His Majesty\'s Opponent. Subhas Chandra Bose and India\'s Struggle Against Empire

Exile in Europe 113

of fi cers came in search of him, seized his passport, and placed him un-
der guard. In January 1935, he had gone to meet the Egyptian national-
ist leader Mustafa el Nahas Pasha.^81 It was clear that the British would
not let him disembark or meet anyone in Egypt on this occasion.
“Just one thing more before I close this long letter,” Subhas wrote to
Emilie on March 30, 1936, before leaving the Mediterranean for the
Indian Ocean. “For your life, never pray for any selfish object or aim.
Always pray for what is good for humanity—for what is good for all
time—for what is good in the eyes of God. Pray in a nishkama (disin-
terested) way.”^82 This allusion to the Gita was all he had to offer to the
woman he loved, as he prepared himself for the trials ahead.

Leader in Waiting

As soon as his ship docked in Bombay on April 8, 1936, Bose was

greeted by the police and taken away to the city’s Arthur Road Prison.

The government was unmoved by the public outcry against his impris-

onment. After a few days, he was moved to Yeravda Central Prison in

Poona, and kept in the same yard where Gandhi had been lodged in

1932.^83 Jawaharlal Nehru, the Congress president, called on the entire
country to observe All- India Subhas Day on May 10, 1936, in an at-
tempt to bring pressure to bear on the British. “We who know him
also know how frivolous are the charges brought against him,” Nehru
wrote. “He did me the honor to ask me for advice and I was puzzled
and perplexed, for it is no easy thing to advise another in such a mat-
ter, when such advice might mean prison. Subhas Bose has suf fered
enough at the cost of his health.”^84
Subhas was find ing the heat very oppressive in western India, where
the temperature had soared to 43 degrees Celsius—nearly 110 degrees
Fahrenheit. “You cannot even imagine how hot it is here,” he wrote to
Emilie on May 11. “I often think of the thick snow that was lying all
around in Badgastein when I left Europe.” After another ten days, the
government decided to “intern” Subhas in a bungalow belonging to
Sarat in a place called Kurseong, in northern Bengal. It was situated
more than five thousand feet above sea level, on the way to the famous
hill station of Darjeeling. “It is delightfully cool here,” he informed