On this day, M.K. Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore met for the first time.
Gandhi had visited Santiniketan earlier, but the poet had not been there. On his second visit to Santiniketan, Gandhi met Tagore and the two entered into a conversation that would last till the end of Tagore’s life and would allow both of them to be deeply respectful of each other, yet also be critical of each other.
This was apparent from the very first meeting. Gandhi was asked by Tagore to sit on a sofa, but he chose to sit on the floor.
Gandhi would feel that students at Visva-Bharati should be more self-sufficient; Tagore would have reservations about Gandhi’s principles about non-cooperation. Despite the differences, the two would support each other’s visions of humanity and a free India. Gandhi would become a key figure at Visva-Bharati.
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