Bose : The Beginning of an Enigma

On the wintry day of January 23rd, at midday, Janakinath, a well-to-do lawyer based in Cuttack, Bengal Presidency, wrote hurriedly in his diary with red ink: "I rose early but found Prabha was still suffering — a son was born at midday." That son would go on to become not just Janakinath's pride but a hero to the nation.

Having 13 siblings (families in India were large then!) and being the ninth child, Subhas faced a significant disadvantage. He lacked intimacy with his parents but was close to his Mej-da (a Bengali term for one's second eldest brother), Sarat Chandra Bose. At his father's insistence, Subhas was sent to the Baptist Mission's Protestant European School, where Janakinath believed that adopting a British way of thinking would provide access to the British in India. However, at home, the atmosphere was quite the opposite, with only Bengali spoken. His mother, a devotee of Kali and Durga, often sang religious hymns, which Subhas as a young child found particularly enlightening. An avid reader, he devoured the Upanishads, the Vedas, and the epics of the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Subhas later attended Ravenshaw Collegiate School, where he learned Bengali and Sanskrit. He was gradually drawn to the spiritual ideas of Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda and also read Ananda Math by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (the source of the iconic Vande Mataram!). Afterward, he enrolled at Presidency College to study philosophy. In 1914, Subhas decided to embark on a trip to northern India with his friend Hemanta Sarkar to find a guru (spiritual teacher). Upon returning, he contracted typhoid, a dangerous disease at the time, which alarmed both of his parents.

In 1916, Subhas’s life took a dramatic turn when he was ‘allegedly’ involved in the assault of Professor E.F. Oaten. A servant testified that he had seen Subhas attacking the professor, leading to his expulsion. The incident became a cause célèbre that lasted for a year. From then on, a verb — "to Oatenise" — which meant the act of physically confronting or challenging an authority figure, came into existence. Eventually, he was allowed to re-enter college, but not Presidency College — instead, he joined Scottish Church College, where he graduated with First Class Honours in Philosophy. He then applied for the Indian Civil Services (ICS) examination and ranked fourth, but when it came time for the final exam, he decided not to proceed. He wrote a letter to Edwin Montagu, saying, "I wish to have my name removed from the list of probationers in the Indian Civil Service." This decision created a furore in the Bose family household and sparked mixed reactions in Bengal, with some people inspired and others skeptical.

In 1921, Subhas returned to India, where he met Gandhi and became acquainted with C.R. Das, a prominent lawyer turned political activist. Subhas took on various roles, including President of the Indian Youth Congress in 1923, editor of the newspaper Forward (founded by C.R. Das), and Chief Executive Officer of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation when Das became the Mayor. After leading protests against British rule, Subhas was arrested and sent to prison in Burma in 1925, where he contracted tuberculosis. He was released two years later and became the General Secretary of the Congress, working closely with Nehru. In 1930, he was again arrested for civil disobedience, but he rose to prominence, eventually becoming the Mayor of Calcutta.

Subhas Chandra Bose’s formative years were a mix of spiritual awakening, intellectual rigour, and fiery defiance, laying the foundation for the enigma he would become. From rejecting the prestige of the Indian Civil Services to his bold protests against British rule, each step marked his evolution into a leader who sought nothing less than complete independence for India. His determination, resilience, and vision would lead him to challenge not just the British Empire but also the established norms of political strategy within the freedom movement.

However, the story of Subhas Chandra Bose is far from over — it’s just beginning to unfold.

PART 2 coming soon ;)