Kurseong: The Hills have always held a special place in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's heart and its relationship with the Bose family is also known to all. A reflection of this can be seen in the Netaji Museum in Giddapahar in West Bengal's Kurseong town that bears many interesting stories related to the freedom fighter.
Netaji had visited this house six times from 1932 to 1939. Whenever he went to the Hills, he would bring sweets, biscuits, chocolates and fruits from Kolkata for local children here. During his morning walks along the mountain roads, he would distribute these items to kids. Many such information is available at this historic house.
Netaji's elder brother, freedom fighter Sarat Chandra Bose, bought this house in 1922 from Peter Leslie, the then deputy superintendent of police of Assam. Till 1996, this house was under the Bose family. In 1997, the state government undertook the repair and renovation work following which, it was inaugurated as the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Museum in 2000.
Notably, Netaji was kept under surveillance by the British government in this house in 1936. He sent many important political letters from this house. Netaji also wrote many letters to his wife, Emilie from here. It is said that he wrote a total of 26 letters from this house. In 1938, Netaji wrote the speech of the Haripura Congress from here and letters to Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
In 2005, this house was converted into a full-fledged museum under the supervision of the Kolkata Museum. All the letters written by Netaji are carefully preserved in this museum. This historical house, now known as Netaji Museum, is under the purview of the Netaji Institute for Asian Studies.
Apart from the historical letters, the house also has many pictures of Netaji. There is a picture of Netaji during his morning walk by the mountain stream in Paglajhora. There are many pictures of Netaji with members of the Bose family.
This apart, his bed, dressing table, study table, chair and other furniture are neatly arranged here. A camellia tree planted by Netaji's brother Sarat Chandra Bose in 1934, is still there.
Museum caretaker Padambahadur Chhetri said, "Members of the Bose family used to come to this house every year during summer vacations or Puja vacations and Netaji too accompanied them on several occasions. All information from 1922 to 1939 can be found in this house. When he was under house arrest, Netaji had secretly sent many instructions to freedom fighters through the watchman. It was in this house that Netaji played hide and seek with his nephews and nieces, lulled them to sleep. In 1973, I was recruited as a caretaker by Bose family members, Shishir Bose and Krishna Bose, at Rs 2 per day."
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