Just returned after breathing colours at the land of red soil? Then, you know what it is. Santiniketan experiences an overwhelming response during the spring festival, every year. Amidst the amplified fun, sometimes, Santiniketan is losing its ‘santi’ (peace), its rhythm. But, get assured, I am not here to offer a shabby rhyme. I know, how you people stay eager yearlong.

I was a novice at the Vasant Utsav. For the first time, I had joined the kaleidoscopic symposium of roughly 1lakh people there. Enjoyed a lot with friends, but, got obsessed by the reckless mob. Getting bored of #holiwalaselfies, we came outside. We came outside in search of the soulful Santiniketan and found that lost tune at ‘Srimati’, within a stone’s throw. ‘Srimati’, just behind the children’s hostel, was pouring out then. The stage was nicely decorated with colourful crafts and clothes. Sun was still mild. Trees were glittering with fresh leaves. Air was getting wet with ‘abir’. A neverending stream of crowd was surpassing by. Tiny tots were busy buzzing with colours. A few people were taking seats on the floor. We, too, came in.

After the ending of the event at the Asram Ground, Srimati, the concrete garden started flowering with its buds, the tots. Teachers of Pathabhavana inaugurated the fest with a chorus. Little champs accompanied with a group dance. The course continued for next one and half hour. Sometimes, students had sung, teachers danced and sometimes, the vice versa too. Teachers funnily higgled their students to dance extempo with unfamiliar songs, helped them to perform and then admired. At the finish, young fellows paid tribute to their teachers and elders with abir, the bright colour powder.

Srimati’, to me, is more than a dramatic relief. It is an emblem of Tagore’s approach to life. How a multidimensional learning leads to perfection, ‘Srimati’ proves. During this unostentious celebration, what magnetted me most, is simplicity, its shapelessness and its amiability. It made me feel like abode; such an abode where everyone is welcomed.

‘Srimati’ is like the spring breeze, without which your Basant Utsav tour to Santiniketan, is incomplete.