Khoto Joto Khoti Joto

Dr. Anand Gupt sings Tagore’s song “Khoto Joto Khoti Joto” composed in Piraeus, Greece at the end of his long journey in Europe in 1926. The photoes are from the Bangladesh Art Show organized by the Club for Unesco of the Department of Piraeus & Islands from 20 up to 23 January 2013 at the Embassy of Bangladesh in Athens, Greece. Tagore’s portrait is by Husein M. Farook.

This final song was written, after a gap of nearly a month, in the Greek port of Piraeus. In this Tagore returns to the theme of transience, of the futility of our worldly pursuits. “All our wounds, our gains and losses, our desires and debts are but a lie – a mirage which one day will melt away behind us.”  Tagore writes optimistically, obviously influenced by fatigue and illness encountered on the trip, but amazingly, he ends the song on an optimistic, even triumphal note. “This beautiful and incomparable vision that I see in the early morning light is your eternal gift, the joy-filled truth.”