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