Rabindranath Tagore an Educator with Difference Essay Example

Rabindranath Tagore an Educator with Difference Essay Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to political and personal topics. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced), and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and contemplation. Tagore was perhaps the only litterateur who penned anthems of two countries Jana Gana Mana, the Indian national anthem and Amar Shonar Bangla, the Bangladeshi national anthem.The youngest of thirteen surviving children, Tagore was born in the Jorasanko mansion in Kolkata of parents Debendranath Tagore (1817–1905) and Sarada Devi (1830–1875). Tagore family patriarchs were the Brahmo founding fathers of the Adi Dharm faith. He was mostly raised by servants, as his mother had died in his early childhood; his father travelled extensively. Tagore largely declined classroom schooling, pre ferring to roam the mansion or nearby idylls: Bolpur, Panihati, and others.Upon his upanayan initiation at age eleven, Tagore left Calcutta on 14 February 1873 to tour India with his father for several months. They visited his fathers Santiniketan estate and stopped in Amritsar before reaching the Himalayan hill station of Dalhousie. There, young Rabi read biographies and was home-educated in history, astronomy, modern science, and Sanskrit, and examined the poetry of Kalidasa. He completed major works in 1877, one a long poem of the Maithili style pioneered by Vidyapati. Published pseudonymously, experts accepted them as the lost works of Bhanusi? a, a newly discovered 17th-century Vai ava poet. He wrote Bhikharini (1877; The Beggar Woman—the Bengali languages first short story) and Sandhya Sangit (1882)—including the famous poem Nirjharer Swapnabhanga (The Rousing of the Waterfall). A prospective barrister, Tagore enrolled at a public school in Brighton, East Sussex, England in 1878. He read law at University College London, but left school to explore Shakespeare and more: Religio Medici, Coriolanus, and Antony and Cleopatra; he returned degreeless to Bengal in 1880.On 9 December 1883 he married Mrinalini Devi (born Bhabatarini, 1873–1902); they had five children, two of whom died before reaching adulthood. In 1890, Tagore began managing his familys vast estates in Shilaidaha, a region now in Bangladesh; he was joined by his wife and children in 1898. In 1890, Tagore released his Manasi poems, among his best-known work. As Zamindar Babu, Tagore criss-crossed the holdings while living out of the familys luxurious barge, the Padma, to collect (mostly token) rents and bless villagers, who held feasts in his honour.These years—1891–1895: Tagores Sadhana period, after one of Tagore’s magazines—were his most fecund. During this period, more than half the stories of the three-volume and eighty-four-story Galpaguchchh a were written. With irony and gravity, they depicted a wide range of Bengali lifestyles, particularly village life. SHANTINIKETAN In 1901, Tagore left Shilaidaha and moved to Shantiniketan to found an ashram which grew to include a marble-floored prayer hall (The Mandir), an experimental school, groves of trees, gardens, and a library. There, Tagores wife and two of his children died.His father died on 19 January 1905. He received monthly payments as part of his inheritance and additional income from the Maharaja of Tripura, sales of his familys jewellery, his seaside bungalow in Puri, and mediocre royalties (2,000) from his works. By now, his work was gaining him a large following among Bengali and foreign readers alike, and he published such works as Naivedya (1901) and Kheya (1906) while translating his poems into free verse. On 14 November 1913, Tagore learned that he had won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature, becoming the first Asian Nobel laureate.The Swedish Academy appreci ated the idealistic and—for Western readers—accessible nature of a small body of his translated material, including the 1912 Gitanjali: Song Offerings. In 1915, Tagore was knighted by the British Crown. He later returned his knighthood in protest of the massacre of unarmed Indians in 1919 at Jallianwala Bagh. In 1921, Tagore and agricultural economist Leonard Elmhirst set up the Institute for Rural Reconstruction, later renamed Shriniketan—Abode of Welfare—in Surul, a village near the ashram at Santiniketan.Through it, Tagore bypassed Gandhis symbolic Swaraj protests, which he despised. He sought aid from donors, officials, and scholars worldwide to free villagefrom the shackles of helplessness and ignorance by vitalis knowledge. In the early 1930s, he targeted Indias abnormal caste consciousness and untouchability. Lecturing against these, he penned untouchable heroes for his