22.

Two supreme Bengali singers, Dilip Kumar Roy and Kaji Najrul Islam, happened to be very good friends. They were both great admirers of Tagore, but from time to time they were not on good terms with him. The reason was that they used to sing Tagore’s spiritual songs in restaurants and so-called nightclubs. They used to go there along with some other great singers and composers, and then they would start singing Tagore’s songs.

When Tagore heard, he became furious. “My songs! My songs you will sing in nightclubs!” he said. Then he warned Dilip, Najrul and a few others, “My songs are not meant for nightclubs. You must stop!” Najrul and Dilip were very fond of Tagore, so they stopped singing in nightclubs.⁴³