In this first part of a two-segment article, Uday Sankar Das writes from the port city on the visit of the poet there in the early part of the twentieth century. The second part will appear next week ---
Literary Editor

A poet so desirous of wandering into distant lands is rare not only in Bengal, but one might say, in the whole world. Rabindranath Tagore was one such rare poet.
No poet in his era had travelled as extensively as Tagore, be it abroad or in his own country. As far as his travels in his native Bengal are concerned, in particular in what is today's Bangladesh, his visits to his family estate in Shilaidaha, and also to other places like Dhaka, Mymensingh, Barisal and Sylhet have all been well documented and widely read.
Although avid followers of and researchers in Tagore's works (including the eminent author of West Bengal, Pratap Mukherjee) have delved into his connection with the south-eastern port city of Chittagong, general readers have very little insight into his love for and interest in Chittagong. And add to that his only two-day visit to this beautiful city in the early part of the last century. This city later became so much intertwined with his literary works and music.
The first ever written evidence of Tagore's interest in Chittagong can be found in the writings of a young poet of Chittagong by the name of Nalini Kanta Sen who, while he was a student of B.A. at Presidency College, Kolkata, wrote a letter on 25 July 1897 to his friend in Chittagong, Surendra Nath Mitra, about his meeting with Tagore at the poet's house in Jorashanko, Kolkata:
"I had been to the poet's house the other day .Almost all the conversation was related to retaining our national culture and heritage. Rabi Babu has decided not to wear Western attire ……. I had informed him about our organisation being formed with similar aims. He smiled, to indicate his affirmative opinion and satisfaction."
Tagore's very clear comment about natural-beauty clad Chittagong can be seen in a letter he wrote to the prominent author Thakurdas Mukherjee on 23 October 1899. Mukherjee had a letter of condolence to Tagore on the death of the poet's nephew, Balendranath. In a very long letter of reply, Tagore in one place wrote: "From the address in your letter, I see that you are now in Chattagram (Bangla name for Chittagong). By hearing the name of the place, one can visualise a picture of a hilly area covered with the shadows of trees, and in the horizon one could see the blue linings of the ever-vacillating sea."
Another prominent literary figure of Chittagong, Shashanka Mohon Sen, had the opportunity of reading a part of his poem "Sindhu Sangeet" to Tagore, and his brief comment was, "In this book, one can see a natural compassion and poetic talent".
During the Maghotshab (Winter Festival) of 1900, Jamini Kanta Sen, a student of B.A. at Presidency College, Kolkata, and hailing from Chittagong, met Tagore in his house in Jorashanko, and became so close to him that later he joined the poet's school in Bolpur. Through his acquaintance, in March 1906, the revered leader of Chittagong, Jatra Mohon Sen (father of veteran Congress leader and six-time elected Mayor of Kolkata Corporation, Deshapriyo Jyotindra Mohon Sen) invited Tagore to visit Chittagong.
On 14 and 15 April, 1906, the Bengal Provincial Conference and Bengal Literary Conference were organised in Barisal. Tagore was to visit Chittagong after the conferences, but because of his busy schedule and other urgent work related to his youngest daughter Mira's wedding, he could not go to Chittagong that year.
Tagore did visit Chittagong the following year, and Jamini Kanta Sen wrote about the poet's acceptance of the invitation: "Tagore was invited to visit Chittagong in 1907 by the citizens of the main centre of the anti-British movement. Generally, he would not accept any invitation of this type outside Kolkata. Chittagong has overcome that".
After receiving Tagore's consent, a committee was formed to accord a befitting welcome to him in Chittagong. Prominent among the committee members, comprising Chittagong's literary figures and eminent citizens, were poet Shashanka Mohon Sen's father, Braja Kumar Sen, Sheikh-e-Chatgaam Kazem Ali, Jatra Mohon Sen, Tripura Charan Chowdhury and Jamini Kanta Sen. The members went to the authorities of East Bengal Railway to seek permission to decorate the station with flowers on the occasion of Tagore's arrival.