poems and dramas and campaigned—successfully—to open Guruvayoor T emple to Dalits. MUSIC AND ART Tagore composed roughly 2,230 songs and was a prolific painter. His songs comprise Rabindra Sangeet ( Tagore Song), an integral part of Bengali culture. Tagores music is inseparable from his literature, most of which—poems or parts of novels, stories, or plays alike—became lyrics for his songs. Influenced by the thumri style of Hindustani music, they ran the entire gamut of human emotion, ranging from his early dirge-like Brahmo devotional hymns to quasi-erotic compositions. They emulated the tonal color of classical ragas to varying extents. Though at times his songs mimicked a given ragas melody and rhythm faithfully, he also blended elements of different ragas to create innovative works.POETRY Tagores poetry—which varied in style from classical formalism to the comic, visionary, and ecstatic—proceeds from a lineage established by 15th- and 16th-century Vaishnava poets. Tagore was awed by the mysticism of the rishi-author s who—including Vyasa—wrote the Upanishads, the Bhakti-Sufi mystic Kabir, and Ramprasad Sen. Yet Tagores poetry became most innovative and mature after his exposure to rural Bengals folk music, which included Baul ballads—especially those of bard Lalon. These—rediscovered and popularised by Tagore—resemble 19th-century Kartabhaja hymns that emphasize nward divinity and rebellion against religious and social orthodoxy. During his Shilaidaha years, his poems took on a lyrical quality, speaking via the maner manus (the Bauls man within the heart) or meditating upon the jivan devata (living God within). This figure thus sought connection with divinity through appeal to nature and the emotional interplay of human drama. Tagore used such techniques in his Bhanusi? ha poems (which chronicle the romance between Radha and Krishna), which he repeatedly revised over the course of seventy yearsPOLITICAL VIEWS Tagores political thought was complex. He opposed i mperialism and supported Indian nationalists. His views have their first poetic release in Manast, mostly composed in his twenties. Evidence produced during the Hindu-German Conspiracy trial and later accounts affirm his awareness of the Ghadarite conspiracy, and stated that he sought the support of Japanese Prime Minister Terauchi Masatake and former Premier Okuma Shigenobu. Yet he lampooned the Swadeshi movement, denouncing it in The Cult of the Charka, an acrid 1925 essay.He emphasized self-help and intellectual uplift of the masses as an alternative, stating that British imperialism was a political symptom of our social disease, urging Indians to accept that there can be no question of blind revolution, but of steady and purposeful education. IMPACT Tagores relevance can be gauged by festivals honouring him: Kabipranam, Tagores birth anniversary; the annual Tagore Festival held in Urbana, Illinois, in the United States; Rabindra Path Parikrama walking pilgrimages from Calcutta t o Shantiniketan; ceremonial recitals of Tagores poetry held on important anniversaries; and others.This legacy is most palpable in Bengali culture, ranging from language and arts to history and politics. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen saw Tagore as a towering figure, being a deeply relevant and many-sided contemporary thinker. Tagores Bengali-language writings—the 1939 Rabindra Rachanavali—is also canonised as one of Bengals greatest cultural treasures. Tagore himself was proclaimed the greatest poet India has produced. Tagore was famed throughout much of Europe, North America, and East Asia.He co-founded Dartington Hall School, a progressive coeducational institution; in Japan, he influenced such figures as Nobel laureate Yasunari Kawabata. Tagores works were widely translated into English, Dutch, German, Spanish, and other European languages by Czech indologist Vincenc Lesny, French Nobel laureate Andre Gide, Russian poet Anna Akhmatova,[118] former Turkish Prime Ministe r Bulent Ecevit,[119] and others. In the United States, Tagores lecturing circuits, particularly those in 1916–1917, were widely attended and acclaimed.Yet, several controversiesinvolving Tagore resulted in a decline in his popularity in Japan and North America after the late 1920s, concluding with his near total eclipse outside of Bengal. Via translations, Tagore influenced Hispanic literature: Chileans Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral, Mexican writer Octavio Paz, and Spaniards Jose Ortega y Gasset, Zenobia Camprubi, and Juan Ramon Jimenez. Between 1914 and 1922, the Jimenez-Camprubi spouses translated twenty-two of Tagores books from English into Spanish and extensively revised and adapted such works as Tagores The Crescent Moon.In this