70 HIS MAJESTY’S OPPONENT
people.”^53 Jackson wanted to end police tyranny; and so after two and a
half years of detention without trial in Burmese prisons, Subhas Chan-
dra Bose was suddenly a free man.Leader of YouthDespite his rigorous apprenticeship in prison, Subhas was initially re-
luctant to assume the mantle of leadership upon his return from
Burma. He pleaded with Basanti Devi to lead Bengal in place of her late
husband, C. R. Das. “The spiritual quest of Bengal,” he wrote to her,
“has always been voiced through the cult of the Mother.” The “pack of
vagabonds” he represented was pleading with her not because they
lacked self- con fi dence but because “no worship is complete if we leave
the mother out.” He held up the examples of Madame Zaghlul Pasha
and Madame Sun Yat- sen, who had responded to the call of the Egyp-
tian and Chinese nations after the death of their illustrious husbands.
Basanti Devi, however, wanted to avoid the public limelight. She was
prepared to stay in the background and offer her adopted son emo-
tional support. “May my life not wither away in the desolation of san-
nyasa [renunciation],” Subhas wrote to her. “May my life blossom forth
in beneficent fulfillment with the touch of the inspiration that is be-
hind this desolation—I crave for this blessing.”^54
Subhas had to recover his health before he could play an active role
in politics. From the governor’s launch, he had been transported to
Sarat’s home in Calcutta. The hill resort of Shillong, in India’s north-
east, was chosen as the most suitable place for the ailing Subhas during
the months of summer and monsoon rains. Several family members
accompanied him to the hills. Subhas spent the days playing with the
children on the mountainside and the nights reading, writing letters,
and preparing questions to be posed in the legislature. The eminent
doctor Bidhan Chandra Roy came to treat him, along with his seven-
year- old nephew Sisir, who was suf fering from fever.^55 Eventually, his
sister- in- law Bivabati and her children had to return to Calcutta. Sarat,
a leading light of the Calcutta bar, was then building a palatial home at
1 Woodburn Park, around the corner from his father’s house at 38/2
Elgin Road. Bivabati had to be in charge of the Calcutta domestic scene