Kolkata, May 8 (IANS) With his ever-popular songs, poems and other compositions reverberating through the air across the state, West Bengal on Sunday paid homage to Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore on his 155th birth anniversary.
From his birthplace here to Santiniketan in Birbhum district, where he created the knowledge town of his dreams, people thronged in hundreds to pay their homage to the versatile bard.
People from all walks of life queued up at Jorasanko Thakurbari in north Kolkata - Tagore's sprawling ancestral home - since dawn to see the room where he was born and watch a cultural programme, where well-known singers, elocutionists and dancers participated.
At Shantiniketan, where Tagore founded the Viswa Bharati university in 1921, the festivities began early morning with a "prabhat pheri" (morning choir) that went around the sprawling campus.
The teachers, employees, youths, children were all part of the choir as the knowledge- town wore a festive look.
Born on this day Vaisakha 25 according to Bengali calendar (May 7, 1861, according to the Roman calendar), Tagore in 1913 became the first Asian Nobel laureate and the first non-European to win the prize for literature.
He also holds the distinction of having authored the national anthems of two sovereign nations - India and Bangladesh.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and leaders of various parties in the state paid their respects to the poet.