time, Jimenez developed naked poetry (Spanish:  «poesia desnuda »), a landmark innovation. Ortega y Gasset wrote that Tagores wide appeal [may stem from the fact that] he speaks of longings for perfection that we all have Tagore awaken s a dormant sense of childish wonder, and he saturates the air with all kinds of enchanting promises for the reader, who pays little attention to the deeper import of Oriental mysticism. Tagores works circulated in free editions around 1920 alongside those of Dante Alighieri, Miguel de Cervantes, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Plato, and Leo Tolstoy.Tagore was deemed overrated by some Westerners. Graham Greene doubted that anyone but Mr. Yeats can still take his poems very seriously. [120] Modern remnants of a past Latin American reverence of Tagore were discovered, for example, by an astonished Salman Rushdie during a trip to Nicaragua Advantages of solar water heating systems 1. With the rising cost of energy and the prospect of shortages in the future, the idea of harnessing the power of the sun as a renewable energy source is gaining in popularity around the world. According to Solar Direct, there are more than 300,000 solar water heating units installed in the U.S. , and the numb er is growing as people realize the many advantages of solar heating. Systems 2. There are two types of solar water heating systemspassive and active. Passive, as the name implies, involves no moving parts. The simplest passive system consists of a dark-colored water tank exposed to sunlight. Thermosyphon passive heaters work on the principle of convection, in which hot water rises and cold water sinks within the tank in a continual process as long as there is sunlight available. Active systems employ pumps to move water from the collector to the water tank. Available Energy 3.One of the biggest advantages of solar energy is that it is readily available to everyone, cutting out the necessity of the middle-man energy provider. According to one Arizona utility company, just a portion of the roof of a typical house receives more energy than is needed to heat water for its occupants for more than a year. There are systems designed to work in any climate. Cost Effective 4. Initial costs to install a solar water heating system range from $2,500 to $5,000 for an active system, which will produce between 80 to 100 gallons of hot water per day, to as little as $1,000 to $2,000 for a passive system with lower capacity.Since solar water heating systems save more than 50 percent on hot water energy bills, most homeowners recoup these expenses within 10 years. Homeowners also receive federal and state tax credits for installing solar power systems. Other Advantages 5. Using solar energy has a positive impact on the environment by reducing the use of nonrenewable energy sources to heat water, such as gas, coal, oil or nuclear power. Solar energy is safe, efficient, reliable and non-polluting.The consumer has direct control over the system, and unlike conventional water heaters, hot water is available even during a power outage. Any time you use solar energy to offset the amount of fossil fuels that are burned, you contribute to everyones health and welfare. Operating one so lar water heater instead of an electric water heater saves the equivalent of nine barrels of oil every year and reduces carbon dioxide emissions (a greenhouse gas) by 1600 pounds and sulfur dioxide (contributes to acid rain) emissions by 12 pounds.The best savings in hot water come from no cost or low cost options. The solar disinfection method is good for various reasons: chlorination costs money for tablets, filtration costs money for filters, and boiling is very laborious (and in some areas of developing countries the collection of wood is not allowed for environmental reasons). A plastic bottle is a sustainable resource with an insignificant cost. Disadvantages The initial cost is the main disadvantage of installing a solar hot water systems, largely because of the high cost of the supplies.The efficiency of the system also relies on the location of the sun, although this problem can be overcome with the installation of certain components. The production of solar hot water is in fluenced by the presence of clouds or pollution in the air. Similarly, no solar hot water will be produced during night time although a backup system will solve this problem. In the case of SODIS if not left in strong sun for the proper length of time (due to carelessness, impatience or urgent thirst) the water may not be safe to drink and could cause illness.There is also concern over whether plastic drinking containers can leach chemicals or toxic components into water, a process possibly accelerated by heat. A major limitation