Tagore by Fireside

Tagore By Fireside was written by Maitraye Devi, who enjoyed a long exchange of letters with Tagore. She translated it from her own Bengali work, Mungpute Rabindranath (1943). In it, she provides an account of Tagore's sojourn at Mungpu, a village in Darjeeling district. In the words of Majorie Sykes, it is an "intimate word-picture of a great 'man at home' among his friends". Tagore was a guest at Maitraye Devi's house in Mungpu on four occasions. She religiously recorded each word of the conversations the poet had with herself and others. In this book we see Rabindranath 'intensely alive in high spirited fun'. The personal, especially the humorous side of the poet is brought in such a way that one can 'hear the very inflection of his voice and see the mischievous twinkle in his eyes'.