On the 150th birth anniversary of India's revered poet and Nobel Prize winner for literature, Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore, the Ministry of Culture, plans a series of events. NFDC has announced the release of a set of six Tagore films on DVD and Enlighten Film Society will host a Tagore festival of 12 films in four cities. CS gives you some trivia on the Nobel Laureate:u00a0



'u00a0Rabindranath Tagore was born as Rabindranath Thakur on May 7, 1861 in the Jorasanko mansion in Kolkata. His parents Debendranath and Sarada Devi were one of the first people to embrace Brahmo faith.

'u00a0As a child, he declined classroom schooling and was home educated in astronomy, history, modern science and Sanskrit.

'He wrote Bhikarini, The Beggar Woman, which was Bengali language's first short story.

'u00a0His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to political and personal topics. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced), and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and contemplation.

'u00a0In December 1883 he married Mrinalini Devi, they had five children, two of whom died before reaching adulthood.

'u00a0In November 1913, Tagore learned that he had won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature, becoming the first Asian Nobel laureate.

'u00a0Between 1878 and 1932, Tagore visited more than 30 countries on five continents; many of these trips were crucial in familiarising non-Indian audiences with his works and spreading his political ideas.