India has organised a cultural event in Egypt to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.
The programme, organised by the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture here, included recitation of Tagore's poems, rendering of Rabindra Sangeet and dance.
Suchitra Durai, director of the Centre, said they would bring cultural groups from India to perform Rabindra Sangeet and dance.
Togore had a special relationship with Egypt as his grandfather, who was a well known social reformer, had visited Egypt in the mid 19th century, he said.
Tagore visited Egypt in 1926-1927 and the then King of Egypt presented him with a set of books in Arabic. During the visit, Tagore also formed a very strong relationship with noted Egyptian poet Ahmad Shawky.
When Shawky passed away Tagore sent a eulogy. Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. He was a master of several literary forms — a poet, a novelist, a short-story writer and a playwright.
