Exile in Europe 99Bose had barely fin ished correcting the proofs for his book in late
November when he received an urgent telegram from his mother: his
father was critically ill. He set off from Vienna at once by air. “I may
not be able to write to you till I reach India,” he wrote to Emilie from
Rome on November 30, 1934. “Do not worry. I am always a bad corre-
spondent—but not a bad man I hope.” He did manage to write to
Emilie from all the places where the plane stopped—Venice, Athens,
Cairo, and Baghdad. He had just enough time to see the Acropolis and
a few other ancient sites in Greece. In Cairo, he enjoyed visiting the
pyramids, mosques, tombs, and especially the wonderful Tutankhamen
Museum. “I am back again in the bosom of the East,” he happily in-
formed Emilie from Egypt. “While coming from Athens, we flew above
the clouds in the early morning and saw a gorgeous sunrise, which we
can see only in the East.” In Baghdad he was thrilled to see “a mosque
with golden domes” built nearly half a millennium ago.^36 After further
halts in Karachi and Jodhpur, the KLM flight landed in Calcutta at
about four in the afternoon on December 4. Subhas’s father had passed
away on December 2. The airport was surrounded by police, and as
soon as Subhas stepped off the plane he was placed under house arrest,
like his brother Sarat. On the portico of their father’s house at 38/2 El-
gin Road, Sarat and Subhas had an emotional re union after nearly two
years.^37
A month of mourning was observed for the departed patriarch.
During this period, Subhas lived like a prisoner in his own house.
Looking like a Buddha, with his head shaven, he joined his six surviv-
ing brothers in performing an elaborate and traditional shraddha cere-
mony for the peace of their father’s soul.^38 On December 31, 1934, he
informed Emilie that he saw no alternative but to undergo an opera-
tion on his return to Europe. On January 8, 1935, he left Calcutta for
Europe, and on January 10 he boarded the M.V. Victoria sailing from
Bombay. He had severe pains on the boat, but felt better on land. He
arrived in Naples on January 20 and decided to spend a week in Italy,
so he could meet with Mussolini before returning to Vienna. While in
Naples, he saw Pompeii and the active volcano Solfalara. In Rome, he
had a long meeting with Amanullah, the former king of Afghanistan,
and called on Maxim Litvinov, foreign minister of the Soviet Union,