Durgapur (West Bengal): Rabindranath Tagore's Santiniketan comes back alive in the form of a 'mobile gurukul pathshala' launched and groomed in Durgapur by a namesake of the famous poet, philosopher and Nobel laureate.
Rabindranath Chandra has made sure that local students get a feel of all the famed congenial and inspiring atmosphere that the bard established at Santiniketan. A teacher by profession, Chandra has been suffering from cancer for many years. His voice is fading away too with time.
But the zeal to give back to society has perhaps driven this 45-year-old self-made tutor to start a school by himself, moving around on his scooter and reaching out to the students who are deprived of good educational opportunities. Chandra's concept of teaching has all the trappings of Tagore's Santiniketan.
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Even though Rabindranath Chandra is only 45 years old now, he looks much older due to the deadly cancer. Always drawing inspiration from Tagore’s ideals, he opened a free school at the age of 25. Dressed in white dhoti and kurta, Chandra rides around the Sagarbhanga area of Durgapur catering to the educational needs of hundreds of students in the vicinity, mostly school dropouts. His 'pathshala' is on the wheels of an old scooter. This mobile school is his true home. After imparting lessons, he feeds them as per his affordability, and then he drops them back home as well.
Things were smooth till five years ago before Chandra was diagnosed with the deadly disease that has started crippling his body. Despite the suffering he never thought of giving up teaching. What was once a small school in the neighborhood, now has more than 100 students.
Many people in the area have stood by him and extended financial help. Educated youth of the area have joined the bandwagon. Everybody in the areas hopes Rabindranath Chandra's mobile gurukul will brighten the future prospects of students in the Durgapur industrial belt.
