How often does it happen that you visit a place and feel that all the while you belonged there?
Well, till date, this happened twice with me. And the recent one being Shantiniketan, the land of poetry and imagination!
How we have romanticized the city life...; the idea of finding calm in the chaos. But are we really able to find it? Or we, in the process lose our minds in the chaos and hence start to glamourize it?
But what if the calm and peace we are seeking for is somewhere far, away from the city; in a land surrounded by the group of palm tress, tall sonajhuri trees standing like a watchman to protect the land from the 'civilized' urban intrusions. And adjacent to the forest lies the mud houses of the Adivasi tribals. As Kopai Nodi keeps flowing from one side, somewhere afar a voice sings '𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘥𝘪 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘩 𝘮𝘢𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘢𝘵𝘶 𝘫𝘰𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘦'.
That's Shantiniketan standing true to its name- An Abode of Peace. But it is not just the scenic landscape that beholds the calmness. The walk through the University campus area brings in the serenity for me. There's an unusual stillness that surrounds the place. Silence builds in a room inside us. But unlike other times, this silence is not silent; it's meaningful. It speaks. The silence that knocks in our deepest of thoughts. But I am no Tagore to give words to my thoughts and make it flow like a river. My thoughts stays inside me. Or probably as a Bengali, Tagore and Ray are so much in our genes that we cannot help but fall in love with this place. And that's why Shantiniketan feels known and own.
“𝘚𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘺” -Amartya Sen
Photographs and piece written by- Hridi
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