Santiniketan
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Santiniketan (Bangla:শান্তিনিকেতন) is a small town near Bolpur in the Birbhum district of West Bengal, India, and approximately 180 kilometres north of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). It was made famous by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, whose vision became what is now a university town (Visva-Bharati University) that attracts thousands of visitors each year. Santiniketan is a tourist attraction also because Rabindranath lived here and penned many of his literary classics, and his home is a place of historical importance.
Santiniketan was earlier called Bhubandanga (named after Bhuban Dakat, a local dacoit), and was owned by the Tagore family. Rabindranath's father Maharshi Debendranath Tagore found it very peaceful and renamed it Santiniketan, meaning abode (niketan) of peace (shanti). Gurudev started Patha Bhavana, the school of his ideals, the central premise being that learning in a natural environment would be more enjoyable and fruitful rather than a chore. After he received the Nobel Prize the school was expanded into a university. Many world famous teachers were associated with it. Indira Gandhi was one of its more illustrious students. Kala Bhavana, the art college of Santiniketan is still considered as one of the best art colleges of in the world. Other institutions of post-secondary institution include Vidya Bhavana; the Institute of Humanities, Shiksha Bhavana; the Institue of Science, Sangit Bhavana; Institute of Dance, Drama and Music, Vinaya Bhavana; Institute of Education, Rabindra Bhavana, Institute of Tagore Studies and Research, Palli-Samgathana Vibhaga; Institute of Rural Reconstruction, and Palli Shiksha Bhavana; Institute of Agricultural Sciences. There are also other centres, affiliated to major institution such as Nippon Bhavana, Indira Gandhi Centre for National Integration, Rural Extension Centre, Silpa Sadana; Centre for Rural Craft, Technology and Design, Palli-Charcha Kendra; Centre for Social Studies and Rural Development, Centre for Biotechnology, Centre for Mathematics Education, Centre for Environmental Studies, Computer Centre and Indira Gandhi Centre for National Integration. Other than Patha-Bhavana, there are two schools for kindergarten level education; Mrinalini Ananda Pathsala, Santosh Pathsala; another school of primary and secondary education known as Shiksha Satra and lastly a school of higher secondary education known as Uttar-Shiksha Sadana.
Santiniketan is also home to Amartya Sen, the 1998 Nobel Prize winner in Economics.
Recent development
Santiniketan has metamorphosed from the days of Tagore. Although Visva-Bharati University continues to play an active role, Santiniketan has become a haven for the nouveau riche of India. They have built huge houses on what used to be barren, beautiful khoai (desert, rust-colored) and ugly expensive condominiums are becoming commonplace. Still, travel a bit beyond the outskirts of the ever-expanding "small town" and village India returns in its pristine form, without the trappings of Internet cafes and satellite dishes.Problems
To complicate matters, because of this rapid growth, the inadequate electrical grid is even more taxed and power failures are increasingly common. In the summer months, when noontime temperatures can peak at 120 degrees Fahrenheit, this is brutal, since even electric fans are disabled; increasingly, even the middle class have generators (contributing their own pollution to the smoke from countless coal ovens) or battery backups.
The generally disreputable state of affairs perpetuated by the communist West Bengal government has not helped matters. Roads remain poor and only the train is a viable alternative. Hospitals don't exist for an increasingly elderly population and 75% of the village folk who work in Santiniketan have tuberculosis; AIDS is a well-hidden but major problem as well.
The idyllic existence envisioned by Tagore in Santiniketan is rapidly disappearing. Having said that, it still maintains a "college town" feel, with many large shade-covered open spaces on campus where students can congregate. The student population remains remarkably international in origin, as does the faculty and many of the best thinkers and intellectuals in India remember their college life in Santiniketan with fondness. As is true for much of India, there is much to love about Santiniketan, and an equal amount that begs immediate redress.
See also
External links
- [Art and Santiniketan]
- [Visva-Bharati University: Official Website]
- [West Bengal Government Official Santiniketan Site]
- [Official Santiniketan WebSite]
- [Shantiniketan]
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