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 was 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 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 and later went as
Rockefeller Fellow to the Harvard Medical School in Boston. He married Krishna
Bose in 1955. They have two sons and a daughter.