<b>January 17 1941</b>
On the night between January 16 and 17, Subhas Chandra Bose secretly disappeared from his Calcutta home where he was under the house arrest for previous few weeks. He first came out from the Presidency Jail of Calcutta by launching a fast unto death in prison. On account of his frail health and to avoid ruckus in the prison, Governor John Herbert decided to send him home on December 5, 1940, under house arrest and to arrest him again as soon as he had recovered.
On this night, Bose secretly left his home, disguised as a Pathan and was driven by his nephew Sisir Kumar Bose in a Germanmade Wanderer car to Gomoh railway junction in Bihar. There Bose boarded the Howrah-Delhi Kalka Mail to Delhi, from where he hopped on to the Frontier Mail on his way to Peshawar.
From there, trekking across the terrain of the tribal territories in the NW Frontier, he crossed into Afghanistan and reached Kabul on January 31. His escape was not discovered in Calcutta until January 26, leaving British shame-faced, and still not knowing where he was, bewildered. Some actually did believe in the word Bose had left behind declaring his intention to abandon politics and take sannyasa, a la-Aurobindo, and his desire to leave for Himalayas. In a few months time, however, Bose was safely in Berlin.
On the night between January 16 and 17, Subhas Chandra Bose secretly disappeared from his Calcutta home where he was under the house arrest for previous few weeks. He first came out from the Presidency Jail of Calcutta by launching a fast unto death in prison. On account of his frail health and to avoid ruckus in the prison, Governor John Herbert decided to send him home on December 5, 1940, under house arrest and to arrest him again as soon as he had recovered.
On this night, Bose secretly left his home, disguised as a Pathan and was driven by his nephew Sisir Kumar Bose in a Germanmade Wanderer car to Gomoh railway junction in Bihar. There Bose boarded the Howrah-Delhi Kalka Mail to Delhi, from where he hopped on to the Frontier Mail on his way to Peshawar.
From there, trekking across the terrain of the tribal territories in the NW Frontier, he crossed into Afghanistan and reached Kabul on January 31. His escape was not discovered in Calcutta until January 26, leaving British shame-faced, and still not knowing where he was, bewildered. Some actually did believe in the word Bose had left behind declaring his intention to abandon politics and take sannyasa, a la-Aurobindo, and his desire to leave for Himalayas. In a few months time, however, Bose was safely in Berlin.