Best of Tagore by Rabindranath Tagore and Jharna Basu (Translator and Compiler)

  This is a collection of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore's short stories. These stories depict human nature through different interesting characters. The stories are poetic in nature and usually in the setting of contemporary Bengal rural and urban areas. This book has a compilation of 12 short stories by Rabindranath Tagore but I will write specifically about 3 short stories that I like the most. A must-read book.

 

1. The return of the little master is a story about a boy name Raincharan, who was a faithful and genuine employer of an upper-class family. His genuine effort and loyalty towards the family took a sad turn and did not come as better outcomes for him. In this story, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore had talked about social class, one's identity, and their duty and how people behave accordingly to the setting of the environment. This is one of my favourite stories from this book, it is deeply sad but talks about human relationships very beautifully.

2. Kabuliwala, this story is my favourite because this was my first ever story I read of the Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. It is the story of Kabuliwala who has been judged based on his looks and how human attitude changes based on the appearance of a person. This story also talks about a beautiful and pure friendship between a girl from an upper-class family and Kabuliwala. 

3. The Runaway is a story about a boy name Tarapada. He is a restless wanderer. During his self expedition, he met a Zamindar family. He settled with them and bonded a beautiful relationship but restless Tarapada vanishes leaving the bond and the comfort of life. This story has no moral meaning but simply expressing the nature of humans through different characters.

- Rishika Chatterjee