As Rabindranath Tagore, along with his nephew Surendranath Tagore, Kedarnath Dasgupta and others, arrived at Chittagong Railway Station on the morning of Monday, 17 June 1907, a torrential downpour buffeted the city. But people from all walks of life braved the elements to accord him a tumultuous welcome. When there was a slight let-up in the rain, the poet was taken in a flower-decked hackney carriage to the palatial house of Kamala Kanta Sen on Hospital Road (in the vicinity of the old General Hospital near Anderkilla). Sen was at that time 'the oldest and richest pleader of Chittagong'.
A huge crowd had already gathered in front of the house and Tagore came out to wave at them. He, thereafter, returned to the 'large drawing room' to be introduced to the prominent citizens of the city.
On the same day, the ICS judge of Chittagong, B.K.Mullick came to invite Tagore to dinner that day at his place, which the poet politely declined with a smiling face.
Tagore, however, did send his nephew Surendranath to the judge's residence for dinner that evening, and he himself held a meeting with the literary figures and music connoisseurs of Chittagong.
Having seen the poet from such close quarters, especially in his own house in Chittagong, Jamini Kanta wrote , "What I had seen in Bolpur, I have seen in my own house………..Rabindranath's extraordinary restraint – as in Bolpur, here also he was calm and quiet, unperturbed, always like the Sphinx……. Even as a guest, his food was very simple --- in the Western style, just boiled vegetables and rice pudding. He never took any food cooked with spices".
On the following morning, (Tuesday, 18 June 1907), Tagore with a few companions went on a tour of the city and landed up on the banks of the River Karnaphuli at Jahajghata. There, he asked one of the labourers working on ships   (khalashi, as they are known locally), "How is your Chattagram?" In reply, the khalashi told Tagore, "Babu, there is no place like this on earth. The place we consider after Makkah-Madina is Chattagram".
The venue selected for according Tagore a grand reception and have him deliver his lecture was an auditorium built by Jamini Kanta's father in the city's Sadarghat area. It was called Kamalakanta's Theatre Hall (this hall later came to be known as Lion Cinema and was demolished only a few years back).
In those days, there was no such big auditorium outside Kolkata. The auditorium was brimming with a huge crowd, despite another heavy downpour early in the evening. Reporting on the reception, the newspaper Bande Mataram, in its edition of 20 June 1907, commented, 'despite bad weather, the meeting was a crowded one'.
Tagore delivered an extempore speech delving on the crisis that the country was enduring at the time, saying that not a single party was working for the real good of the country, although that was the call of the day.
Prominent Hindu and Muslim leaders of Chittagong were present on the occasion. Among the Muslim leaders were Sheikh-e-Chatgaam Kazem Ali and his eldest son Ekramul Huq.
Braja Kumar Sen, who was one of the prominent organisers of the reception, and also a music lover, requested Tagore to render a song. Tagore duly obliged and sang a patriotic song.
After the reception, Tagore, accompanied by his nephew Surendranath and others, arrived at the railway station to board the night train. There was no let-up in the rain. Despite the atrocious weather, distinguished citizens and ordinary people turned up at the station to bid farewell to the poet.
Jamini Kanta Sen, in his memoirs, while describing Tagore's visit to Chittagong, wrote, "The reception accorded to Tagore was unparalleled; it was a rare sight in those days, anywhere outside Kolkata. Receiving such adoration as a litterateur was only possible here (Chattagram)".
The train carrying Rabindranath Tagore and his entourage pulled out of Chittagong railway station at around 8:30 in the evening, with hundreds of people waving him goodbye on the platform, thus bringing down the curtain on a very busy but historic two days of 'poetic' sojourn in the city of Chittagong.

Uday Sankar Das is a reputed journalist and has worked for the BBC Bengali Service in London.