On August 15, 1947, India gained independence from the British who left it almost bankrupt after centuries of colonial plunder, most recently to finance its war against Germany and the Axis powers. The following spring, Khorana completed his Ph.D. at the University of Liverpool. The terms of his scholarship, because it had been funded by the Government of India, required him to return to India. But Khorana did not want to return, at least not immediately. He wanted a year's postdoctoral stay in Europe. Ostensibly, this wish was motivated by a desire to learn German well enough to navigate effortlessly the vast German scientific literature on organic chemistry. He later claimed: “I wanted very much to spend a period of time in a laboratory in a German-speaking region of Europe.”

In the chaos in continental Europe that followed World War II, laboratories in Germany or Austria were not viable options. That only left Switzerland as a possible destination in German-speaking regions. It is probably not a coincidence that this was where Esther lived. In fact, there is ample reason to believe that learning German alone does not explain Khorana's preference for Switzerland over India in 1948. It was mostly an excuse or, at best, a rationalization.

The Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zürich

As his intended destination, Khorana chose the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zürich which, as he later correctly noted, had “had a great tradition in organic chemistry.” He then applied for a year's funding from the new Government of India but, given its dire financial straits, he was not surprised when the application was turned down. However, according to him: