Book Extract | A Homage to Shantiniketan Ashram and Its Legendary Gurus An excerpt from Gaura Pant 'Shivani'âs book 'Amader Shantiniketan'. Shantiniketan Ashram. Photo: Soumen Ray/Flickr, CC BY 2.0 (Penguin Random House India, 2021), translated into English by Ira Pande. § Gurudev was very fond of outdoor celebrations. A full moon, especially in spring, when the Ashram was awash with a silvery light, was like a personal invitation from Mother Nature to us Ashramites. A notice would come round that we should all assemble at a particular spot in the Ashram that night. And lo and behold, all of us would bolt down an early dinner and head there to see what new treat awaited us. Among the assembly would be our maid, Khudu, and the kitchen boy, Nagendra, his dark, lithe body almost gleaming in that light.