When we were in school, it was almost a compulsion to learn Rabindrasangeet for all the school programmes to sing for. We were the lot who would hardly ever protest but sing with grim faces and thank Tagore for relieving us every pochishe boishakh, while going back to attending classes and pleasing all our otherwise silently protesting teachers. Then there was me among all of them, who would receive a "...and congratulations to YOU!" in the middle of a serious maths class from Mrs. S. Roy, for having sung well. The singing well part of her compliment appealed less to me, from whoever it was, than did the part in their compliment which said I sang it in my own style. My voice is different and I didn't sing Rabindrasangeet in the typical "Shantiniketan style",they'd say.

My understanding of the music was limited to learning the verses written in Bengali with a lot of difficulty, poring over the texts intently for hours together to decipher what is written (this was only initially,though, I'm used to it now) and learn the melody which was more or less the same for almost all the songs.

Recently, when I sang for the nrityonatika "Chandalika", I was angered immensely. ALL the songs, and I'm not exaggerating one bit as most of you will know, sound the SAME. Except for one song "Jageni", every song has the same melody and I wonder as to how no one wants to tear their hair and cry. My wise friend Mayurakshi, all of 14, explained to me though, that not all the songs have their melodies composed by Tagore himself. Most of the boring monotonous ones are thanks to Tagore's less talented brother, who composed in the most uncreative way possible. This is a fact I didn't know before.

As I discovered more Tagore this autumn, I'm getting closer to understanding and appreciating him than before, when, on that culvert over the gutter in our school, I'd sing the songs hatefully and never ever tried to understand the sentiment behind the songs. There are so many songs which appeal to me now. There's one song, Bhabona Kahare Bole, which I really like but I discovered a Kirtan yesterday, which is beautiful, to say the least. A Bangladeshi band called Arnob and friends has reworked this song very impressively using a Nagra and Saxophone, besides the guitar(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYQZcOyUg80). For now, I'll leave you with these beautiful lyrics.

Majhe majhe tobo dekha pai,chirodin keno pai na?

Keno megh ashe hridoyo-akashe,tomare dekhite dey na?

Khoniko aloke aankhir poloke tomaye jobe pai dekhite

harai-harai shoda bhoy hoy,haraiya feli chokhite.

Ki korile bolo paibo tomare,rakhibo aankhite aankhite.

Eto prem ami kotha pabo nath,tomare hridoye rakhite?

Aar karo paane chahibo na aar, koribo ami parno pon-

tumi jodi bolo ekhoni koribo bishoybashona bishorjon.

(My sincere apologies for Bengali lyrics in the english script)