Today (May 7) is the birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. On this occasion can be recalled his significant and intense attachment to the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand. His love affair with the hills of Kumaon is well-known. He came back to these hills again and again.

His last holiday in Kumaon was in Almora, four years before his death in 1941. In the summer of  1937, Tagore spent a creative summer at Almora where he stayed at a bungalow which is now known as "Tagore House" or Tagore Bhavan, located in the cantonment area of Almora. It now houses the cantonment board office.

 In May and June 1937, Tagore stayed here and wrote his poems "Sejuti", "Akaash Pradeep" and "Nobojaatok" besides  his book on science "Bishwa Porichoy".He also made some sketches  with local colours.

The day Gurudev came to Almora, the famous poet of Kumaon - Gaur Da - recited a poem at a huge public reception organised at the Ramsay Inter College. In the poem, Gaur Da said that two suns had arisen in the skies that day-one was the natural sun and the other Tagore.

However, this was not Gurudev's first visit to Kumaon. The summer of the year 1903 saw a grief-stricken father, with two of his children, trying to find solace in the serene Himalayas here. He was both father and mother to his children in his lonely retreat in the pines.

This was none other that the great Renaissance figure,  Rabindranath Tagore whose wife Mrinalini  had passed away in 1902 and whose  twelve year daughter Renuka had contracted tuberculosis. In early May 1903, he had left for the Kumoan hills with Renuka and his younger son, Samindranath. He stayed in Ramgarh near Nainital till August and wrote the series of poems "Shishu" (The Child) that became known as "The Crescent Moon" in order to entertain the motherless children. He took the two children back to Calcutta and in mid-September 1903, Renuka died. later, even Sami died (1907).

 But Tagore could never forget the  peaceful ambience of the Kumaon Himalyas and kept returning to their echoing silence to experience tranquility which inspired him.  He wrote some verses of "Gitanjali" while he was in Kumaon in 1903. And it was here that  the idea of Visva Bharati first came to his mind. It is believed that he had even  thought of setting up an ashram in the Himalayas.

He came to the Kumaon hills again in early May 1914 and remained there till June .He was at Ramgarh, in a cottage amid apple orchards and pines from where one gets a breathtaking panoramic view of the Himalayas from Chaukhamba to the Nepal Himalayan ranges. The place left him spell bound  and became a great favourite with him. The house where Gurudev lived at Ramgarh was on a high ridge and is now known as "Tagore Top". It is situated at a height of 8,500 feet above sea level.Gurudev wrote some verses of "Gitanjali" here. On the occasion of Tagore's birth anniversary, it would be interesting to dwell upon the close relationship that existed between the great writer and this picturesque region of Uttarakhand.

The influence of Tagore on the culture and literature  of Kumaon can also be seen as a result of his several visits  to the hill region and also due to the fact that some of the writers of those days visited or studied at Shantiniketan.

The great  writer from Kumaon, Gaura Pant  Shivani, alongwith her older siblings, was sent to Shantiniketan  and studied there for almost a decade until she graduated in 1943. She was strongly influenced by Rabindranath Tagore and the Bengali culture and this is evident in  her works like Krishnakali. When Tagore came to Almora, he would always visit Shivani's family.

Many of the Kumaoni stories and also the works of Mrinal Pandey and Ira Pandey ,daughters of Shivani, have a flavour which is reminiscent of Bengali culture and literature. The simplicity of lifestyle and the highly idealistic thinking, alongwith the love for traveling can be seen in Bengali and  Kumaoni cultures and works of writing. Shivani's women characters remind one of those in Tagore's and Sarat Chandra's novels.

Seventy six years have gone by. But the memories of Tagore's last stay in Almora, in May and June, remains etched clearly on the hills of Kumaon.