Gallery containing rare Tagore photos inaugurated in RBU

Earlier, the Hungary government had handed the photographs to the Information and Broadcasting department which in turn sent them to the state government and finally the rare photographs have got a berth at the gallery.

Tagore had been to Hungary to attend a poetry reading convention at Budapest in 1926. After reaching Budapest he felt chest pain and was admitted to a hospital at Balatonfured. Here he stayed for nearly three weeks. After he got well Tagore had planted a sapling inside the hospital compound.

Balaton was Central Europe’s largest fresh water lake. 

By the lakeside stands the city ofBalatonfured. It is a weekend destination and famous for its scenic beauty. Tagore arrived here on October, 1926 not as a tourist but as a patient.

He was accompanied by Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis and his wife Nirmal Kumari popularly known as Rani. They also came with the ailing poet and stayed in a house situated close to the hospital. Rani used to come to him in the evening and spent several hours and discussed many things.

 Rani had kept notes of the discussions in her dairy. Slowly, Tagore’s health improved following three weeks rest which he had needed very badly. On getting well he used to walk inside the hospital compound with Rani.

There is a rare picture with Rani and the poet’s physician Dr Schmidt. Intellectuals from Europe came to see him and those photographs have been preserved well.

Sabyasachi Basu Roy Chowdhury, vice chancellor of RBU said some of the goods used by Tagore have also been displayed. He said the gallery would attract Tagore lovers from all over the world because of the rare and hitherto less known photographs.