of solar heating is that only small volumes (around 10 litres) of water can be exposed conveniently at one time per water container and solar reflector. Another important limitation is availability of sunlight, which varies greatly with season, daily weather (meteorological) conditions and geographic location. A third potential limitation of solar heating to disinfect water is the determination of water temperature. SOLAR ENERGYSolar energy forms one of the cornerstones of clean alternate power solutions, and with the difficulties of fossil fuels growing larger by the day, may represent a viable solution to the worlds energy problems. Its environmental impact constitutes one of its primary selling points, and the more effectively it can function, the better its chances of supplanting fossil fuels as our main source of energy. Though largely positive, the environmental impact of solar energy can be subtle and its overall effect should be carefully considered as our efforts to explore its potential move forward. Carbon Emissions . The best thing about solar energy in terms of its environmental effects is that it produces almost no carbon emissions or greenhouse gases. It doesnt burn oil, it doesnt produce toxic waste, and its lack of moving parts reduces the chances of an environmentally devastating accident to nil. Indeed, the only pollutants which factor into solar power are those involved in the construction and transportation of its parts; that ranks it among the cleanest forms of energy on Earth. Implementing solar energy on a large scale would reduce its environmental footprint to a tiny fraction of its current levels.Renewable Energy 2. Solar power is also environmentally advantageous because its energy supply never runs out. Sunlight will always shine upon the Earth and, as long as it does, hold energy which solar technology can exploit. Contrast this with fossil fuels such as coal or oil, which need to be mined or drilled and thus have a tremendous environmental impact, even in comparatively safe circumstances. Abundant Components 3. The photovoltaic cells which constitute most solar energy systems are usually made of silicon, one of the most common minerals found on Earth.That means that creating the components is extremely easy, doesnt require mining or drilling in a dangerous locale to produce, and can be acquired without involvement in politically unstable areas such as the Middle East. The environmen tal effects of this are subtle but, because fewer resources are expended in the acquisition of silicon, its overall effect on the ecosystem is reduced. Cadmium 4. Cadmium is used in cadmium telluride solar cells as a semiconductor to convert solar energy into electricity. Though used in very small amounts, it is extremely toxic and can build up in a given ecosystem if it isnt monitored.Firms which make this kind of solar cell often instigate recycling programs so that damaged or unusable cells dont inadvertently damage the surrounding environment. Space Considerations 1. Solar panels are not as efficient as they could be one of the reasons why they have not been widely implemented yet. To capture appreciable amounts of energy, they require a large number of cells, which can take up a considerable amount of space. One practical solution is to mount the cells on a rooftop, which saves a lot of space while still allowing them maximum exposure to the sun.Large-scale solar farms still r equire a lot of room, however, and trees and bushes cant coexist with them lest they block sunlight from the receivers. WIND ENERGY Wind energy does not help the environment exactly. But using other sources of energy such as burning fossil fuels or using nuclear power can hurt the environment. So wind is less hurtful than these other sources of energy in many ways because wind energy does not create harmful waste products (CO2 in the case of fossil fuels and radioactive waste for nuclear power).Wind energy has its own problems however: it has been shown that the turbines can kill birds that fly into them, and some people find them ugly to look at. There are no sources of energy that are known that HELP the environment. There are just some that hurt it less than others. The best way to help the environment is to let it be undisturbed!! It is a renewable energy source with no bad side-effects and does not give off green house gases like coal or gas. | Wind energy is considered a green power technology because it has only minor impacts on the environment. Wind energy plants produce no air pollutants or greenhouse gases.However, any means of energy production impacts the environment in some way, and wind energy is no different. Aesthetics and Visual Impacts – Elements that influence visual impacts include the