24
The translation of His Exalted Highness' Gha-
zals, the reading of the Qur'an and the daily task
of correcting the drafts of letters addressed to the
Residency besides other routine duties, went on
till the calamitous days of the influenza epidemic
in October and November, 1918, " when life," he
says, " seemed to lie under a black pall. But the
news of the Armistice came as a ray of light to
dispel some of the gloom, and the New Year wore
on in hopes of better things to come, both at home
and abroad. In the interval, Hyderabad had a
surprise. Mr. Hormusji Vakil suddenly dropped
from the clouds and was preparing to settle down
comfortably with a quantity of Berar literature
spread before him, hoping to get the long standing
claim of Hyderabad favourably settled. And he
may have entertained secret hopes of getting into
Sir Faridoon's seat as Minister. But two unex-
pected events happened—one was that he died of
heart-failure without an hour's warning ; and the
other was that Sir Ali Imam came to Hyderabad
to be at the head of affairs/'
In November, 1919, when the Executive Council
was constituted, Nizamat Jung was appointed
Member in charge of the Political portfolio, and
served in that capacity till the end of the year 1929.
But, strange to say, he continued to draw the
same pay as that of a High Court Judge and did
not ask for more. Once indeed he told His Exalted
Highness on a sudden impulse, that he would not
accept more and he kept his word. He reached the
age limit of 55 in 1926, but His Exalted Highness,