XV
him, from my own recollections and from the impressions
formed by others and the glimpses afforded by their letters.
And these again have to be supplemented by extracts from
his own writings, from which we can get some notion of
his ideas, ideals and beliefs. I use the word beliefs advisedly
because I know him to be a man of deep convictions who
has carried his principles into practice in all the affairs of
life. The best proof of this is that he himself offered to
lay down the reins of his office once he reached the official
age of retirement, when a host of others amongst us, even less
favourably placed, would have desperately struggled to cling
to power. For him 'the post of honour is a private station.'
In the following pages an attempt has been made to raise
before the mind's eye a picture of Sir Nizamat Jung as he
appears to me. It is possible that others better qualified
than I, would have made the picture more realistic. But
this much is clear to me that no one would have missed
all those gifts and qualities of his which once impelled an
English friend to pay an affectionate tribute to him in spon-
taneous verse and look upon him as a star, aloof and calm,
gleaming on high in lonely splendour.
" And from afar
Lost melodies come wafted from old days
Long past but not forgotten: see, a haze
Of rose-red and the horizon veils a star—
One star in lonely splendour gleams on high
Aloof and calm,
And when our toil is done,
When to eternity we reach through time
May joy be ours beyond the stars and sun."
The great lesson, which the life of Sir Nizamat Jung
offers to everyone of us at the present day is that it is poss-
ible for a man to pursue higher concerns of life while engaged
in everyday affairs and to seek the Eternal even in the
transitory.
Crvn, SERVICE HOUSE, ZAHIR AHMED
HYDERABAD-DECCAN
October 1945.