A Timeless Journey into the life and creative works of the Noble Laureate Rabindranath Tagore
The SANSKRITI EXPRESS, a Special Exhibition Train launched by the Indian Railways as a part of ‘Sanskriti Yatra’ to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, will run throughout the country over the next one year. The train, which was flagged off by Minister of Railways, Ms. Mamata Banerjee from the Rail Museum, Howrah, West Bengal, on 09th May, 2010, will return to Howrah on 08th May, 2011. This train will also be visiting Bangladesh during this period.
Today (29th Oct.10), the Sanskriti Express was arrived at Hubli Railway Station and the same was formally inaugurated by Shri KULDEEP CHATURVEDI, General Manager, South Western Railway at Platform No.1 (Coach Siding line )at 10-00 a.m. in the presence of Shri N.C. Sinha, Chief Operations Manager, SWR, Shri Mohan A. Menon, Chief Personnel Officer, SWR, Shri Praveen Kumar Mishra, Divisional Railway Manager, Hubli Division, Shri A.K. Aherwar, Controller of Stores, SWR, Shri S. Lakshminarayana Chief Signal & Telecom. Engineer, SWR, Shri Premchand, ADRM, Hubli Division, Shri S.K. Gupta, Secretary to GM/SWR and other Branch officers of Hubli Division. Shri Kuldeep Chaturvedi said that the Exhibition Express will stay here for two days i.e. on 29th & 30th Oct.2010, for public view. The Exhibition timings are : 10-00 a.m. to 8-00 p.m. Entry for the Exhibition Train is free. He further stated that the Sanskriti Express – a fully Air-conditioned five-coach Exhibition Train on the life and works of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, entered into the jurisdiction of South Western Railway after travelling Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Kerala in the country, entered Karnataka and arrived at Ashokapuram (Mysore) Railway Station of Mysore Division on 21st Oct.10 and stayed for 03 days for public view from 22nd to 24th Oct.10, from there, it was entered Bangalore Cantonment Station of Bangalore Division and stayed there for 04 days i.e. from 25th to 28th Oct.2010, he added.
Shri Kuldeep Chaturvedi further said that around one lakh people visited the Exhibition Train so far, at Mysore and Bangalore Cities. The Sanskriti Exhibition Express Special Train will visit Madgoan station(of Konkan Railway Corpn. Ltd) and stay there for 03 days from 31st Oct.10 to 02nd Nov.2010. Further, it will also visit Vasco-da-gama(Goa) Station, under the jurisdiction of Hubli Division of SWR, stay for 02 days i.e. on 03rd and 04th Nov.2010, for public view. The first coach, named ‘Jibon Smriti ’ depicts the life of Tagore through photographs, his reminiscences, about Santiniketan and about Sriniketan. The second coach of the train, ‘ Gitanjali,’ exhibits his poems and singing of his songs by eminent artistes. Rabindranath Tagore was the first Asian to be presented Nobel Prize for his collection of poems Gitanjali in 1913. Two songs from his Rabindrasangeet canon are now the national anthems of India and Bangladesh. The Jana Gana Mana and the Amar Shonar Bangla. Rabindranath Tagore established Viswabharati University in 1921. He gave all his money from the Nobel Prize and royalty money from his books to this University. In 1940, Oxford University arranged a special ceremony to honour the poet with ‘Doctorate of Literature’
The third coach of the train, namely ‘ Muktodhara,’ exhibits Rabindra’s literature—prose, essays, novels, plays and dance dramas; creations and modifications by the poet; Tagore as performer, songs and recitation by him with photographs.
The fourth ‘Chitrarekha ’ coach depicts paintings of Tagore with descriptions like paintings from his childhood and teenage, portraits, natural stills, landscape, masks, sketches, illustrations and self portraits। There are paintings by other renowned artists like Nadalal Bose, Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Binod Behari, Ramkinker Bej, Sunayani Devi and Sudhir Khastagir are also on display.
The fifth coach. ‘ Sesh Katha,’ presents the photos of the last days of Tagore’s life as described by his near and dear ones, poems written during his last days. Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore passed away on 7th August,1941 in his ancestral home in Calcutta. This coach also has a section called ‘ Smaranika ’ photo print & handwriting of Rabindranath Tagore, vatika depicting history and Indianisation by the poet, ceramic pots and ornaments, gift cards printed by the Committee of Heritage & Culture and books by Tagore in Bengali and other translated languages.
