2016-08-23 Tue

76 years ago, the great writer, philosopher, painter and musician Rabindranath Tagore visited Mungpoo in the Darjeeling for the last time. To commemorate this event, a special cover was released on Sunday by the Indian Post's West Bengal circle.

Rabindranath Tagore visited the city 4 times between 1938 and 1940 where he found solace to pen down three of his most celebrated poems, including 'Janmadin'. He stayed at the bungalow of Maitreyi Devi who is also a renowned author. Memoirs of his stay in Mungpoo were published by Maitreyi Devi in her book "Mungpoote Rabindranath". The bungalow was later built into Rabindra Bhavan - a museum of Tagore's photographs, paintings, and writings. Alok K Goyal, the designer of the postal cover said that the 150-year-old bungalow needs restoration badly and has a lot of historical significance.

Two types of medallions, one with a bronze finish and the other with antique silver finish were also released along with the special cover. The second coin commemorates the 75th death anniversary of Tagore and features the inscription "Jorasanko thakurbari" on one side and the portrait of the poet on the other. These limited edition coins can be purchased for Rs 1500.

The special covers were issued by chief postmaster general of the West Bengal Circle using high gloss UV printing with embossing in both glossy and matt finish varieties. This technique creates a realistic feel of a statue on the cover.

The special postmark on these 1000 covers has a sketch of Tagore. They will be sold from ePost and Kolkata GPO's Philatelic Bureau for Rs 100.