69
or chapters of the Qur'an till morning prayers, and
again for some time after. Then he strolls in the
garden for a while looking at trees and plants
" rehearsing walks in Paradise," as he would say,
referring to Jannat as meaning garden. He has his
breakfast at about seven and begins his usual work
of reading and writing soon after eight and keeps it
up till ii o'clock. He has a curious habit of
walking round his room arranging things while
his mind is shaping its thoughts in prose or verse ;
for movement is to him a welcome accom-
paniment to mental activity. Many poems
(including long ones), I understand, were com-
posed by him in the course of his walks, and he
can talk or listen to friends while walking and
making verses. So it happened more than
once that during motor journeys to Vikarabad he
composed some of his poems. He also found
periods of illness, during which the mind was
released from ordinary routine, favourable to
quiet mental work of this kind.
" I am glad to say/' he wrote to a friend
in 1940, " that by way of/plain living',.. I am
practising menial^ service by making my bed,
dusting the scanty furniture in my room and
putting things in order. Soon after finishing
such work I fly to the higher regions for a
little IJhiglx- thinking/ There I find myself in
goodly company: prophets and patriarchs,
philosophers and sages, poets and artists
1 welcome me/'
" Sometimes, in between thinking and