Basanta Utsav at Visva-Bharati. File picture

Tagore did not start a university to churn out just degree-holders. Keeping that in mind, Visva Bharati has inaugurated an institute that is meant to embody Tagore’s idea of knowledge that was open and free.

Tagore Memorial Institute is the name of a new centre in Visva-Bharati that will hold no 40-minute theory class or hour-long laboratory session. It will not have a degree or certificate on offer. Instead, it will be open to anyone who has a curious mind.

Open in form as well. It will have no specific location. Keeping Rabindra Bhavan, which is the university’s nerve centre for research in Tagore, as the nucleus, it will function with the help of Sangeet Bhavan and Kala Bhavan.

Any person interested in knowing about Tagore in a serious manner will be given access to the books and documents at the three bhavans.

He will be able to discuss his ideas with the scholars trained in relevant fields.

Basically regarded as a museum where Tagore memorabilia are kept in an air-conditioned glass room, Rabindra Bhavan, which also has a library, an archive, and the five Tagore residences within its complex and his car, a black Humber Singer, is trying to evolve into a more lively space, where visitors get an insight into Tagore’s life and works.

Vice-chancellor Sushanta Dattagupta, a physicist by training, has taken the key role to start the new school.

“Tagore Memorial Institute will not be seen by the eye but will have a bright presence in Visva Bharati as a free and open study centre without any barriers,” Dattagupta said.

One-and-a-half-years-ago, the Rabindra Bhavan museum was closed for renovation work. It was reopened on Tagore’s death anniversary on 22 Shravan, according to the Bengali calendar, last year in the month of August.

The new Rabindra Bhavan looked at other ways to bring more people.

In the past few years, Rabindra Bhavan’s connection with the university community had weakened too. A distance was created between the bhavan and Visva-Bharati’s students, teachers or alumnus.

“We found that Rabindra Bhavan had turned into a place where few people would come. The number of visitors was gradually falling,” a senior Rabindra Bhavan official said.

University officials said a distance had been created between Kala Bhavan and Sangeet Bhavan because of lack of co-operation, but now the two institutions have been brought together again.

“Many foreign scholars come to research Rabindrasangeet, the works of the bard and his life. But they had to face a problem because of lack of communication between two bhavans. Now the administration has drawn up the same holiday and class schedule for both the bhavans,” an official said.

The three bhavans will also work together on more research under the Tagore Memorial Institute.

“Tagore wanted barrier-free education. The institute will be one for study, education and research on Tagore’s work and his ideology,” said Amrit Sen, spokesperson for Visva-Bharati.

“We will have a garden named after scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose where the trees Tagore loved will be planted. Tagore had named several trees. We will mark the trees with those names. We hope that will be another attraction for visitors to Rabindra Bhavan,” the vice-chancellor said.

The new ticket being issued after the museum was reopened is already a winner. Earlier, the visitors were given a receipt for the Rs 10 they paid that was made of thin paper and looked like a cinema hall ticket.

The new ticket, for the same Rs 10, is colourful and made of glossy paper. It has ‘Tomader Rabindranath Thakur’ written in Bengali in Tagore’s handwriting on one side. On the other, it carries a brief description and history of the museum and the five houses of Tagore on the campus.

Officials claimed that the new ticket attracts more people to Rabindra Bhavan, as visitors like to take it back with them as a souvenir.

In the 2010-11 financial year, the average footfall at Rabindra Bhavan was 16,000 per month. In the past seven months the average footfall has been nearly 30,000 per month.

The new ticket is only the surface. “We have arranged several exhibitions, discussions, seminars to get visitors, intellectuals and educationists from here and from outside,” said Tapati Mukhopadhyay, director of Rabindra Bhavan.

As nucleus of the Tagore Memorial Institute, Rabindra Bhavan has started a new wing — Rabindra Natya Charcha Kendra (for his plays), and will start another, Rabindra Sangeet Gabeshana Kendra (for his music).

Rabindra Natya Charcha Kendra is open to anyone interested in Tagore’s plays. Rabindra Sangeet Gabeshana Kendra will start under the chairmanship of the vice chancellor.