'Shesher Kobita', the book that Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore completed in 1928, has now been translated into English as "Farewell Song".

"This is the toughest book I have ever translated in my life," said Radha Chakravarty, a Reader of English at Gargi College who has earlier translated Tagore's "Chokher Bali".

"This is a highly nuance-filled book and I had to strain my abilities as a translator to do justice to the beautiful language and the subtleties that Tagore employs."

The book published by Srishti was released at the India Habitat Centre Monday night.

In the book, Tagore weaves a tale of two characters who come together by chance and build a complex relationship that grows and even survives their parting.

"In some ways, this book was Tagore's response to his critics who thought he had lost touch with modern realities," said Chakravarty.

"To all those who felt that he was living in a romantic world of his own, he wanted to say that he was very much in touch with ground realities and pressures of day-to-day living."

After the release of the book, an elderly member of the audience said he had a deep connection with the book. "My mother wrote to Rabindranth after she read the book and said why did you not have Amit and Lavanya (the protagonists) come together?

"Tagore actually wrote back saying they wouldn't have been happy together. Unfortunately my mother never thought of getting the document published and later, we could not find it among her papers."