The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 70
70 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN to see whether I can do something for you before I leave. Now, if you are interested in this, perhaps you would not mind speaking to Emerson about it. " Sir Herbert Emerson was then Governor of the Punjab. I said, "Sir, I do not see why you should feel that you are under any obligation to do something for me. Whatever little I have been able to do has been a public service in the interest of India, and I do not know that for that I deserve any compensation or reward. It is a compensation in itself. I am glad that the opportunity has been afforded to me to do something. After all, what does one desire in life? A reasonable competence and the respect of one's fellow men. I do not think I am being unduly vain if I say that to a reasonable degree I possess both. So I hope you will put this idea out of your mind that there is any reason why you should wish to do something for me. " He mentioned this to the Aga Khan when His Highness arrived in India and was staying with him. He told him, "I have been Governor of Bombay for five years, Governor of Madras for six years; I have now for four years been Viceroy; and this is the one Indian whom I wanted to do something for and he said, 'No, there is no necessity. ' Everybody else who has worked with me or done something has always wished that something should be done for them. " The Aga Khan told me this with great pride. Well that was why he thought I was making tons of money at the Bar. I had a reasonable practice but nobody made tons of money at the Bar in Lahore; the fees were not very high, and in any case I was not making tons of money. He continues, "You know Fazle is to complete his term of office next April, I will be in India only a year after that and whoever succeeds me and however able he might be, he will not have the same experience of India as I have had. " As I have said, he had been Governor of Bombay, Governor of Madras, and then he had gone as Governor- General to Canada, and come back to India as Governor-General. "And I want to leave the very best Council that I can get together for my successor, and I want the best man available to succeed Fazle. " I interrupted him here, and said, "I am rather disappointed. " He looked at me with a puzzled expression and said, "Why are you disappointed?" I said, "Well, Sir, I worked with you in an officiating capacity for four months on your Council, and I had the notion that you were reasonably satisfied with my work. " "Of course I was. I was