Sisir Kumar Bose (1920-2000) founded the Netaji Research Bureau in 1957 and was its guiding spirit until his death in 2000. A gallant participant in India’s freedom struggle, he was imprisoned by the British in the Lahore Fort, Red Fort, and Lyallpur Jail. In the post-Independence period, he became one of India’s leading pediatricians. Even in the midst of a busy professional life, he played a key role in preserving the best traditions of the anti-colonial movement and making possible the writing of its history. Son of Sarat Chandra Bose and Bivabati Bose, Sisir helped his uncle Subhas Chandra Bose in planning and executing the great escape from India in January 1941. He drove Netaji from Calcutta to Gomoh on the first leg of his epic journey. Sisir took an active part in the Quit India movement and Netaji’s revolutionary underground during World War II. After his release from prison in September 1945, he completed his medical studies in Calcutta, London, and Vienna. Later, he went as a Rockefeller Fellow to the Harvard Medical School in Boston. He married Krishna Bose in 1955, and they have two sons and a daughter.
