The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 114
114 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN something or the other, I tell myself without actually using the words, 'You have done your day's work as well as you were able to. If you are spared tomorrow, you will take it up again. You must remember the universe belongs to God and not to you. This is the time to rest. You had better go to sleep. If you wake up tomorrow, you can take up your duties again. '" "And does it help?" "It always helps. " "Well, that is what I meant by taking life philosophically. " Thus, a week later when the Viceroy asked, "Why do you want to go and bury yourself in the Court?" I thought to myself that perhaps this was my strongest reason for making the change, for that would be going slow with a vengeance. At that time, the Supreme Court had a limited jurisdiction. Only cases that involved a question of the interpretation of the Constitution could come up to the Court, and the Court was not overly-occupied. Then there was the four months' vacation in the summer. Heat is inimical to diabetis, and I felt that if I could get out of the heat during the summer, I would be doing well. I took up my duties on the Court in early October of 1941. In February, 1942, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek and Madame Chiang Kai-Shek came on an official visit to Delhi. Judges of the Supreme Court were also invited to the banquet that the Viceroy gave in their honour and thus I too had the opportunity of meeting them. Except for the fact that I was deeply impressed by his personality and was interested in what came out in the papers with reference to conversations between him and the Viceroy, I did not attach any great importance to the event, not knowing at that time that it might involve my having to go to Chungking for six months, as was proposed, but for four months, as it actually turned out. Towards the end of April or the beginning of May, the Viceroy wrote me a letter in his own hand stating that one of the matters settled between the Viceroy and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek during the February visit was that China and India should establish direct diplomatic relations with each other. The Viceroy expressed the hope that I might agree to go to Chungking for six months on deputation from the Court and open the first Indian diplomatic mission there and set things going. Later, a diplomat could take over. He explained that the assignment involved danger as the Japanese Air Force had carried out extensive bombing of Chungking, after Chungking became the capital; that there were few amenities available; that I would not be able to take