'Kantichandra was a young man. After the death of his wife, he turned all his attention to the hunting of birds and animals. And not on looking for a second spouse. He had a tall, lean, and firm frame. A sharp sight, an unfailing tip. And he dressed like the westerners. Wherever he travelled, he was always accompanied by a retinue of his private wrestlers, Hira Singh, Chakkanlal; Khan Saheb and Miyan Saheb, his musicians and many others. And he did not have any dearth of useless sycophants either.'

Rabindranath Tagore was the poet, writer and thinker who was the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize for the country. This is one of his stories, originally written in Bengali, translated in English by Riddhi Maitra.