Page:A Nation in Making.djvu/52

which, as all history shows, are fraught with peril in their pursuit. I was resolved, so far as it lay in me, to foster a new spirit and to produce a new atmosphere. This was the underlying idea that prompted me to help in the organization of the Students’ Association.

Associated with me in the work of organization was the late Mr. Ananda Mohan Bose. Mr. Bose had come back from England a few months before me, and had founded the Students’ Association of Calcutta, of which he was the President. Mr. Ananda Mohan Bose was one of the most brilliant students of the Calcutta University. Born in the district of Mymensingh (he was one year senior to me), he passed the Matriculation Examination from the Mymensingh Zilla School with great distinction, standing sixth in the University list in order of merit. He stood first at the Intermediate, B.A. and M.A. Examinations, and crowned an almost unique career by carrying off the blue ribbon of the University, the Prem Chand Roy Chand Scholarship. He went up to Cambridge, and was the first Indian Wrangler, occupying the eighteenth place in the list. He was a vigorous and eloquent speaker, and, at a meeting of the East Indian Association held in London, he spoke with a force and eloquence that extorted the admiration of Mr. Fawcett, who was present, and who said that there were not half a dozen speakers like him in the House of Commons. From a man so well equipped, great things were expected by his countrymen, and Mr. Ananda Mohan Bose threw himself into his public work with an earnestness not common among the members of the great profession to which he belonged. He was rising into a good practice at the Bar, but his heart was in the work of the country; and I have no doubt in my mind that his divided attention between the Bar and his public duties interfered with his professional success.