64 HIS MAJESTY’S OPPONENT
prisoners in an Indo- Burmese pidgin language. Vivid reports were sent
home on the well- being or otherwise of the pigeons, chickens, a parrot
and other cellmates from the bird and animal kingdoms, including the
tomcats who created a nuisance and occasionally ate the pigeons.
The inadequacies of the basic amenities of life were the subject of
wry comments. “You have asked about my clothing,” Subhas wrote in
reply to a query from Bivabati. “Do you not know that we are guests of
the Emperor? How can we be in want of anything?” As for food, “any-
thing” was “available in our hotel”:The other day the Manager fed us with hot jilebis [a sweet delicacy]—
and we blessed him whole- heartedly, praying he may ever remain in
prison. Some time ago he entertained us with rosogollas [soft, round
milk- based sweets]; although the balls were floating in the syrup all
right, they had no syrup inside and if you threw them at anybody, there
was the risk of his head getting fractured. Nevertheless, we swallowed
the hard- as- iron rosogollas without a tear and in gratitude prayed for
the Manager’s long life.“From time to time,” he conceded, “I miss scent and music. But what
can one do?” When the government informed the po lit i cal prisoners,
two years after their arrival in Mandalay, that their detention without
trial would continue, Subhas wrote to Bivabati: “We had a feast on a
small scale to celebrate our continuance in our jobs.”^37
The ev eryday issues of bad food and poor clothing, not to mention
the absence of music, about which Subhas wrote to his sister- in- law
with wit and sarcasm, were precisely the matters of serious contesta-
tion between the prisoners and the prison authorities. “If man is re-
garded as a being possessing a soul, music is as much a necessity as
food and drink,” Subhas had claimed while demanding permission
from the governor of Burma to play musical instruments in prison. As
early as May 1925, Subhas and his compa tri ots had threatened a hun-
ger strike to protest against “highly insulting and humiliating behav-
ior” by the jail authorities and a miserly diet, clothing, and bedding
allowance.
On February 18, 1926, they ac tually began a fif teen- day hunger