Spit marks on Rabindranath Tagore’s sketch at Tagore Hill in Ranchi. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Nov. 27: A few months ago, a local NGO in a bid to restore the beauty and serenity of the Tagore Hill, had sketched a portrait of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore on one of the walls of his house atop the hill. The portrait, today, is a symbol of “heritage-abuse” with spit marks all over. Most visitors prefer to stay away from the hills these days.

However, there is a debate over whether Tagore ever landed at Ranchi. Old-timers argue that Jyotindranath Tagore had spent some time at the house. Residents identify the hill with Rabindranath Tagore, drawing inspiration from the name, Tagore.

But due to the apathy of the successive Bihar governments, residents’ lack of concern and the indifference of the new Babulal Marandi government, the house where Jyotindranath once took shelter is now in a shambles.

Love birds, vandals and anti-socials, who still frequent the hill, have make their presence felt. Lewd remarks, catcalls and even obscene sketches shave tarnished the relic.

The Society for Preservation of Tribal Culture and Natural Beauty (SPTN) has been trying to beautify the hill for a year. “Till sometime ago, it was not on the list of places, Ranchiites wanted to go for an outing with their families,” said SPTN president Ajay Kumar Jain.

The SPTN has prepared a beautification project and forwarded it to the state government. The plan entails renovating the house and converting the rooms into a library- cum- museum with details of the poet’s life. The house will also serve as a research centre.

“The place was not fit for a decent person to visit. These apart

lovebirds also contributed their might and had scribbled their names and

initials all over. With no authority to put a check some locals of the

area used the place for daily ablutions. The place was littered with

garbage and unwanted material. It was a tought time for us to have the

place cleaned and members of the society put in hours of hard labour

scrubbing the walls to clean the place,” said Jain.

People who live in the area would reprimand their children if they went

on top of the hill. When the inhabitants of the area did not want to go

on top of such a beautiful place how will other residing in different

areas ever come here? asked Jain.

The society has been organising painting competitions for school

children and cultural programmes to revive Tagore's philosophy. The

society has painted couplets from Tagore's poems on the walls and some

roacks on the hill. A sketch of Tagore was also drawn as a bid to give

respect to the poet.

However STPN has taken a strong objection to the proposed ropeway and a

cafetaria on the hill to draw in the tourist crowds. “This will destroy

the calm and serene atmosphere of the place. All development work should

be in conformity with the philosophy of Rabindranath,” said Jain.

EoM

==============