between 1852 – 1856 and met one of the leading bhadralok Hindu intellectuals of the time, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820–1891), who became his tutor, mentor, and a lifelong friend. While excelling in his studies, especially in the English language and writing, Kedarnath started writing his own poems and articles. Exposed to and influenced by the views of the famous acquaintances of Kashiprasad who frequented his home: Kristo Das Pal, Shambhu Mukhopadhyay, Baneshwar Vidyalankar and others – Kedarnath started regularly contributing to the Hindu Intelligencer journal of his uncle, critiquing contemporary social and political issues from a bhadralok viewpoint. Eventually Kedarnath felt confident enough in his studies and in 1856 enrolled in the Hindu College, Calcutta's leading school, where for the next two years he continued his studies under Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in the company of remarkable classmates such as Keshub Chandra Sen, Nabagopal Mitra, as well as the elder brothers of Rabindranath Tagore: Satyendranath, and Ganendranath. Becoming increasingly involved in the intellectual values of the bhadralok community, Kedarnath along with his classmates started taking public speaking lessons from a famous British parliamentarian and abolitionist George Thompson (1804–1878). At the same time Kedarnath published his first major literary work, a historical poem titled The Poriade in two volumes that earned him both a name as a poet and some income. Kedarnath's health deteriorated due to poor drinking water and the challenging environment of Calcutta. He made regular visits to his mother and sister in Ula for recovery and convalescence. However, when in 1856 a violent outbreak of cholera wiped out the whole village of Ula, killing his sister Hemlata and barely sparing his mother, Kedarnath took her along with his grandmother to Calcutta for good. The devastation of Ula marked a turning point in Kedarnath's attitude to life. He writes: Finding himself disoriented, he sought shelter and solace in his friendship with the Tagore brothers. There he overcame his crisis and started moving towards a religious rather than social and political outlook on life. Along with Dvijendranath Tagore, Kedarnath started studying Sanskrit and theological writings of such authors as Kant, Goethe, Hegel, Swedenborg, Hume, Voltaire, and Schopenhauer, as well as the books of Brahmo Samaj that rekindled his interest in Hinduism. At the same time, Kedarnath daily met with Charles Dall, a Unitarian minister from the American Unitarian Association of Boston posted to Calcutta for propagating Unitarian ideas among the educated