Bangladesh marked the 165th birth anniversary of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore yesterday through cultural programmes, discussions, music, poetry recitations, and dance performances held across three major venues in Dhaka.

It is easier to preserve the grand aesthetics of Tagore than to confront the difficult ones. Rabindra Sangeet survives in carefully rehearsed cadence, quotations circulate endlessly online, and institutions commemorate him with ritual precision.