In the initial part of the 20th century, Shillong hosted many celebrities of global stature. Besides Swami Vivekananda and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore was one of the most illustrious and celebrated tourists to visit Shillong. Those were the days when reaching this salubrious hill station was not an easy affair at all. The road was not good and there was no proper or regular mode of communication. Tagore probably travelled from Guwahati in some private motor vehicles. The poet, in his memoirs, described the winding road to Shillong as ‘aka – baka – path’ with eye catching jungles on either side of the road. He had also celebrated the aromatic emanations from the pine trees. He was equally charmed by the union of unknown flowers in the evergreen hills of the Khasi hills.

The eternal tourist that Tagore was is amplified in his verse ‘Shillonger Chiti’ (letter from Shillong)

“Gormi Jokhon tutlo na aar pakhar haowa Sarbote – thonda hote daure elum – Shillong namak porbote”

Rabindranath Tagore visited Shillong thrice. No other hill station or resort had that privilege and Tagore loved Shillong so much that when he went back, he wrote his masterpiece ‘Sesher Kabita’ a novel whose total background was Shillong.

(When the heat of summer could not be met even with fans and soft drinks, I rushed to the hills of Shillong)

When Rabindranath Tagore came to Shillong for the first time in 1919, he was already a renowned global celebrity. By that time he was not only the Rabi Babu of Bengal, but also the famous Nobel Laureate ‘Rabindranath Tagore’ – the first Asian to receive a Nobel Prize.

He was very busy. The foundation stone of Viswa Bharati had been laid on 22nd December 1918. After the summer vacation of 1919, the regular classes in the new University had started where Tagore himself was also a teacher. This, along with composition of new songs and poem translations from English literature, his untiring effort in making Santiniketan a citadel of knowledge and culture where global streams of knowledge will assemble occupied all of his time.

That year, the Puja vacation commenced from the 25th of September. But the vacation did not allow Gurudev a rest period at least for the first fortnight. On the 9th of October 1919, Tagore reached Calcutta and the following day, he started for Shillong.

There was no formal invitation from any corner, yet, on his own, just to get away from the busy and heavy engagements, Tagore chose Shillong as an abode which would refresh him and give him some fresh air. That was the time when the political scenario of the country was most disturbed. The Rowlatt Act was introduced by the British Government to restrict all protest by Indians. On the 13th of April 1919, in Jalliwanwalabag of Punjab, General Dier killed more than 400 innocent Indians and this shocked Tagore to such an extent that he wrote a letter to the Viceroy, returning the honour of knighthood back to the British rulers as a mark of protest against the extreme insult to the nation and humanity by the colonial British rulers. Shillong, at that time, was having a population of more than 25,000, most of whom were government servants and business people. That was probably the reason why the people of Shillong were reluctant to even organise a reception for this world famous celebrity who was visiting the town lest it was disliked by the British authorities.

It was a rented house, owned by the Assistant Commissioner of Chittagong division Mr. Kiron Chandra Dey (CIE) where Tagore stayed during his first visit to Shillong. There was a spacious garden surrounding the house by the side of Umshirpi in the first round about turning of Rilbong. The name of the house was Brookside. The dense shade of pine and Debdaru trees was an ideal abode of peace, serenity and silence. Perhaps it was this atmosphere that Tagore was looking for and he fell in love with Shillong on his very first visit.

Shillong Brahmo Samaj was the only place where Tagore used to go every morning for prayer. During his visit, Kabiguru composed only a few poems and translated some of his verses into English.

Tagore’s second visit was in the end of April 1923 during the summer vacation. This time, he stayed through the months of May and June in ‘Jeet Bhumi’ in Rilbong which at that time belonged to Tagore’s niece Manisha Debi.

Before coming to Shillong, in 1920 1921, more than one year, the poet had a long voyage to Europe and America. He was deeply shaken by the mechanical life pattern of the west and the greed and lust of the modern capitalist society there. He was contemplating a plot on a drama on the evils and side effects of the so called modern civilization totally dictated and run by mechanical lifestyle and this emancipated and resulted in his drama ‘Jakhshapuri’ which was later named ‘Raktakarabi’ or ‘Red Oleanders’. This was written while Tagore was staying at Jeet Bhumi this time.

On the 9th of June 1923, Tagore wrote his famous poem on Shillong ‘Shillonger Chiti’ which is truly an ode to Shillong. Every word, every verse of this poem is a literary expression of how deeply Tagore’s poetic sense captured the innate natural beauty of this hill town. This poem is an expression of how passionately Tagore loved the beauty of nature and if this poem could be translated in its true spirit, the tourist department of Meghalaya today need not spend money on slogans to attract tourists to Shillong.

During his stay at Jeet Bhumi, Tagore was invited and honoured by the Queen of Mayurbhanj Srimati Sucharn Debi. However, perhaps the most important function during this visit was the celebration of the poets birthday on 25th Baishaka (8th May that year) in the bungalow of Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy in Kenchestrace which has now become a circuit house. Shillong can now proudly boast that in 1923, the 62nd birthday of Tagore was celebrated in Shillong which was graced by Tagore himself.

Shillong attracted Tagore for the third time in 1927 in the month of May. One of Tagore’s ardent admirers was the business icon Ambalal Sarabhai from Ahmedabad. This time, Mr. Sarabhjai invited Tagore to be his guest in Shillong and hired two houses in the Upland road of Laitumkhrah. One house was exclusively for Tagore to stay in from May till June that year.

The name of the house was ‘Solomon Ville’ which was owned by Mr. D. Lanagard. Later on, the king of Sidlee purchased this house and named it ‘Sidlee House’.

This time, Tagire utilised the time This time, Tagire utilised the time of his vacation in composing quite a few of his poems and songs. It was here that Tagore started writing his celebrated novel ‘Tin Purus’ which was later named ‘Jogajog’.

During this trip, Tagore mostly confined himself in Solomon Villa and seldom went out. He only went out one day when he was taken to witness a Khasi dance and on another evening to attend a social invitation by the Queen of Mayurbhanj Smti Sucharu Devi.

During this time, a few local youth organised a staging of Tagore’s drama ‘Chirakumar Shabha’ at Queenton Hall (now Vivekananda Cultural Centre) and invited Tagore as a guest. Tagore went to see this staging of his own drama at Shillong but because of a stomach ache, he could not stay long at the function.

Rabindranath Tagore visited Shillong thrice. No other hill station or resort has that privilege and Tagore loved Shillong so much that when he went back, he wrote his masterpiece ‘Sesher Kabita’ a novel whose total background was Shillong. Though it is a romantic novel where the hero and heroines are all present, yet it was an embodiment of expression and revelation of a romance between Tagore and nature in Shillong.

Tagore completed the novel at Bangalore while he was a guest at the house of the Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University Sri Brajendranath Seal in 1928 yet the fragrance and aroma of his experience with nature in Shillong remained and depicted Shillong in a manner which perhaps made the image more beautiful than the object.