Shillong: Scenic Shillong had been a favourite destination of Rabindranath Tagore, which the bard had visited thrice and had penned some of his masterpieces plotted on the undulating and evergreen hills, including the celebrated drama ‘Roktokorobi’, the novel ‘Shesher Kobita’ and the poem ‘Shillonger Chithi’.
One of the places where the poet laureate stayed during his sojourn to the hills in October 1919 is the Brookeside Bungalow by the Umshyrpi stream at the Rilbong locality of the hill station, which the Meghalaya government has been preserving as a Tagore Museum and has been pursuing the Central Government to sanction for it to be developed into a Tagore Cultural Complex.
Newly appointed Meghalaya minister of arts and culture, Sanbor Shullai met Union minister of culture and tourism, GK Reddy in New Delhi recently and discussed the Central Ministry’s support to the state for arts and culture development initiatives and requested Reddy for early sanction of New Rabindranath Tagore Culture Complex at Rilbong, Shillong under the Tagore Cultural Complex (TCC) Scheme for the state of Meghalaya.
Shullai, in a letter to Reddy, said this would be a token of appreciation for Meghalaya, which would be celebrating its golden jubilee of statehood in 2022.
The Tagore Museum at Rilbong, where a huge statue of the novel laureate stands, is a popular tourist destination, drawing visitors
from within and outside the country as well.
Shullai also asked the Union minister of tourism and culture to release the pending project of Meghalaya Tourism Development Corporation which was initiated when he was the chairman of the Corporation.
The Union Minister has assured Shullai to look into the matter, a
media statement issued by the latter’s office said.
