Bengalis love their icons. But they love one icon more than any other. There is no prize for guessing whose icon Bengalis adore the most. It is that of Rabindranath Tagore. The argumentative Bengali’s arguments stop when it comes to any discussion. Woe betide the person who dares to query the greatness of Tagore. Others abide questions, Tagore, as Matthew Arnold said of William Shakespeare, is free. This blind worship becomes dangerous not only because it erodes critical thinking but also because it leads, willy-nilly, to the belittling of other individuals who have also made enormous contributions to society or to spheres of learning. This neglect has been in display in the past few days in West Bengal. There has been an enormous fanfare about Tagore’s death anniversary this year, which happens to be the 150th year of his birth. The government of the state went to the extent of declaring Monday, August 8, on which Tagore’s death anniversary falls this year, a holiday. In the process what got pushed into the background was the fact that the scientist and entrepreneur, Prafulla Chandra Ray, was born on August 2, 1861. This means that this is Ray’s 150th year. The genius who was a poet and many other things is celebrated but the genius who was a scientist and an entrepreneur is barely remembered. There is perhaps a moral in this.

Ray was an eminent chemist in his own time. He had created the first synthesis of a compound called mercurous nitrate. He also set up the Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works, which was a pioneering effort. He was known and respected for his commitment to scholarship and learning. Hence the honorific acharya was added before his name. Beyond this and the naming of a major thoroughfare after him, Ray has been forgotten by Bengalis. It will not be an exaggeration to suggest from the indifference that is heaped on Ray that in the Bengalis’ list of priorities, literature stands way above science, while entrepreneurship is even lower than science. The British scientist and writer, C.P. Snow, made a famous distinction between two cultures — the arts and the sciences. No one denies that both are important. It is equally true that science can introduce material differences in the lives of human beings, that entrepreneurship contributes to wealth-making. Bengalis have made their choice. They can continue to spout poetry amidst overwhelming squalor and demeaning poverty. Vive le Bengal.