196 HIS MAJESTY’S OPPONENT
the German foreign minister permitted that step, Woermann wrote
that the Ital ian ambassador “should get in touch with Count Schulen-
burg,” the German ambassador in Moscow.^34
Until clearance was obtained from the highest levels in Berlin and
Moscow, Bose was to stay in touch with the Germans in Kabul through
Herr Thomas of the Siemens Company. Life in the serai was becoming
increasingly hazardous for Ziauddin and Rahmat Khan. A suspicious
Afghan policeman had been frequenting the inn and had to be bribed,
first with money and then reluctantly with Bose’s gold wristwatch, a
present from his father. In the second week of February, Bhagat Ram
sought out an old acquaintance from Peshawar, Uttam Chand Malho-
tra, who now ran a shop in the Indian neighborhood of Kabul and
agreed to give Bose refuge in his home. Uttam Chand’s nervousness
about having raised suspicions in a neighbor led Bose to leave this shel-
ter briefly, but poor health forced him back again once it was deemed
safe to do so. The delay in getting a clear signal from Germany led
Bhagat Ram in desperation to consider sending Bose across to the So-
viet Union, with the aid of an absconder from Peshawar who lived near
the Afghan- Soviet border.^35
At this crucial moment, a message was received from Herr Thomas
of Siemens that Subhas Chandra Bose should meet the Ital ian ambas-
sador, Pietro Quaroni, if he wished to take his plans forward. Bose ar-
rived at the Ital ian legation on the evening of February 22, 1941, and
held discussions with Quaroni through the night. Quaroni was deeply
impressed by the man he would soon describe as “intelligent, able, full
of passion and without doubt the most realistic, may be the only realist
among the Indian nationalist leaders.”^36 They considered alternative
ways of getting out of Afghanistan. Quaroni was shortly expecting a
couple of Ital ian diplomatic couriers; one of them could give Bose his
passport to use, if the Russians agreed to provide a transit visa. Or Bose
might travel to Europe through Iran and Iraq. The idea that Bose could
try to travel on his own across the Afghan- Soviet frontier was rejected
outright.^37
The Ital ians were trying to be helpful to Bose. On February 27,
1941, the British intercepted and decoded an Ital ian telegram dated
February 23 that suggested their elusive enemy might be in Kabul. On