A Life Immortal 311“was the knowledge of Netaji’s great ability to hoodwink his enemies
and even the world for the sake of his cherished goal.” He explained
that he had nothing but his “instinct” to tell him “Netaji was alive.” He
now conceded that no reliance could be placed on “such unsupported
feeling” and that there was “strong evidence to counteract the feeling.”
The British government had access to that evidence. He had also heard
the testimony of Habibur Rahman and S. A. Ayer. “In the face of these
proofs,” the Mahatma wrote, “I appeal to ev ery one to forget what I have
said and, believing in the evidence before them, to reconcile themselves
to the fact that Netaji has left us. All man’s ingenuity is as nothing be-
fore the might of the one God.”^15
Far away in Vienna, Emilie appeared to have accepted her tragic loss.
Her home had fallen within the Russian zone of occupation. Bose
would have been aware of this development, so his inclination to go to
Russia from May 1945 onward may have had a personal as well as a po-
lit i cal dimension. Emilie wrote to their Irish friend Mrs. Woods on
January 18, 1946, that the Russians had visited their house the previous
summer. When the Russians came, the family “had been ac tually starv-
ing.” “No milk for the child for many weeks,” she wrote. “That was the
worst.” Mrs. Woods had apparently expressed the view that the news of
Bose’s death might not be true. Emilie thought otherwise: “Re: what
you mention about our mutual friend, I am sorry to say I cannot share
your hopes. I have somehow the feeling that he has died. If it were not
true, nobody should be more glad than myself. I got such a shock when
I heard about this incident that for weeks I was only mechanically do-
ing my duties in household and of fice. The only consolation being little
Anita.” Anita was a “real darling” and ev ery one liked her. “I am still
bearing my old name out of certain reasons which I cannot explain
here,” she told Mrs. Woods. “But perhaps later on I shall have opportu-
nity to write at greater length to you about all this in detail.” For now,
the body had no strength to resist illness, since they were all “com-
pletely undernourished” and had lost a great deal of weight. The war-
rior’s widow provided some poignant re flections on the pity of war:
“Would such a war have been necessary at all? What amount of suf-
fering and grieve [sic] it has brought to humanity—and almost ev ery
country has had its losses. Everywhere weep mothers, wifes [sic], chil-