Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 17 (IANS) India and UNESCO have launched yearlong commemorative activities to mark the beginning of the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore at Maison de L’Inde City University in Paris, a communique by the Unesco said Monday.

The inaugural event “Waves of Joy” May 12 was a composite presentation of music, dance and poetry in Bengali, English and French by Paris-based Indian cultural exponent Sharmila Roy Pomnot.

The organisers obtained rare iconography of Tagore with the help of Visva Bharati University and exhibited these at the venue. One of the rare memorabilia included a rare photograph of Tagore with Mahatma Gandhi and another with Albert Einstein.

The event was attended by additional director-general-designate (culture) of Unesco, chairperson of the executive board of Unesco, nearly 50 ambassadors, permanent delegates, artists, intellectuals and prominent members of the Indian community in France.

The 35th General Conference of Unesco in October 2009 at behest of India’s human resource development minister approved Unesco’s association with the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore in 2011.

A similar commemoration had been organised in 1961 for his 100th anniversary.

The yearlong commemorative activities in Unesco will include an international seminar and performance of Tagore’s poetry, music and dance and culminate with a major event on May 7, 2011, which marks the 150th birth anniversary of Tagore.