Vocation by Rabindranath Tagore - Poetry: The Best Words in the Best Order - #BlogchatterA2ZChallenge2021

 VOCATION

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

When the gong sounds ten in the morning and I walk to school by our lane,

Every morning I meet the hawker crying, "Bangles, crystal bangles!"

There is nothing to hurry him on, there is no road he must take, no place he must go to, no time when he must come home.

I wish I were a hawker, spending my day in the road, crying, "Bangles, crystal bangles!"

                                                                                  IndiaMart

When at four in the afternoon I come back from the school, 

I can see through the gate of that house the gardener digging the ground.

He does what he likes with his spade, he soils his clothes with dust, nobody takes him to task if he gets baked in the sun or gets wet.

I wish I were a gardener digging away at the garden with nobody to stop me from digging.

Just as it gets dark in the evening and my mother sends me to bed,

I can see through my open window the watchman walking up and down.

The lane is dark and lonely, and the street-lamp stands like a giant with one red eye in its head.

The watchman swings his lantern and walks with his shadow at his side, and never once goes to bed in his life. 

I wish I were a watchman walking the streets all night, chasing the shadows with my lantern.

                                                                          Pxfuel

The Poet: Rabindranath Tagore: (1861 - 1941)

Rabindranath Tagore is one of the greatest litterateurs that India has ever produced. At the age of sixteen, he started his writing career writing short stories. His stories revolved around what he saw around him, the householders, the workers, the untold stories that make society what it is. He focused on emotions rather than rather than action. Some of his stories turned into household names - 'Kabuliwala' ( The Fruitseller from Kabul), 'Athithi' (The Runaway) and 'Kshudita Pashan' (The Hungry Stones).

                                                                   Cinestaan

In 1913, Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature for Gitanjali, his collection of poetry. Despite having a classical style of his own, he was willing to embrace new poetic concepts. He composed more than 2000 songs (Rabindra Sangeet) known for their lyricism and melody. He was knighted to honour his literary prowess, but in 1919, he renounced his knighthood in solidarity with the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

The Poem 'Vocation' gives voice to a little child who looks out into the world and wishes to be free. As he walks to school and back, he watches with envy people around who appear to be unfettered by rules, like the bangle seller who walks about, selling his crystal bangles, the gardener who digs the ground, getting as wet or dirty as he wishes, and the watchman at night who swings his lantern and walks with his shadow by his side. He wishes he could also have a vocation like them.

In the innocent mind of the child, these men are fortunate enough to be able to do what they want. Little does he realise that these men too are fettered by the need to work to feed their families. He sees the freedom they enjoy, but not the toil and the hardships that go with their jobs.

                                                                       

                                                            The Hindu

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