Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Postmaster : Selected Stories - Rabindranath Tagore

This was my first exposure to Tagore and it was an interesting one.

Tagore is a Bengali. With all my exposure to Indian culture, this was fun as Bengal is like a cousin - similar, but with marked differences.

Tagore has the typical Indian/Bengali pathos in this collection of stories. It hangs over every story like a dark cloud. It never really rains, but you keep expecting it to. For all of the talk about Tagore getting down to details of simple village life, I found that conspicuously absent from this book. He grew up and writes from a zaminder (landlord in a feudal sense) point of view that has nothing to do with normal folks.

Tagore does, however, have a gift for story telling and description. After reading this book, I rather wish I could go visit Bengal, even though it would not be the same Bengal that Tagore knew, just as the India I'm visiting now is not the one my husband reminisces about.

Verdict: If you have any interest in India, read it and revel in the differences if you can find them.

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