The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 243
227 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN every meeting in which the UN General Assembly needed a symbolic representative. Would you like to comment on the social obligations of that high post ? Zafrulla : The social obligations are very heavy, extremely heavy, during the Session. I have known evenings and one was a very wet evening, what any Westerner would have described - I do not describe the weather in those terms myself - as miserable. There were four receptions to go to and not only in the United Nations - in the United Nations only one, and at the most two, can be held at a time, but not two major ones - and they were strung out throughout the Island of Manhattan, the last one being at the top story of the newly built, very beautiful home of the Chase Manhattan Bank. I had to start uptown - you have to form some sort of a plan - and I went to all of them and most evenings there was a black-tie dinner. I started my work very early, I generally left my apartment at 7 O'clock, after breakfast, and half an hour of brisk walking, the greater part of it through Central Park, and arrived in my office at about 7:30, and then carried on until late. I had to do something about it because after a fortnight I began to feel the strain. I had to get the minimum modicum of sleep that I needed. I must say that hostesses were very indulgent and they understood that I would have to retire earlier than other guests and they always let me go at 10 O'clock. They not only let me go but they did it very graciously. That helps me even now; some of them who get to know my habit of keeping early hours, even suggest, "Well, Zafrulla, perhaps it is getting late for you. If you wish to leave, it would be all right. " But I do feel that that side is getting very burdensome, not merely for the President - the President considers it a moral obligation to go to every one of these functions and I think it is right that he should - but it is getting very heavy for the principal delegates also. Sometimes it becomes almost ridiculous: we chase each other in our motor cars, all up and down the city; we spend more time in the streets than at the receptions. It is time that the delegations put their heads together to see how this burden can be reduced. The other day, Ambassador Binze, who is a good friend of mine, suggested that the African states should content themselves with, say, four receptions during the session: one in September, one in October, one in November and one in December, and perhaps the Asians could