘Sraboner Dharar Motto’ and the audience heartily joining in.

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