Some things that I felt were interesting during the class discussions were-

Tagore once stated that he had come across generosity being the way of life for the people of the

village in Kolkata. In context to this example people may take advantage of that generosity and that

is called disintigeration. That rhythm the village has is dharma and that disintegrates. This simplicity

takes generations to build. It resonates with what Gandhi says in the Hind Swaraj that a house takes

a long time to build. The only way you can recover this rhythm is by trying different things. In this

manner Tagore tried Santiniketan as a community development and self-development space while

Gandhi established the Sevagram Ashram at Wardha.

“What they have obtained is an exact result of the means they adopted.”

Gandhi replies to all the situatons in great detail and even talks about theother possibilities. His

principles are the same but he has given and explained its application in different cases. The actions

we take in a particular scenario determine our end result. It is all very situation specific but the same

stance.

Trip discussions-

I felt that Tagore did a lot for the people of Santiniketan at his time. Whatever Santiniketan is today

it is because of “Thakur”. So it is understandable of the people to be grateful towards Tagore and

idolising him. But after Tagore’s death, Santiniketan also lost its soul gradually. The people are

protecting his ideologies instead of building upon it.