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Question
Read the short story written by Rabindranath Tagore ‘The Kabuliwala’ or ‘The Home Coming.’
Visit the website and collect more information about Rabindranath Tagore’s life and work.
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Solution
Life & Background
- Who he was: Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) was a legendary Indian poet, writer, philosopher, composer, and painter from Bengal.
- Education: He disliked rigid traditional schooling and was mostly homeschooled in harmony with nature.
- Shantiniketan: He founded an open-air school that grew into Visva-Bharati University, blending global learning with Indian culture.
- Protest: He was knighted by the British in 1915 but renounced his Knighthood in 1919 to protest the brutal Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
Major Works & Achievements
- Nobel Prize (1913): He was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded for his poetry collection, Gitanjali.
- National Anthems: He is the only person to compose the national anthems of two countries: India (Jana Gana Mana) and Bangladesh (Amar Shonar Bangla).
- Music & Art: He created over 2,000 songs (known as Rabindra Sangeet) and took up painting in his late 60s, producing thousands of artworks.
- Famous Stories: He pioneered modern Indian short stories, focusing on ordinary human emotions in classics like “The Kabuliwala” and “The Homecoming.”
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
In your notebook write down a line from the poem as proof for the following.
The poet dreams of a nation where knowledge should be free to all.
Read the columns carefully and match the expressions with their meanings.
| No. | Column A | Column B | |
| (1) | The head is held high | (a) | A fearless person |
| (2) | Narrow domestic walls | (b) | Sincerity of heart |
| (3) | Knowledge is free | (c) | A person with self-respect and proud of possessing it |
| (4) | Depth of truth | (d) | Narrow mindedness |
| (5) | Mind is without fear | (e) | Education is given to all |
| (6) | Stretches its arms | (f) | Dried up, infertile land of sands |
| (7) | Clear stream of reason | (g) | Clear thinking |
| (8) | Dead habits | (h) | Aim at perfection |
| (9) | Ever widening thought and action | (i) | Broadening the outlook and attitude |
What qualities does the poet wish to inculcate in his countrymen?
Write in your notebook your own response and justify, where needed.
Is the poem a prayer for India alone?
Write your own response to the following question, and justify where needed:
What attributes of Rabindranath Tagore does the poem (prayer) reflect?
Write in your notebook your own response and justify, where needed.
What effect does the repetition of the word ‘where’ at the begining of each line?
When knowledge is free, every citizen enjoys the right to ______ and ______.
Tagore appeals to God to make his country a ______.
Students should keep themselves aloof from ______.
Read the following poem and write an appreciation of it with the help of the given points in a paragraph format:
|
Where the Mind is Without Fear... Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high - Rabindranath Tagore |
Points
- The title and the poet of the poem (01)
- Rhyme scheme (01)
- Figures of speech (01)
- Central Idea/Theme (02)
