Perhaps the least known aspect of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's many-sided personality was his love for Emilie Schenkl, his Austrian wife. Bose met Emilie Schenkl in June 1934 in Vienna, developed a close relationship during his forced European exile, secretly married her in December 1937, and had a daughter, Anita, in November 1942. This special volume of the Collected Works illuminates the human and emotional aspects of Netaji's many-splendoured life.

In his first letter to Emilie Schenkl on 30 November 1934, Subhas Chandra Bose wrote, 'I am always a bad correspondent - but not a bad man I hope.' This 'bad correspondent' nevertheless managed to write with unerring frequency to the woman he loved, whether he was in a prisoner's hospital, home interned, or in the midst of whirlwind political tours. One hundred and sixty-two of his letters written between 1934 and 1942 are being published for the first time in this volume, along with eighteen of Emilie Schenkl's letters that have survived.

In short, this volume of, hitherto, unrevealed letters represents the first opportunity for readers to understand a hidden or underplayed dimension of India's foremost militant nationalist.

Edited by: Sisir Kumar Bose and Sugata Bose

Published by: Netaji Research Bureau, Calcutta
                    Oxford University Press, Delhi
                    1994