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Rabindranath Tagore, sobriquet Gurudev, was an Indian Bengali polymath. He was a popular poet, novelist, musician, and playwright who reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As author of Gitanjali and its “profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse”, and as the first Asian to win the Novel Prize in Literature, Tagore was perhaps the most widely regarded Indian literary figure of all time. He was a mesmerizing representative of the Indian culture whose influence and popularity internationally perhaps could only be compared to that to Gandhi, whom Tagore named 'Mahatma' out of his deep admiration for him. A Pirali Brahmin from Kolkata, Tagore was already writing poems at age eight. At age sixteen, he published his first substantial poetry under the pseudonym Bhanushingho (“Sun Lion”) and wrote his first short stories and dramas in 1877. Tagore denounced the British Raj and supported independence. His efforts endure in his vast canon and in the institution he founded, Visva-Bharati University. Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms. His 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, novels were acclaimed for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and contemplation. Tagore was perhaps the only literature who penned anthems of two countries: India and Bangladesh: Jana Gana Mana and Amar Shonar Bangla. About the Author Born in 1956 in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, where the colorful Yakshagana opera holds sway, Parameshwar Hedge was drawn into music at a very young age. He stated learning Hindustani music when he was barely ten. Very soon, under the guidance of Sri S. M. Bhat and Sri Chandrashekhar Puranika Math, his interest in music grew into a passion. It was in 1976 that Parmeshwar Hegde went to Dharwad to seek advanced training under Pt. Basavaraj Rajguru. The maestro took an immense liking for the young vocalist. Over a decade and a half, he lovingly taught Parameshwar Hegde the best compositions from his amazingly vast repertoire. An 'A' grade artist on All India Radio, Parameshwar Hegde has been featured in several natinal broadcasts. He has appeared on television also & is much sought after as a concert artiste. Now a resident of Bangalore, he is a major attraction at prestigious music festicals all over India and had also traveled on concert tours abroad, to the U.S.A. Canada, United Kingdom and the Gulf countries. Without doubt, Parameshwar Hegde is a new star in the framament of Indian classical music. Touched by the genious of Rajguru and illuminated by warm inner light all its own, his music brings joy to his admiring listeners.