The father of Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose was a magistrate, and one day he sent a dacoit to prison for a number of years. When the man came out of prison, he went to the magistrate and said: ‘How shall I earn my living? No one will give work to a man who has been in prison.’ But the magistrate knew that the man had been good when he was in prison. So he determined to give him a trial. He said: ‘I will give you work to do in my house. And you can take my little boy to school every morning, and bring him home every afternoon.’

The man who had been a dacoit became good and trusty servant and guarded the little boy faithfully.

One day the magistrate and his family were travelling by boat on a river, when they saw a party of dacoits chasing them in another boat. He jumped on to the roof of the boat and gave a long and strange cry. When the dacoits heard that they gave up the pursuit and turned up a side-stream. This was one of the memories of Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose.