44 HIS MAJESTY’S OPPONENT
food as their horses and the habitual dishonesty of Indian traders.
When Subhas asked to have these remarks removed, Mr. Roberts had
said that he would have to “clear out” if he did not accept the of fi cial
point of view. Subhas should not “look out for offenses,” Mr. Roberts
had advised, to which Subhas replied that he had not “looked out” but
the instructions were there right in front of him. After his resigna-
tion, Subhas met a very different Mr. Roberts: the man was “so sweet,”
pleading long and hard to persuade him to try the ser vice for two years.
Subhas thanked him for his concern, and let him know that his mind
was made up, since he “could not serve two masters.”^68
On May 18, 1921, Subhas told Sarat he had sent word to Sir William
Duke that he had acted after “mature deliberation.” His tripos exami-
nation would end on June 1, and he planned to sail home from Mar-
seilles in late June or early July. He would book his passage on one of
the Nippon Yasen Kaisha boats as soon as his resignation was ac-
cepted.^69 Subhas’s letter of resignation on April 22, 1921, had been a
rather prosaic one. He had expressed his desire to have his “name re-
moved from the list of probationers in the Indian Civil Service.” He
had received an allowance of £100, and he would remit the amount “as
soon as my resignation is accepted.”^70 On the day he sent in his resigna-
tion, he wrote another letter to an old college friend, Charu Chandra
Ganguly, which captured the poetry of the moment:
You are aware that once before I sailed forth on the sea of life at the call
of duty. The ship has now reached a port offering great allurement—
where power, property and wealth are at my command. But the re-
sponse from the innermost corner of my heart is—“You will not find
happiness in this. The way to your happiness lies in your dancing
around with the surging waves of the ocean.”
Today in response to that call, I am sailing forth again with the
helm in His hands. Only He knows where the ship will land.^71