Tagore and the call of the grassroots

Well-known children's theatre activist Dr. Ashish Ghosh has conducted many theatre workshops with children, youth and teachers, besides connecting theatre arts to education.

Founder-President of ANANT (An Association for Nascent Art and Natural Theatre), he is also president of ASSITEJ India, a wing of the global body ASSITEJ which connects thousands of Theatre for Young Audience (TYA) companies and individuals in 84 countries.

Recently -- along with wife Ruma Ghosh -- he staged the musical play “Ebar Phirao Mor-e”: Call of the Roots: A Saga of Tagore's Lifelong quest to be part of the grassroots.

In a conversation with this correspondent, Ghosh spoke about his new play.

What were the highlights of “Ebar Phirao Mor-e”?

I wanted to highlight Tagore's life-long struggle to reach the grassroots in three parts. Part 1 covers his childhood up to young adulthood where we find him longing for freedom from the confines of his home.

Part 2 represents a turn in the poet's life. In the countryside he had a direct view of the extremes of beauty and the destitute condition of his people.

In the last part of the play, we find him as a global figure honoured with the Nobel Prize, Knighthood and foreign receptions. He was also face-to-face with the barbaric side of the powerful race for the world's riches at the cost of unending human suffering.

At the far end of his life, in the midst of World War II, he admitted his failure to reach out to his suffering countrymen. He still waits for the saviour who would emerge from the grassroots.

For the play, I compiled his writings and compositions and arranged them in sequence -- his autobiography, essays, public lectures, letters, poems, stories, novels and songs. The title came from his stirring poem written in 1894, but his concern to be part of the grassroots remains throughout his life and comes back as a refrain. I wonder why this aspect of Tagore's struggle remains largely unnoticed!

What was the objective of “Ebar Phirao Mor-e”?

I wanted to show Tagore as an exemplar. He is generally projected as a romantic poet and an idealist thinker. To me, he appears as a crusader against bondage, illiteracy, poverty and injustice. I wrote the script, and sang the songs live with musicians on stage.

How was the play conceived?

It struck me long back that in Tagore's writings, the imagery of confinement is very strong; it comes back again and again throughout his life. That is why I have used the symbol of window demarcating the open world outside and the confinement within. This contrast can be found in his autobiography, his poems, and particularly in plays. I always thought that the great man had great dreams and great failures. These failures raise significant questions for us today.