Diwan Tahilram Khemchand:
2 min readDiwan Tahilram Khemchand:
He received early education at Tatta and then joined the N. J. High School at Karachi. After passing the Matriculation Examination he joined the Elphinstone College, Bombay, whence he graduated as a Bachelor of Arts and passed the LL.B. examination in the first class in 1885. It was just about this time that the first awakening of public life was being noticed in Sind.
Diwan Tahilram’s ability and valuable work in the Karachi Municipality were appreciated and in 1895 he was elected Vice-President of the Municipality. The next year he was nominated President of the Municipality and held this office upto his death in 1905. He was a Law
Lecturer of the Dayaram Jethmal Sind College. In 1898 he was made C.I.E. and the Citizens of Tatta presented him an address on this occasion. But the most signal honour conferred upon him was the President ship of the Bombay Provincial Conference in 1904. This is a recognition that has come to no other Sindhi. It was Sir Pheroze shah Mehta who made this selection. Pheroze shah was a leader of men and he could recognise worth when he saw it. I n all conferences, Political or other, Sind had never been able to take a prominent part. The standard of patriotism and public service was no high. Sind was regarded as a minor part of the Bombay Presidency and no Sindhi had yet taken an important part in public life. The Provincial Conferences which were held in those days were subsidiary to the Indian National Congress. Pheroze shah Mehta knew Tahilram and he was convinced that Tahilram would make a worthy president of the Bombay Provincial Conference and the selection would also satisfy the claim of Sind to representation.
Diwan Tahilram Khemchand was called away in the midst of a most useful and successful career. No statue was erected to his memory, nor is he very widely remembered in Sind. But the example of his life remains. Men like him are rarely seen any where and in Sind they are still rare. Throughout his short life Diwan Tahilram was guided by a single sense of duty. As a Citizen he had the highest ideal of Civic duty. He never permitted his profession to absorb all his energy or all his time. He was a public servant in the finest sense of the term. He never sought any honour, nor did he at any time seek official favour. His ability was of a high order and he was conscientious and hard worker. He was somewhat reserve and shy by nature but those who knew him realised the charm of his personality and his selflessness.(Source:’The coulrful personalities of Sindh’by M.U.Abbasi)[.
