4.
Their most auspicious second meeting was without doubt a Heaven-blessed coincidence. It took place when Subhas was returning to India in 1921 after his years at university in England, and Rabindranath happened to be a fellow passenger on the boat. Tagore and Subhas engaged in many heart-to-heart conversations. The Poet, who was Subhas Chandra's senior by thirty-six years, did offer the young man his sincere congratulations for having resigned so bravely from the I.C.S. Subhas, on his side, found in Rabindranath a kindred spirit — for had not the Poet renounced his knighthood following the massacre of his countrymen by the British at Jallianwalla Bagh?In his later years, the Poet openly traced the ripening of his esteem for Subhas and revealed his early apprehensions:
"Subhas Chandra, I have watched the dawn that witnessed the beginning of your political Sadhana. In that uncertain twilight there had been misgivings in my heart and I had hesitated to accept you for what you are now.... Today you are revealed in the pure light of midday sun which does not admit of apprehensions."
