Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Recollections and Remembrances Foreword

were buying the series of “Scarlet Tonga” books.
One week-end we spent with the Deputy Commissioner of Khandala Mr. Parpia.
The Parpias took us walking to Echo Point as it got dark we started our walk back.
We all thought we knew the way but Khandala is a hill-station surrounded by
thick tall trees and many turns into various lanes Zulfi and my little sister Benazir
were walking ahead of us suddenly we lost sight of them. Mother panicked but
Parpias said they must have reached. They were not home, at this the Parpias also
got worried but assured mother search parties were being sent after then, mean
while we were nervous. An hour later they were found they had taken the tong
route which brought them to the bazaar. Mr. Parpia asked Zulfi. “Did you get
afraid? The woods are thick and some monkeys come on the road.” He replied
that he was not as such in a crises. He remembered mother calling to Pir Dastagir
and he did the same. Mumtaz and I went to Bombay for our Christmas holidays.
Zulfi took us to his favorite shops. It was the time of the British Raj. The shops
were stocked with so many things. Large variety of all sizes of chocolate and
biscuits tins, toys, the best were the Christmas stockings like treasure-chests filled
with balloons, masks and little things.
Zulfi’s favorite story was Hiawatha which he was never tired of hearing it from
Mumtaz. She also read him the Scarlet Pimpernel stories.
When Sindh was separated from Bombay we returned to Karachi. In Karachi we
all went to day school. We lived on Club Road and our house was called Hordley
House. The house is still there. I have visited it on several occasions and each time
the years roll back reminding of me our happy, stay there.
We again returned to Bombay. Father had served Sindh with dedication. His
contribution was recognised for he never lost any election except the last one. He
decided to serve Sindh as Sindh’s representative in The Public Service
Commission.
Zulfi was now in the Cathedral High School and cricket had become his
obsession. He played in the junior team and later in the senior team. He was an
ardent fan of the well known cricketers of the time. Kardar and Amarnat but his
favorite was Mushtaq Ali. There was a wide age-gap but he still befriended them.
One of Zulfi’s school friends Omar Kureshi who remained a friend to the end
lived in Dhanraj Mahal. It was the meeting place of cricketers and other
sportsmen. Zulfi spent many evenings there.
In his final year of school he got very attached to a girl named Suriya. He phoned
her every day at a certain time and asked me to continue phoning when he left
for the States to join Berkeley college. He was keen to marry her but somehow it
did not work out.
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