A REAL MAN OF MYTHIC PROPORTIONS

A REAL MAN OF MYTHIC PROPORTIONS

As I suffer from a bout of cold accompanied by moderate fever and feel quite incapacitated by it while resting at home, I wonder how Subhas Chandra Bose could have travelled from Kolkata to Purulia by train and delivered on 9 December, 1939 several scheduled public addresses with a raging fever of 103°F. Likewise, his arrival at Tripuri the same year earlier with undiagnosed severe illness as Congress President amidst humiliating charges of his feigning sickness by some of the prominent right-wingers within the Congress who on this pretext prevented postponement of the Congress Session to allow for the President's recovery, when such misadventure by Subhas Chandra could have cost him his life, baffles one in the mere comprehension of his commitment to the country's cause, much less actually have the capacity to experience such ordeal. Yet again in one of the most daring escapes from house arrest in history with severely debilitated health and an arduous journey from Kolkata to Moscow, then Berlin, Subhas Bose had exhibited unbelievable mind-control over body to achieve the impossible. It is the ultimate victory of soul-force over matter, of the will over adverse circumstance, and of the triumph of love for the motherland over personal considerations. Superhuman!

Written by Sugata Bose

Gratitude: To Utpal Aich for providing information about Subhas Chandra Bose's Purulia visit on 9 December, 1939.