Dr Bashabi Fraser, CBE is an award-winning poet, children’s writer, editor, translator and academic. Bashabi’s work traverses continents in bridge-building literary projects. She has authored and edited 23 books, published several articles and chapters, both academic and creative and as a poet, has been widely anthologised. She is the Chief Editor of the academic and creative peer-reviewed international e-journal, Gitanjali and Beyond and on the Editorial Board of RLF WritersMosaic. She played a key role in discovering Annapurna Turkhud, a Marathi woman who developed an affectionate relationship with the Bengali poet and Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore when she was 20 and he was 17 and unveiling a plaque in her name. Dr Fraser spoke to the newsweekly about this discovery, Tagore and the responsibility that comes with it.
1. You’ve authored books on Tagore and been the director of ScoTs. In your journey so far, what amuses you the most about Tagore?
I was brought up by a mother who was a brilliant singer of Tagore’s songs (Rabindrasangeet) and my father who recited his poetry. My parents had a wonderful library with Tagore’s complete works, which encouraged me to go through his vast oeuvre. However, I think it is impossible to read all of Tagore’s work and do justice to it. Yet he wrote and accomplished multiple projects, both educational and environmental, in one lifetime. We danced to his songs, enacted his dance dramas, and staged his plays. I read his novels and short stories, and later in life, I read his essays and letters. While being a serious writer and cultural activist, Tagore had a marvellous sense of humour, which comes across in so much that he wrote, for example, his poems in Shishu (Child), his comedies, Hansyakautuk, in some of his songs and in his letters. I would say, his deep humanism meant that he had great faith in humanity which marks his positive attitude to life and life’s continuity, which is what comedy signifies.
2. What was it like unveiling the blue plaque for Annapurna Turkhud, and finding her grave? What must our readers know that they may not know clearly through the theories floating on the internet?
Annapurna Turkhud was a talented and accomplished woman, well-versed in many languages, bringing the East and West together in her person. Yet she was lost to descendants of the Turkhud family. The fact that she died so young of preventable conditions – exhaustion and septicaemia while giving birth to her fourth child, is shocking. Yet in her time, she fearlessly challenged many socio-religious boundaries, leading the way for many women mired in Victorian mores. She married a British educationist, Harold Littledale, converted to Christianity, fell in love, and travelled alone to Edinburgh to join her brother who was studying medicine here, which were all steps not normally taken by women in her time. Yet she was a great poet’s (Rabindranath Tagore) muse, their platonic relationship leading to many songs and poems to be written over the years by Rabindranath.
This remarkable woman remained undiscovered and unsung for 132 years. The restoration of her memory in the plaque contributes to the recovery of her story. She can now rest in peace, as we all remember and celebrate her short but meaningful life. What moved us greatly was the fact that her infant son, Denzil was taken to Broughty Ferry to be looked after by a nurse after his mother’s untimely death. He died four months after his mother’s death, exactly to the day, on 2 November (Ana having breathed her last on 2 July in 1891). His tiny body was brought from Broughty Ferry to Edinburgh to lie beside his mother. It was a long journey in those days, yet those who cared for Ana and her son thought it important to give mother and son the comfort of being laid to rest together.
3. While the discovery of those of the likes of Annapurna amuses readers and those of Indian heritage, what is the actual work and challenge that goes behind finding such information years later?
Prof Roger Jeffery, a social scientist, Hauke Wiebe, a researcher and historian and I have done the research to piece together Ana’s life, from her early days to her last days. We have found the address of the house she lived in Edinburgh before she died and discovered her last resting place with unstinting help from Caroline Gerard, a genealogist and Peter Gentleman, a Structural Inspector, at Bereavement Services. I went through the Bengali biographies of Prasanta Kumar Pal (9 volumes) and Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyay (4 volumes) who had consulted the Tagore household and institution archives to document facts which related Ana and Rabindranath, and the Turkhud and the Tagore families. It took us a few years to have some facts recovered and corroborated.
4. What kind of responsibility rests with you while you reveal and confirm such theories and information about a revered historic Indian figure, yet you’re doing something which no one could do?
I do feel a certain sense of responsibility to probe and establish historical facts around historical figures like Rabindranath, as such initiatives help to dispel myths and misrepresentations that might exist in the public consciousness. But I am fortunate that I am not alone in these endeavours, as I have colleagues, scholars, researchers and interested friends here and in India and across the world, who are willing to help and work with me to revive, restore and affirm the debt we owe to great minds like Rabindranath and feel inspired by women like Annapurna/Ana.
5. As a woman researcher, what do you think is needed to empower more women like you who can help uncover the history of our heritage?
I feel there is still a lot I need to do. The fact that the University of Edinburgh Library has accepted and values our Tagore Collection as part of their Special Collections, that Rabindra Bhavana in Visva-Bharati remains an accessible treasure trove of archives, that the Indian Consulate in Scotland and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations continue to support ScoTs – all provide a support base for further research and collaboration that I would like to see foster and grow. Ana remains an example of positive energy to women today, who not only challenged patriarchal constructs but had the full support and respect of her family. This is what truly empowers women – their own inner strength and fearlessness to challenge constricting boundaries, bolstered by family support. They can then stand up and fight for their freedoms and retain their dignity, working towards a just and inclusive society, a society where the arts, literature and culture matter, becoming the soft power that India can be proud of and share with the world.
