The Northern Rivers Times
February 15, 2024!!!
10 NEWS The magic of Tagore… by Nigel Dawe
In all our lives there are figures, if not someone that outright looms Mt Everest-like above every granted norm in your field of interest or expertise, and simply beckons you toward an appreciation of far greater things. That very person for me, is the Bengali writer – Rabindranath Tagore. Little wonder, if not eerily apt then, that his last name even rhymes with the heightened, albeit heightening English word – ‘awe’. As the first Asian individual to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1913), Tagore remains the only person to have ever penned two national anthems and also influence the actual writing of a third. The illustrious title of ‘trailblazer’ even seems grossly insufficient for such a mercurial cultural icon as Tagore, being also the first Indian to be knighted and in-turn to give the title back, in protest of atrocities committed by the British against his fellow citizens. No stranger to the truly eclipsing nature of loss, or the far-flung throes and dark cast shadows of personal grief; having suffered the early passing of his wife, beloved sister-in-law and three of his five children, it is all the more astonishing that Tagore became the supremely selfless and universal writer he did. Or it is perhaps because of such endured and risen above tragedy that he acquired the depth of voice and vision that informs his work, and still resonates to this day. Not often can you
say – “I will thank one person” for the abiding passion that you have for anything in particular, but I can, when it comes to the alluring field that is literature for me, and how it so inherently features, and so utterly frames my world and the absolute wonder I have for it. Many years ago, I remember sitting in the old Sydney City library trying to finish off a now long forgotten essay, and I happened to glance up at an old faded anthology of an Indian writer that I decided for some unknown reason to just take down from the shelf for a look. As such, what ensued would become one of the most significant happenings, if not turning points of my entire life. I’ll never forget the impact of the first passage I read after randomly opening the book: “The little flower lies in the dust. It sought the path of the butterfly.” What I didn’t know then, but fully appreciate now was how William Butler Yeats got brought to tears in a café after reading Tagore for that first tantalising time. It is one of those irreversible givens in life, that you can never relive your truly great experiences for the first time over again. And it is in this spirit that I am envious of anyone who has yet to encounter the artistic gifts and riches of Rabindranath Tagore, for quite simply, if you have not – then what you have in store is a complete and utter revelation, as to what can be done with the awe-inspired aid of words.
NEW DATA SHOWS HOLIDAY HOTSPOTS AMONG THE NSW LOCATIONS MOST IMPACTED BYon theFLOODING Inland towns and tourist erosion. list of suburbs topographical data, hotspots feature highly on the list of the top 20 New South Wales suburbs affected by flooding now, and in the future, according to new data. Rural Narrabri in the State’s Northwest, comes in at number one for current flooding risk and is also number one on the list of Top 20 NSW suburbs affected by flooding in 30 years, according to data from Groundsure ClimateIndex™ reports, available through InfoTrack. Rounding out the top five are Northern New South Wales’ Moree at number two, the Central West’s Forbes at number three, Walgett in the State’s North at number four, and the Riverina’s Moama at five. Popular tourist locations also feature – the beautiful coastal town of Yamba, a mecca with holidaymakers, is named at number eight, Grafton in the Northern Rivers comes in at number 13, with bustling Port Macquarie, on the mid north coast, at number 15. The Central Western town of Dubbo sneaks in at number 20 on the list. Groundsure CEO Dan Montagnani said sophisticated data and modelling is used to assess flood risk now and in the future. “The data and models use high-resolution
detailed land cover information, and advanced weather
affected by flooding now, to 12 on the list of suburbs most impacted
InfoTrack Global Head of Property John Ahern said the Groundsure
models to accurately simulate flood depths and extents,” Mr Montagnani said. “This comprehensive evaluation, provided by Royal HaskoningDHV’s division Twinn, encompasses various scenarios, including surface water, river, and tidal flooding, and integrates state-ofthe-art climate models to provide flood risk assessments in the context of climate change.” Interestingly, all the suburbs listed as most at risk now, remain the most at-risk decades from now. Grafton is slightly more at risk of flooding in the future, going from 13
in 30 years, effectively swapping places with Condobolin. “The minimal variation between current and future flooding impact rankings can be attributed to the inherent nature of flood risk, which is primarily governed by topography. There is very little addition of new high-risk areas,” Mr Montagnani said. Homebuyers are encouraged to take advantage of the ClimateIndex™ reports which are a new tool, available only to prospective buyers in New South Wales, which analyses data not only on flooding but also bushfires and coastal
reports are unique in that they provide propertyspecific assessments for individual residences, instead of broad regional ratings. “The reports allow property lawyers and conveyancers to better inform their buyers and that’s more important than ever with flooding an ongoing risk for many regional locations in Australia,” Mr Ahern said. The list of suburbs worst affected by flooding is tabled below. Prospective homebuyers can search a property address via InfoTrackGO to purchase a Groundsure ClimateIndex™ for that residence.
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