A keen student, Bose excelled in his matriculation examinations and joined the prestigious St. Xavier’s College, in Calcutta. Here he was encouraged to pursue natural sciences by his professor, Father Eugene Lafont. As a valedictorian at the college three years later, Bose had no dearth of options for further study and, after careful evaluation, chose to study in England with the aim of joining the Indian Civil Service. His father was happy with his choice but knew that his son’s true passion lay in research, and urged him to reconsider. Thus, encouraged by his family, Bose decided to take the plunge into the full-fledged study of science, a field of little contemporary value, that could not guarantee a living in India at the time.