The road that was partly used to take Subhas Chandra Bose from India to Mandalay prison in Myanmar will be reopened in November, connecting the two countries.

The same road has been immortalised by Rudyard Kipling, George Orwell, and George Harrison of The Beatles and more recently by Robbie Williams.

A trial run of buses between Moreh in Imphal and Mandalay, the last royal capital of Burma (now Myanmar), would be held in the next few months, an official of the ministry of road transport and highways said.

India and Myanmar will sign the agreement at Bagan in Mandalay, paving the path for the reopening of an ancient route in the east.

"The 14-hour bus journey will increase opportunities for bilateral trade between the two countries," the official said. He was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting on the finalisation of draft protocol of vehicular movement between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. "This road connectivity is one of a number of planned strategic highways to connect India with China and Singapore via Thailand and Malaysia."

Both countries have held several meetings after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of improving India's political and trade ties with its immediate neighbours, particular those in South-east Asia.

While nationally this might be part of a larger exercise of connecting all neighbouring countries, the road to Mandalay would bring back a rush of memories for many in Bengal. Myanmar was ruled from Calcutta as part of the British Empire.

After his arrest in 1925, Bose was sent to Alipore jail before being shifted to Mandalay prison. He was taken to Mandalay partly by road and partly by water. Bose had an assistant inspector-general of police, Lowman, as his watchman during the trip.

It was from Mandalay prison that Bose wrote letters to poet-composer Dilip Kumar Roy and writer Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, who had worked as a clerk with the Burmese government.

Like in Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballads and Orwell's Burmese Days, the country features strongly in many of Sarat Chandra's novels.

The ministry official said India was engaged in several road projects in Myanmar. "The Myanmar government is more than willing and India is trying to make things as early as possible."