The books that opened my mind II
I first read Rabindranath Tagore’s Gora (1910) when I was a child. That was an age where most of the ferocious arguments between and philosophies of Gora (the titular character) and his friends or foes went winging right over my head. :P
It was with Gora and Tagore's poems in his beautiful Gitanjali that I discovered what patriotism meant to me—a deep appreciation for the vibrant diversity of this ancient land. (Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature for Gitanjali, literally ‘song offerings’.)
The vocabulary might have been too difficult for the child that was me, the topics too profound and yet they resonated deeply. While breezing through the arguments and discussions, I was captivated by the journey of discovery—that is the story of this fiery young man and his love for the country—that eventually shapes him.
Along the way, Gora’s righteous ideas are challenged by those closest to him as well as those who newly enter his life. Whether it is his best friend—the bright and sensitive Binoy or his mother Anandamoyi and family friend Poresh babu with their sage-like wisdom and calm. Eventually, also the challenges he is forced to face in the course of his journey, his coming of age.
The beauty of the writing is also in its exploration of the human psyche of two couples with diametrically different personalities—Gora and Sucharita on one hand and Binoy and Lolita on the other. To the young me, the soul-searching that each of these characters went through was similar to that of Elizabeth Bennett's in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
Perhaps, it was because I first read both books around the same time. Here is a view each character has about herself or himself and here comes a character that challenges everything they thought they know about themselves and the world, causing them to restlessly second-guess themselves.
The story is set in 1880s Kolkata, and yet when I am reading it again, Gora and its philosophies about nationhood, caste and religion remain relevant across time. To me, the spirit of the book is encapsulated in these lines below, about Binoy. Lines that I find pertinent in today’s times, where opinions abound, voices drown out voices but we are too caught up in our own grand ideas (guilty :P) or are too impatient (also guilty :P) to listen.
“An idea that sounds definite when aired as an opinion may not always appear so certain when applied to human beings. At least, not to Binoy, who had very strong sensibilities. During an argument he might vociferously defend an opinion, but in practice, he could not help respecting human beings more than opinions.”
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