Rabindranath Tagore was a man of worldwide fame. Every single Bengali is very much aware of this historic personality and his notable contributions to the upliftment of the Bengali literature and society at large. Kolkata has always been a city of great culture and the people of Kolkata have immense love and interest for literature.
Keeping this in mind, Exceller Books, a global publishing house with a decade-long experience, celebrated the 161st birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore by organisinga literary talk-show at Oxford Bookstore, Kolkata on 14th May, 2022. The event titled‘Muktadhara 2022: A Tribute to Tagore by Exceller Books’ was mainly a fruitful discussion on ‘Where the Mind Is without Fear and the Head Is Held High’ followed by a book launch and poetry reading session.
Dr. Sudipta Kumar Ghosh, the Founder & Chief of Exceller Books,started the programme with his introductory speech. Prof. Suranjan Das, Vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University and Mr. Utpal Chatterjee, Veteran Journalist & Ex-Sheriff of Kolkata were the inaugural speakers of this event. These knowledgeable and honourable personalities mesmerized the audience as they spontaneously spoke about the life and philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore and His vision of international cooperation.
There took place a literary discussion on ‘Talk on Tagore: Where the Mind Is without Fear and the Head Is Held High’. National award-winning filmmaker AshokeViswanathan, one of the famous modern Bengali writers DebaratiMukhopadhyay, national award-winning actress SreelekhaMitra, popular orator and actor Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee, and veteran PR specialist Rita Bhimani and writer and poet Joie Bose were the esteemed speakers who were invited to share their valuable opinions on the relevance and significance of the famous line of Tagore: Where the Mind Is without Fear and the Head Is Held High in the present time.A handful of well-known personalities were offered the ‘Tagore Samman 2022’ for their amazing contributions and incredible achievement in their respective fields.
The auditorium was a full house which proves that the programme was a great success. Ms. Anjita Ganguly, the Co-founder of Exceller Books,after her brief speech on their inaugural journey in launching two new categories,unveiled Exceller Select Series,which is a selected collection of books, originally published by them. The first book under this category‘New Normal: Selected Poems from the Pandemic’ edited by Joie Bose,was officially launched in the presence of honourable invited guests.Not only that, the evening also marked the launchingof their first audiobook ‘Horizon Hunters’. Ita collection of short storiesjointly written by Dr. Shikha Chatterjee and Elwin Dilluand beautifully narrated by Trinanjana Das. Ms. Ganguly is hopeful that audiobooks will certainly be a great choice for modern-day book lovers for it is equally timesaving and perfectly fits to our busy life schedule.
After the book launch ceremony,the event hosted a lively poetry reading session where some aspiring poets recited their own poems and were felicitated for showcasing their talent. The eventwas hosted by RJ Dev from 92.7 Big FM.