“Where the mind is without fear”

Isn't it strange that just as you start believing that your life's experiences have adequately prepared you for most eventualities, you are suddenly surprised by a chance occurrence? Many might say "Ce'st la vie" (that's life) -- the choices that we make at each turn can lead us unexpectedly into unknown territory.
For me, the unexpected occurred when an art connoisseur and collector friend informed me that, for the first time in the history of art auction, Christie's at New York City was putting up a sale of eighty-one paintings of Nandalal Bose, Abanindranath Tagore and Rabindranath Tagore. I couldn't resist the temptation to travel to New York, and view from close proximity the rare works. Unlike a museum, which demands a distance between the art object and the admirer, auction houses encourage prospective buyers to inspect, touch and feel the art pieces.
Besides, the provenance of the artwork was something I could instantly relate to given my passion for Tagore's legacy. A bit of research revealed that in 1919 Rabindranath Tagore requested Nandalal Bose to head the art school in his ashram in Santiniketan. The intention was to introduce a new form of art education that would provide a better understanding of nature and humanity. To help shape this avant-garde experiment Tagore chose Nandalal, the most gifted pupil of his nephew Abanindranth Tagore.
The paintings at Christie's, acquired from Nandalal's grandson Supratik Bose, were breathtakingly beautiful in form and colour.  They also demonstrated an interesting diversity of style and subject matter -- a man taming a bull (Nandalal), a lone boat sailing against a cloudy landscape (Abanindranath) and the cursive piece from Tagore's Gitanjali. Yet they all shared a common theme: each conveyed a strong visual message about the freedom and dignity of the human spirit.
The auction, held in the iconic Rockefeller Plaza, was suavely managed with the auctioneer providing enticing descriptions of the art pieces. It was gratifying to see the global interest and recognition for the works of the three Bengali artists who, for many decades, have remained in partial oblivion from the international art scene. Abanindranath Tagore's untitled watercolour of Siva, in the Ajanta fresco style, sold for a staggering $555,750. But the most amazing sale of the day was Rabindranath Tagore's handwritten English text of the Gitanjali poem "Where the mind is without fear, And the head is high." The signed page sold for $363,750. The poem is one of Tagore's best-known works with a powerful humanistic message. Interestingly, both, Amartya Sen and Subramanyam Chandrasekhar quoted the poem for their Nobel dinner speech.
As the bidding process for the Tagore poem was in progress, I recalled its powerful message of truth, unity and the fearless human spirit. Although written against the backdrop of a British-occupied India, I remembered that my parents often referred to the poem in the context of the Bangladesh Liberation War: the struggle for a nation where all men and women can "live, and reason, in freedom." A nation where truth prevails and people are not divided by prejudice and bigotry.
At a personal level, the poem also evoked memories of the simple, minimalistic lifestyle of my gurus and friends in Tagore's ashram in Santiniketan. I remembered Santiniketan as a secular place that allowed intellectual freedom and diversity. Where people lived as one big family and intrinsic human qualities, not money, were used to measure a person's real worth. At least, that's the Santiniketan that is etched in my mind. Is it an image coloured by the romantic musings of a young, idealistic girl aspiring to be a Tagore singer? May be -- but the important thing is, that is how it impacted me
As these thoughts coursed through my mind I wondered what Tagore would have thought about his Gitanjali manuscript being sold at an astronomical price to a faceless bidder? Does this in any way undermine the message of human dignity and equity that he tried to spread? I checked online to see who had acquired the piece. The notes said that an "Asian Institution" now owned the page. I heaved a sigh of relief hoping that the poem had found its home in a museum in India or may be Bangladesh and not in the library of a private collector. At least it would be available for public viewing. Perhaps a passing visitor would pause and take time to read it and would be mentally transported to the utopia that Tagore envisaged.
Most of us may not have the resources to "own" a Tagore manuscript, but we can be inspired by his philosophy. For, we still have the liberty to think fearlessly and create our own "heaven of freedom" within ourselves.

The writer is a renowned Rabindra Sangeet exponent and a former employee of the World Bank.
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