Roses In December - Autobiography

564 Pages·40.523 MB·English

by  M. C. Chagla, Mohommadali Carim Chagla

ROSES IN DECEMBER
M. C. Chagla
ROSES IN DECEMBER
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
M. C. CHAGLA
1975
BHARATIYA VIDYA BHAVAN
BOMBAY
All Ri^ts Reserved
First Edition, September 30, 1973
Second Edition, lanuary 30, 1974
Third Edition, April 30, 1974
Fourth (PSperfaftck) Edition, September 30. 1974
Fifth(Psperback) lotion, lanuary |0, 107S
Sixth (Paperback) Edition. April 30. 197$
Price Rs. 15/-
miNTBD IN INDIA
Bys T R.Amin at RaagBharsti,Tadi Estate* Lower PateL
BofDbay-13, aad FtiblMied by S. Ramakrishaaa, BxeculiveSecretary,
Bharatiya Yidya Bhavan, Bombay-?.
'God save us memory
that we zni^it have
roses II>eceznher"
ixk

To
My
Wife
whose loyalty and det>otion
wtU always €ibide with me
my
as one of most jtrecious
memories

Preface
A BOOK isgenerally the result of co-operative effort. It is not
what the author writes that ultimately gets published. He
receives suggestions, criticisms, advice as to what to omit and
what to put in. Most important of all, he must be persuaded to
writeitinthefirstplace.Thebookmaybeinhismind,andmight
remainburiedtliere The literary adventure begins to take shape
when the first line is written and then, unfortunately for the
reader, the explosion follows.
I owe the idea of writing this book to my younger son Iqbal.
I hadan eyeoperation, when Iwas compulsorily prevented from
reading anything fora whole month. As is usual with me, I was
frettingandfuming andwas lookinground for somethingto do.
Iqbal placed a tape recorder by my side and told me to start
dictating the book then and there. With considerable hesitation,
and for want of anything better to do I started. Almost all the
first 75 pages were dictated on the tape recorder. I am deeply
grateful to Iqbals wife, Roshan, for taking down the recording
in shorthand and typing it. I ,cnow what a laborious and weari-
some task itwas. Itwas cheerfully and ungrudgingly performed.
Therestof the bookwas dictated to stenographers, most ofit to
Shri Pithavalla, whose services Shri Nani Palkhivala very kindly
lenttome. Hedidanexcellentjobandsentthetranscriptexactly
as I haddictated it—nota distortedunintelligibleversion ofwhat
I had said.
I have worked fairly hard tluoughout my life; but thelabours
involved in writing this book was something for which I was
never prepared. If I knew, I might have paused, perhaps witli-
drawn from the undertaking to the undoubted relief of my
potential readers. The dictation, apart from tape-recording, took