Home and the World

The Home and the World is the English translation of Ghare-Baire (1919). The story revolves around the life of three protagonists - Nikhilesh, a wealthy and well-educated gentleman, his young wife Bimala, and his fiery friend Sandip, a fearless Swadeshi fighter. Bimala, influenced by Sandip, abandons her customary role as a wife and begins to break free from her confining environment. But her transition comes at a great cost. Written at the time when India was still under the rule of the British Empire, the novel deliberates on the politics of its time. A clash of views for then and future India makes this novel an important read even today. One of India's most cherished figures, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1914) was a novelist, short-story writer, poet, essayist, composer, painter, educationist, thinker, and the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. His works are famous for their exploration of the political and the personal. They render him a champion of the 'One World' idea making him a living presence. Gandhi called him the 'Great Sentinel'. He was also renowned as Gurudev.