Daakghar – My Music School

Every morning, I begin my day by listening to Rabindra-sangeet (Tagore’s songs). I owe my deep love for Rabindra-sangeet to my beloved music school, named after Rabindranath Thakur’s famous play ‘Daakghar’ (The Post Office). ‘Thakur’ in original Bengali, is spelled in English as ‘Tagore’. The world of Tagore’s songs and poems are as vast as the ocean. His work ‘Gitabitan’ (The Garden of Songs) is a collection of over two thousand songs. They are not just songs; they depict Tagore’s philosophy. I feel by singing Tagore’s songs, I can express all my emotions and understand the world around me more deeply.

Our music teacher, Shri Manoj Murali Nair, is one of the renowned Rabindra-sangeet vocalists in India and abroad. He not only teaches us Tagore’s songs, but also Gurudev’s school of thought. He says, “Gurudev is our Raja (The King) and we all are his ‘postman’. We shall spread his message around the World”. I love and admire my teacher deeply. He was a student of Tagore’s Shantiniketan since early childhood, alongwith his two siblings. Both of his parents are dancers and his father, Guru Kalamandalam Muralidharan was the renowned Kathakali guru at Vishwa Bharati University. 

Together, we celebrate ‘Robir Basanta’ (The Spring Festival), ‘Barsha-mangal’ (The Monsoon Festival), ‘Briksha-ropon’ (The Plantation Festival), ‘Sharad Utsav’ (The Autumn Festival) and ‘Krishto Utsav’ (The Christmas Festival) every year, with music and dance performances. I participate in the children’s choir. Our elder brothers and sisters make beautiful stage decorations with flowers and alponas, artwork and lights and conduct children’s chorus during musical events. Here, everyone is so loving, caring and inspiring, that I feel like ‘Daakghar’ is my second family. 

In August, 2024, we celebrated ‘Brikhoropon’ in a tribal village of West Bengal along with the local children and tribals, where a Santhali tribal artist said, “Forests and fields, rivers and hills – all are Nature’s beauty. Just as we wear costumes and jewelleries, Mother Nature also decorates herself with natural beauty. We must preserve Her beauty.”

Gurudev deeply loved Nature and children. His songs depict the beauty of rural Bengal in different seasons. At Shantiniketan ashram, he wrote his poems “Gitanjali, The Song Offerings”, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1913. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, he spoke about his love for children, “I felt that as I had a deep love for Nature, I had naturally love for children also. My objective in starting this institution, Shantiniketan, was to give children full freedom of joy, of life and of communion with nature.” He not only taught children at Shantiniketan, but became their “playmate and companion” too. He felt that he was “the biggest child of the party”. Shantiniketan has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Centre in 2023.

Gurudev believed in harmony and humanity. His works deeply inspired India’s freedom movement. The lines from his poem, Suprobhat, were found scribbled in the diary of the great revolutionary, Ganesh Ghosh, on 19th April, 1930, the day of Chittagong Uprising. His songs became the national anthems of India and Bangladesh. He also inspired the Sri Lankan national anthem. Tagore travelled widely, visiting 34 countries across the globe. The school children worldwide love to read his poems. Thus, ‘the Bard of Bengal’ became ‘Visva Kobi’ – ‘the poet of the world’. This year our teacher went to China to commemorate 100 years of Tagore’s visit to China.

My heart fills with awe and gratitude to be born in the land of Rabindranath Thakur, the great poet and philosopher. I can’t express my sense of wonder, when we perform a candle light march on Christmas Eve, led by our teacher at Jorasanko Thakurbari, the ancestral abode of Gurudev. My dream is to become a humble messenger of Gurudev in future.

– By Anurag Debsarkar

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This article is published by Bookosmia, India’s #1 publisher for and by young people. Bookosmia publishes stories, books, podcasts, events, TED-Ed talks, workshops, bedtime stories and more related to kids and young adults.

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