Jamshedpur, May 8: Women dressed in dhakai saris and men clad in dhoti-kurta singing Rabindra Sangeet on the Rabindra Bhavan campus in Sakchi this morning lifted the spirits of many who turned up to pay floral tributes to Tagore on his birthday.

For the birthday celebrations of the Nobel laureate, the Rabindra Bhavan campus in the steel city was transformed into a replica of Shantiniketan, the place from where the master playwright hailed.

“It is the traditional customs doing the rounds of Rabindranath Tagore’s Visva-Bharati campus that we replicate in our small way,” said A. Chowdhury, the general secretary of Tagore Society — the cultural body named after Rabindranath Tagore that has been functioning in the city for a long time.

A cultural programme capturing some moments from Tagore’s life was put up by young schoolchildren who danced to the melodious tunes composed by Tagore.

The evening hours were reserved for more cultural extravaganza as different groups presented dance dramas with a bit of narration on the historical background of the song and the composer.

Ananda Dhara, based on a drama by Tagore, was put up by the staff of the Baridih branch after which a dance was performed by members of the Kadma branch to the accompaniment of the song Ananda Loke followed by a performance by members of the Sonari branch.

The programme here would be staged for three consecutive days and would conclude with an evening of Rabindra Sangeet by reputed artistes Vikram Singh and Soma Roy from Shantiniketan and Arin Chatterjee from Calcutta.

“It is an attempt to maintain our date with tradition,” added Chowdhury.

Also joining in the celebrations were faculty members and students of Jamshedpur Women’s College who presented their tribute through songs and dance dramas on the college campus this morning.

At the Swami Pranavananda Centenary Girls’ Residence School in Sundernagar, school students comprising members of primitive tribes presented their take on Tagore.

Singing songs and dancing to his soulful melodies, girls belonging to the Birhor and Pahariya tribes presented a wonderful selection of songs penned and set to tune by Tagore himself.