Ullattil Manmadhan

In March 1941, Subhas Chandra Bose, revolutionary nationalist and the future leader of the Indian National Army, slipped out of Kabul as the British police were closing in. He was on the run, having assumed the identity of an Italian named ‘Orlando Mazzotta'. Bose was headed for Russia and Germany, to launch a revolution and lead the Indian freedom movement in exile. But who was this ‘Orlando Mazzotta’? And why did Bose assume his identity? This is the story of the real Mazzotta.

It was an event that transformed the sleepy hill terrain of Eranad in the Malabar, the plains around the Bharathapuzha River and the outlying areas of Calicut (present-day Kozhikode) into a fearful and turbulent state, culminating in frenzied mayhem, looting and wanton destruction, with a communal hue.

It was an event that transformed the sleepy hill terrain of Eranad in the Malabar, the plains around the Bharathapuzha River and the outlying areas of Calicut (present-day Kozhikode) into a fearful and turbulent state, culminating in frenzied mayhem, looting and wanton destruction, with a communal hue.