Tagore’s 161st birth anniversary on Sunday

The nation will celebrate the 161st birth anniversary of Nobel laureate Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore on Sunday.

The celebrations were halted for the past two years for the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

was a great novelist, poet, visual artist, playwright, and a music composer. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, he contributed to reshape the Bangla literature and music.

The youngest of the 13th children of his parents, he was born on May 7 in 1861 at Jorasanko in Kolkata.

For Geetanjali, he won the Noble Prize in 1913, which brought him the reputation to become the first Nobel laureate in Asia.

Now, two of his songs are the national anthems of Bangladesh and India.

President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages on the occasion.

Several cultural organisations have planned programmes to celebrate the birth anniversary. Also, they will stage performances and lectures on the life and works of Tagore.