Sunday, September 16, 2007

Buenos Aires donde el tango nacio

Buenos Aires, donde el tango nacio
tierra mia querida
quisera poderte ofrender
todo el alma en mi cantar
( Buenos Aires, where the tango was born, dear land, i offer the whole of my soul in my song).

I have been posted as Ambassador to Argentina. I will reach Buenos Aires on 10 oct. I will also be accredited to urguay and paraguay.

This is a dream come true. Another fantastic opportunity to pursue my passion for latin america! This will complement my experience in Brazil and Venezuela.

Hmm...Tango and Football, Patagonia and Pampas, Evita and Che Guevara, Borges and Cortazar, ski resorts of bariloche and vineyards of Mendoza, cafes and bars of Recoleta...and more..

Argentina has the largest number of golf courses in Latin America. Having played in almost all the courses in Brazil and Venezuela, it is going to be challenging to repeat it in Argentina !

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Affair with an Argentine




'Dear Gurudev, days are endless since you went away" - she wrote...

" when we were together we mostlly played with words and tried to laugh away our best opportunities. Whenever there is the least sign of the nest becoming a jealous rival of the sky .. my mind, like a migrant bird, tries to take ... flight to a distant shore." - he wrote.

She - Victoria Ocampo, the ardent Argentine admirer.

He - Rabindranath Tagore, the Indian poet
she -34 year old
he - 63 year old


It was a subtle affair, a platonic love, born on the banks of the river Plata.They spent together two unforgettable months in 1924 at the villa Miralrio of Victoria with a view of the river,in San Isidro on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. The river Plata was flowing quietly overhearing their light conversation and heavy breathing. The famous Tipa tree in the garden of the house was bending and crouching ...listening to the silence of the couple who used to sit under its shade.

He called his muse Bijaya ( victoria ).
One third of his Purabi poems are said to be inspired by this Argentine angel.

Here is a poem
" Exotic blossom, I whispered again in your ear
What is your language dear
you smiled and shook your head
and the leaves murmurred instead "

She wrote an essay " Tagore on the banks of the river Plata" and a book "Tagore en las barrancas de San Isidro"( Tagore on the ravines of San Isidro)

She gifted him the armchair in which he used to sit in her house. The chair is sitting now in the Shantiniketan museum even now cherishing and guarding the secrets of the poet and his muse. Tagore wrote a couple of poems on the chair too..