This paper looks at Rabindranath Tagore's
relationship and interaction with two scientific legends, Patrick
Geddes, the Scottish biologist, and Jagdish Chandra Bose, and also
between him and Gandhi. Each is an event on its own, but each telescopes
into the other to give an intriguing picture of a
multifaceted man. The
letters that Tagore wrote and received from the two
scientist-intellectuals are also analysed. Tagore was no ordinary
nationalist and went beyond the tired categories of the modern nation
state. He wanted India to smell the West, taste it and understand the
differences within it. He realised that imperialism is only one phase of
the West, that there were other Wests that one could talk to and
conspire with.
