Today, when we are celebrating his 163rd birth anniversary, we need to remind ourselves of Rabindranath Tagore’s vision—an environmental pioneer who sought to create harmony between progress and preservation. Tagore’s concern for man’s impact on the environment intensified when he witnessed an oil spill at sea on his way to Japan in 1916. This was decades before Western environmentalists started voicing their concerns.

Having been brought up on a melodious dose of Rabindrasangeet, I was, as a child, very curious to know who the poet was, who knew me as he wrote, “Ek ‘TUKU’ chhnoa laage”, thinking in my innocence that the ‘tuku’ in the phrase was me, as Tuku was my pet name. As I grew up, I realised who Rabindranath Tagore was and his immense contribution to Bengal’s cultural heritage.

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As I alighted from the Shantiniketan Express, the rusticity of the Bolpur station had an immediate calming effect. A rickshaw ride took us to Ratanpally, where we were to stay during our visit. What struck me most were the openness and seamless blend of the mud huts and the concrete structures, each complementing the other effortlessly.

This was in December 1992. Cut to now, and it breaks my heart to see how, over the years, Shantiniketan has been mauled with a thoughtless onslaught of concretisation; unplanned and ugly, it has destroyed the natural landscape. Today, the khoai stands completely destroyed by private houses, hotels, resorts, housing complexes, and an imposing wall running alongside the metalled road leading to the Prantik station.

Jayanta Chatterji, who owns a house in Purbapalli and is distantly related to the Tagore family, laments that “Shantiniketan has become too congested like other mofussil towns.” A builder himself, Chatterji, feels that in the absence of proper town planning, Shantiniketan has seen rampant unplanned construction spoil the aesthetics of this abode of peace. He says, “The demand for land is so high that land space is reducing drastically, and illegal occupants are constructing houses.”

Tagore’s abode of peace is now competing with Calcutta for its so-called ‘development’ recklessly gate-crashing into the idyllic university township. It was on 30 November, 2002 that Sonar Tori (Phase I), the first joint-sector housing project,was formally opened on the road to Prantik. Thus began the large number of mass housing projects surrounding the university area. It is a sad sight indeed, more so when one sees concrete structures inside the Sonajhuri forest area.

The town’s limits have been expanding beyond the university area as real estate developers have turned their attention to virgin areas like the Kopai River and its banks. It is a bit of a shock to see the mighty Kopai River banks being destroyed. The river was celebrated not only by Tarashankar but by Tagore as well.

Tagore did not speak overtly about solutions to environmental problems but went on to show everyone through a practical campaign, creating Shantiniketan to stand as an example for depicting his intense affection for nature and its beauty. In all of Rabindranath Tagore’s works, nature runs as a consistent motif.
His songs Akash bhora surjyatara bishwabharapran, or Gram Chhara Oi Rangamatir Poth… speaks of his deep affection for nature. In fact, he stated in his lecture, “The Centre of Indian Culture”, delivered in 1919 in what is now Chennai, that, “Our education should be in full touch with our complete lives, economical, intellectual, aesthetic, social, and spiritual — for true education is to realise at every step how our training and knowledge have an organic connection with our surroundings.” He did spell out clearly that the limitless greed of human beings is the chief enemy of nature. This is what he states through his essay, Aranyadebata (The God of the Forest).

But, today, in this modernised society, very few people are interested in the Nobel Laureate, his sentiments, and his vision. Shantiniketan has become a tourist destination and also a status symbol for many who are buying houses and flats within and on the outskirts of Shantiniketan to prove their social status. As Arundhati Chatterjee, an educationist and a resident of Shantiniketan, categorically states, “It has become a ‘fashion’ to be seen in Shantiniketan sipping coffee in one of the numerous ‘cafes’ that have cropped up everywhere. The ‘heritage’ aspect is completely being ignored.”Trees are being felled to make way for concrete without sparing a thought about the place’s unique natural appeal and its environment.

Where is that “Ranga Matir Poth”? Now that it has been declared UNESCO’s World Heritage Site, hopefully the concerned authorities will gear up to preserve its essence.

Manish Chakraborti, conservation architect, professor, and head of the School of Architecture at Sister Nivedita University, Kolkata, is hopeful and feels that “the tangible essence of Shantiniketan is still visible in the historic core of Ashram area, Kala Bhavan and Sangeet Bhavan area, and Uttarayan. These areas, nominated as a core area within the Visva Bharati University area, are being inscribed as a world heritage site in Shantiniketan.”

He adds, “The rest of the university area is nominated as a buffer area. Here, the custodian is Visva Bharati University, where the inevitable development of a living and growing university needs to be regulated by reconciling conservation and responsive and appropriate design and development. Beyond and surrounding the university area, which is under local authorities, needs to work towards improving the existing buildings and places, which enhances the visual quality and appreciation of the place.”