According to him, 'it (Krishnanagar) gave me speech and shaped my mind' ("Atma Katha", An Autobiography). He further assists, "The moment I arrived at Krishnanagar, objects of visual and sensual delight began to enter into my being. I started an intimate acquaintance with the outer world, appreciating its beauty and growing familiar with sights and sound around me. That was indeed an auspicious introduction to that coveted world which philosophers call the world of aesthetics." ("Atma Katha", An Autobiography). "I started singing when I was very young," stated Chaudhuri in his "Atma Katha", "With my naturally sonorous voice I could correctly reproduce the tunes that fell upon my ears." Chaudhuri's love of music derived from his mother and in the cultural atmosphere of Krishnanagar it developed into a passion for him. In this period, Chaudhuri read in as many as six schools, ranging from Pathshala (traditional Hindu village primary schools in Bengal), through a Christian missionary institution, to the local collegiate school. In 1881, when he was in the Entrance class, malaria broke out in an epidemic form at Krishnanagar. Chaudhuri, a victim of that epidemic, remained unconscious for eight days and later was removed to Arrah, his father's semi-urban official station in Bihar. For the next three months, he put aside his texts and read the novels of Bulwer Lytton, George Eliot and Palgrave's Golden Treasury. In 1882, Chaudhuri returned to Kolkata and passed the Entrance examination from Hare School with first division marks. Chaudhuri joined the Presidency College, Kolkata for the First Arts course. But he had to shift to Krishnagar again as an outbreak of dengue fever in Kolkata and joined sophomore year Arts class at Krishnagar College. Unfortunately he had to suspend his studies again and moved to his father in Dinajpur owing to persistent fever. Later his elder brother Sir Ashutosh Chaudhuri inspired him to learn French and Chaudhuri became an ardent student of French literature and also obtained an absorbing interest in Pre-Raphaelite poets. Returning to Kolkata in 1887, he passes the Arts examination from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta with second division marks. Tagore, who made a selection of his own poems for "Kadi O Komal" with Ashutosh Chaudhuri's collaboration, was a frequent visitor in the Chaudhuri residence in Mott Lane, Kolkata.