Khoai (Shantiniketan)- Beauty of nature, art and music.

KHOAI (SHANTINIKETAN), WEST BENGAL (INDIA).

Khoai in Bengali refers to a geological formation specifically in Birbhum, Bardhaman, and Bankura districts of West Bengal, India and some parts of Jharkhand, India that is made up of laterite soil rich in iron oxide, often in the shapes of tiny hills.

The beauty of khoai in and around Shantiniketan enthralled Rabindranath Tagore and he immortalized khoai in his numerous writings.

It is also called "Shonibaar'er haat". All the local artisans gather at this place. Everything that you would find here is handmade, right from clothing to accessories, furnitures, decoratives et allIf you want to attend this fair, you will have to plan your trip around a Saturday. The fair starts at 4 am in the morning and artisans from all the nearby places set up stalls.One of the most important thing about this place is peace and silence.

Check out the beauty of khoai (shantiniketan).

Necklace and earrings made with fruit and vegetable seeds.

 

                  Hand Made Toys, Well this reminds me my childhood days.

                         Photo frames of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore

                                                  Epic (Made by pure soil).

                                       Don’t know either you happy or not.

                                                        Jai Ganesha.

                                                            Expression.

                                    Some Decorative made up of wool.

                                       When you represent your art. 

                                        Beautiful made up of papers. 

Handmade Musical Instruments.

                                   

Baul singers.

                                                       Folk Dance.

                                        

                                   Shakuntala Cottage (Beautiful arrangement).

Writings of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore.

Where The Mind Is Without Fear....

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high

Where knowledge is free

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments

By narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from the depth of truth

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way

Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Where the mind is led forward by thee

Into ever-widening thought and action

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake 

   

-Rabindranath Tagore.

A Moments Indulgence....

I ask for a moment's indulgence to sit by thy side. The works

that I have in hand I will finish afterwards.

Away from the sight of thy face my heart knows no rest nor respite,

and my work becomes an endless toil in a shoreless sea of toil.

Today the summer has come at my window with its sighs and murmurs; and

the bees are plying their minstrelsy at the court of the flowering grove.

Now it is time to sit quite, face to face with thee, and to sing

dedication of life in this silent and overflowing leisure. -

-Rabindranath Tagore

Clouds And Waves.... 

Mother, the folk who live up in the clouds call out to me-

"We play from the time we wake till the day ends.

We play with the golden dawn, we play with the silver moon."

I ask, "But how am I to get up to you ?"

They answer, "Come to the edge of the earth, lift up your

hands to the sky, and you will be taken up into the clouds."
"My mother is waiting for me at home, "I say, "How can I leave
her and come?"

Then they smile and float away.
But I know a nicer game than that, mother.
I shall be the cloud and you the moon.
I shall cover you with both my hands, and our house-top will
be the blue sky.

The folk who live in the waves call out to me-
"We sing from morning till night; on and on we travel and know
not where we pass."

I ask, "But how am I to join you?"
They tell me, "Come to the edge of the shore and stand with
your eyes tight shut, and you will be carried out upon the waves."

I say, "My mother always wants me at home in the everything-
how can I leave her and go?"

They smile, dance and pass by.
But I know a better game than that.

I will be the waves and you will be a strange shore.
I shall roll on and on and on, and break upon your lap with
laughter.
And no one in the world will know where we both are.

-Rabindranath Tagore