Tagore’s journal fetches big money at a Mumbai auction

A blue-leather journal, in which India’s Renaissance Man - Rabindranath Tagore - used to pen poetry, calculations and introspections on art between 1889-1904 went under the hammer for a whopping sum of Rs 1.7 crore at the Christie's auction in Mumbai. "It's likely to be the highest sum paid for a manuscript at an auction in India," said Sonal Singh, head of Christie's Mumbai office.

12 Dec 2014 | By Mihir Joshi

The highest figures at the auction at Taj Hotel, Mumbai, went to Tyeb Mehta, whose 1999 Untitled (Falling Bull) acrylic-on-canvas was sold for Rs 15 crore.

Ardent memorabilia collector looking to open a museum
Probir Kumar Bose, is a celebrity of sorts in Panvel because of his rare collection of ancient coins, stamps and letters addressed to him from world leaders in the past 50 years.

Bose has received postcards, letters and autographs of people like the President V V Giri, Indira Gandhi, US Presidents Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Pope John Paul II, Manmohan Singh, Y B Chavan, Mother Teresa, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, Field Marshal General Cariappa, A P J Abdul Kalam, Pratibha Patil, Gordon Brown, Tony Blair, Air Chief Arup Raha, Army Gen Bikram Singh, Kiran Bedi, and Sunita William, among others.

He had started writing letters to national and international personalities while he was a schoolboy in Guwahati back in the 1960’s and today that schoolboy’s collection has swelled up to innumerable postcards, over 8,500 stamps from 182 countries and about 1000 coins from 86 countries.

Bose wishes to open this personal treasure trove that he has collected over the last 50 years, to the masses. He is currently on the look-out for a philanthropist who would help him in his endeavour to set up a museum to showcase the postcards, stamps and coins in his collection.

Dadasaheb Phalke’s mural inaugurated in Mumbai
Amitabh Bachchan unveiled a 120x150feet mural of Dadasaheb Phalke, revered as the father of Indian cinema, on the MTNL building at Bandra reclamation on 11 December 2014.

The mural showcases the synergy of street art and Indian cinema, it covers the whole facade on a wall, 800 litres of paint was used to make the entire mural.

The mural was envisioned and executed by non-profit organisation Start India and  unveiled to conclude their Start Mumbai festival.

Ranjit Dahiya, founder of the Bollywood Art Project (BAP), is the artist who made the mural. He also had the support of other artists - Yantr from Guwahati, Munir Bukhari from Rajkot and Nilesh Kharade from Solapur.