Kolkata/Darjeeling: The 78th death anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore was observed on Thursday with due solemnity. The statue of Tagore was garlanded and the students of Rabindra Bharati University sung his songs at the Jorasanko campus of the university, where the bard had breathed his last. Professor Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, vice-chancellor of RBU, said an exhibition on the lives of Tagore and Gandhi, whose 150th birth anniversary will be celebrated in October, was inaugurated on Thursday. Though the differences between Tagore and Gandhi are well known, it did not affect their friendship. Gandhi had visited Santiniketan four times and on two occasions he was accompanied by his wife Kasturba. Gandhi had given Tagore a cheque of Rs 60,000, when the latter needed the money. Similarly, on one occasion Tagore had gone to see Gandhi when he was on hunger strike in jail and gave him a glass of fruit juice to break the fast. The exhibition will be held for one month and may be extended further. Professor Basu Ray Chaudhury said such an elaborate exhibition on the lives of two great personalities is the only of its kind held in Kolkata so far. There was also a discussion on Tagore and Gandhi: A noble debate, in which Professor A Annamalai took part. Mayor Firhad Hakim garlanded the statue of Tagore at Nimtala crematorium. The death anniversary of Tagore was observed at New Town as well. At Upasanasthal, the residents took part in a prayer in the morning. This was followed by singing of Tagores songs. In the afternoon, saplings were planted in the campus of Rabindra Tirtha by scholars and important persons. Noted Sanskrit scholar Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri was the chief guest of the programme. Rabindra Tirtha will organise programmes on Tagore on Saturdays and Sundays in August. Meanwhile, the death anniversary of Tagore was also commemorated at Mongpu in Darjeeling. Deepap Priya P, the District Magistrate, Darjeeling garlanded the statue of the bard there. Addressing the gathering, the DM stated that very soon renovation work of the museum, bungalow and the surroundings will be taken up. "In order to promote Mongpu we will organise a three-day-long tourist festival at Yogighat in December this year," stated the District Magistrate. Mongpu, 32 km from Darjeeling was the bards favourite haunt. Tagore had visited the place in 1938, 1939 and 1940 –the year in which his birthday was also celebrated here. This was his last visit as he fell ill and had to return to Kolkata.

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