he was born in calcutta on 2 february 1920 to barrister and indian nationalist leader sarat chandra bose and bivabati bose (née dey). in 1941, while a medical student in calcutta he helped his uncle, the indian freedom fighter subhas chandra bose escape from house arrest. he helped subhas bose plan his escape from his ancestral house on elgin road in calcutta and drove him out of the house in secret up to gomoh in the neighbouring state of bihar, from where subhas took a train to peshawar. during the quit india movement in india launched by mahatma gandhi in 1942, sisir bose was badly injured in a police attack on a student protest and imprisoned in presidency jail in calcutta and later interned at home in 1943. for assisting his uncle and continued involvement with the indian independence movement, sisir bose was arrested again by the british colonial government and imprisoned in the red fort in delhi, the lahore fort and lyallpur jail, including long periods in solitary confinement, until the end of the war.