spacing, design, and uniformity of the turbines Birds and Other Living Resources – Preconstruction surveys can indicate whether birds or other living resources are likely to be affected by wind turbines Global Warming – Wind energy can help fight global warming. Wind turbines produce no air emissions or greenhouse gases Lightning – Ongoing research and increased operator experience are improving the understanding of lightning and wind turbinesNoise – Like all mechanical systems, wind turbines produce some noise when they operate. In recent years, engineers have made design changes to reduce the noise from wind turbines TV / Radio Interference – In the past, older turbines with metal blades caused television interference in areas near the turbine. Interference from modern turbines is unlikely because many components formerly made of metal are now made from composites Nuclear energy:- Power obtained by splitting heavy atoms (fission) or joining light atoms (fusion).A nuclear power plant uses a controlled atomic chain reaction to produce heat. The heat is used to make steam to run conventional turbine generators. EURO 1 AND EURO 2 NORMS What are Emission Norms? Emission norms are prescribed CO (Carbon Monoxide), HC (Hydrocarbons) and NOX (Nitrous oxide) levels set by the government which a vehicle would emit when running on roads. All the manufacturers need to implement the same for vehicles being manufactured from the date of implementation. What are Euro Norms? Euro norms refer to the permissible emission levels from both petrol and Diesel vehicles which have been implemented in Europe. However i n India, the government has adopted the Euro norms for available fuel quality and the method of testing. Euro-1 norms in India are known as INDIA 2000 since it will be implemented from 1/4/2000. The norms equivalent to Euro-2 are called 2005 norms but these have not yet been specified by the Indian Government. WHAT ARE THE EURO I AND EURO II NORMS? The Euro norms require manufacturers to reduce the existing polluting Emission Levels in a more efficient manner by making certain technical changes in their vehicles.WHAT ARE THE EMMISION LEVELS OF THE ABOVE NORMS? | EXISTING 1998| EURO I| EURO II| C. O. (carbon monoxide)(gm/km)| 4. 34 | 2. 75 | 2. 20| H. C + NO X (gm/km)| 1. 50| 0. 97| 0. 50| (Hydro Carbons ;amp; Nitrious Oxides)| | | | WHEN ;amp; WHERE ARE THE ABOVE EURO I AND EURO II NORMS GOING TO BE INTRODUCED? The above EURO I NORM from 1st JUNE 1999 is applicable only in the NCR (DELHI) as per the Supreme Court Ruling and the Government Regulations and the EURO II norm will be app licable to NCR from 1st APRIL 2000 .The EURO I norm will be applicable to Mumbai from January 1, 2000 while the EURO II norm will be applicable to MUMBAI from 1st APRIL 2000. WHAT CHANGES DO MANUFACTURERS HAVE TO MAKE IN ORDER TO MAKE EURO COMPLIANT VEHICLES? The following changes normally will be made by manufacturers in order to have a EURO I compliant car. Typically, the following areas would require attention: (a) carburetor retuning (b) secondary air intake (c) exhaust gas recirculation (d) catalyser capacity increase (e) trimetal coating in the catalyser.Changes for having a Euro II compliant vehicle require that the carburetor be replaced by an MPFI system i. e. a Multi-point Fuel Injection System. There are two basic types of engines, spark ignition and compression ignition engines. In the former, fuel ignition is triggered by an electric spark from a spark plug, while in the latter, atomized liquid fuel is injected with the help of a fuel pump and a nozzle into a cylinder f ull of hot compressed air, which results in ignition taking place.Larger cylinders which need more fuel require more than one injector, thus resulting in a multi-point fuel injection system. WHO CERTIFIES THE MANUFACTURER? The Automobile Research Institute (ARAI), Pune, is an independent third party assessor that issues a third party authenticity certificate guaranteeing the euro norm compliance by the manufacturer. EURO-1 ;amp; INDIA 2000 What happens to cars currently on the road and their sale? For vehicles currently running on Indian roads, there will be absolutely no problems or hassles for the present owners.Neither will it effect the sale of such vehicles after the enforcement of the Euro norms since a sale would just mean transfer of ownership. The Euro Norms are in no way connected to the sale of existing cars. Can modifications be done to meet Euro norms in present cars? Legally it is not required to convert the car into Euro compliant. What are the changes made to meet EU RO-1 NORM? * Carburettor retuned * Secondary air intake * EGR (Exhaust Gas Circulation) * Doubling the capacity of the Catalyser * Trimetal coating in the Catalyser