- Sudip Sarkar
When I was a small boy and a senior student of my village school would recite Rabindranath Tagore's 'সোনার তরী' (The golden boat) on the occasion of Rabindra Jayanti, I would be inexplicably overtaken by a strange feeling of elation, although not understanding its nuances and meanings at all. Both famous and illusive, the poem 'সোনার তরী' (The golden boat) taken from the poetry-book of the same title depicts a slice of Bengal's rivers during monsoon. It may be noted that the gender of the person in the boat is indeterminate but in his own English translation Tagore meant the person to be 'a woman at the helm'. The boat cruising on the river Padma in East Bengal, presumably big enough, with its sails on, is carrying a cargo of grain. In this poem, the spirit of loneliness and alienation can be linked with the spiritual failure where the distinction between the self and the soul comes to the fore in a very delicate manner. The 'খেলা' (game) of swirling waters seems to assume a negative aspect resulting in the created world being separated from its Creator. The deeper layers of the human mind linked with the philosophy of life portrayed in this poem cannot be ostensibly unmasked as such and may be felt deep within the core of the mind by means of nuanced poetic sensitiveness and sublime sensibilities. There is the image of the village as a painting through pictorial imagery to be perceived on the mind. The selfless giving away of the harvest to an unknown singer in another boat is reflective of life's bountifulness and fulfillment through giving, thereby indicating surrender to the infinite from the finite.
About Writer
Sudip Sarkar is a member of Rabindramela Berhampore
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