Sand sculpture of Rabindranath Tagore at Golden Sea beach at Puri.

© ASIT KUMAR/AFP/Getty Image

Sand sculpture at Puri. Sand dune sculpture of Tagore

Yes, that’s a sand sculpture! Sand dune sculpturing has really caught on in Puri, which also hosts an institute that trains on this art, the first of its kind in the world. The sculptures around the beaches near Puri take on various shapes and colours, depending on the time of year. Today, on Rabindranath Tagore Jayanthi you just might find a sculpture of Tagore like the one that you see in the picture, photographed at the Golden Sea Beach near Puri.Tagore is most commonly remembered for his penning of the national anthem. He also penned the national anthem of Bangladesh. Also remembered as the author of ‘Gitanjali’, Tagore was the first Indian Nobel Laurette in literature (1913).