The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

Great poet Rabindranath Tagore's sojourn to Dhaka 's Balda garden inspired him to compose his famous romantic poem 'Camellia' in the late 1920's.

History has it that the nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore wrote his famous romantic poem 'Camellia' when he visited Dhaka was inspired by the beautiful camellia flowers in Balda Garden.

According to Nazir Hassain's book 'Kingbodontir Dhaka' that during his visit to Balda Garden, Tagore actually came up with Bengali names for some foreign plants.

Tagore's Camellia is a poem written about a young man who falls in love with a beautiful girl. After gazing at her by chance through a crowded bus, he instantly falls in love with the elegantly dressed Kamala. His desire to see her everyday leads to travel on that same bus day in day out, hoping that one day she will turn around and notice him.

The young man in the poem is a classic dreamer and of all the dreams he has, he wants this one to come true. But, in his mind he strongly believes that sometimes more things could happen in his imagination than in real life.

Tagore, whose birth anniversary falls on May 8, was frequent visitor to this part of the sub- continent where life and people inspired him to write many of classical literary works.

He visited Dhaka twice. First time, he came to Dhaka to join the 10th session of Bengal Provincial Conference in 1898 and stayed for three days. Second time, the noble laureate came to Dhaka in 1926 to participate over a week programme from February 7, 1926 under auspices of Dhaka University authorities.

During his stay in Dhaka at that time, Tagore had different types of programmes that ranged from meeting his fans to attending civic receptions.