Quaid-e-Azam viewing the parade at RPAF Risalpur - 1948 |
When I went to take leave of Quaid-i-Azam before I left for Risalpur to serve the Air Force I took with me one of his photographs to be autographed by him as a memento. He looked at it and went to his private study and came back with his prized photograph, dressed in a three-piece suit and standing in front of the marble fireplace in the living room of his Malabar Hill residence in Bombay. This photograph was taken by the photographer of Life and Time magazines in 1945 and was their copyright. Quaid-i-Azam liked the photograph.
The government approached the magazines for permission for the photograph to be adopted as the official photograph. The magazines refused permission and sent six complimentary copies. Quaid-i-Azam brought one of those copies for me. When he was about to ink his autograph I ventured to suggest that he may kindly autograph it on his suit leg where it would be more prominent. He looked at me with his penetrating eyes as if saying, “You fool, I do not want to spoil the crease of my trousers” and without saying anything, autographed it on the carpet that he was standing on.