Formative Years
He was the son of Ramlochan Ghose, of Bikrampur (now Munshiganj in Bangladesh). His father was a renowned sub-judge and a patriot, and had acquired his broad frame of mind from Ram Mohan Roy, when he came in contact with him.
As a child Ghose lived with his father in Krishnanagar and passed the Entrance Examination (school leaving or university entrance) in 1859 from Krishnanagar College. In 1858, he was married to Swarnalata, daughter of Shyma Charan Roy of Taki-Sripur in 24 Parganas.
While he was still at school, the indigo movement was raging. He wrote an article against indigo merchants and sent it for publication in the Hindu Patriot but the same could not be published owing to the untimely death of its editor, Harish Chandra Mukherjee. He joined Presidency College in 1861 and while a student there, he developed a friendship with Keshub Chunder Sen. Together they started the Indian Mirror.
In 1862, he and Satyendranath Tagore were the first two Indians to sail to England to prepare for and appear in the Indian Civil Service examinations. The competition was one of the stiffest, if not the stiffest, in the world at that time, but more so because any plan to cross the seas and travel to Europe was bound to meet with the strongest opposition from the Indian society. Preparations for the examination was tough, as they had to pick up many subjects not taught in India. Moreover, Ghose was subject to racial discrimination. The examination schedules and syllabus were altered. He sat for the examinations twice but failed to succeed. Satyendranath Tagore went through and became the first Indian to join the ICS.
While in England, he extended support to the fellow Kolkata poet Michael Madhusudan Dutta who was going through difficult times in England.
Read more about this topic: Monomohun Ghose
Famous quotes related to formative years:
“The social forces that operate on a family during the daughter’s formative years continue to shape her experience. Thus the families, schools, and jobs that involve poor women are likely to be very hierarchically arranged, demanding conformity, passivity, and obedience—all unsupportive of continued intellectual growth.”
—Mary Field Belenky (20th century)