In Arabian Nights Notes

IN ARABIAN NIGHTS

T A H I R’ S N O T E S

You have to believe me when I say that I wasn’t merely capitalizing on the success of The Caliph’s House, when I decided to write this book. It really began, as it does in the book itself, with the torture prison in Pakistan. It was something that shook me up enormously, wrenching me from my normal little life. And it got me thinking, as much about the lives my two children have been born into, as much as it got me thinking about my own childhood and adult life.
I have never enjoyed writing a book as much as writing In Arabian Nights, and that’s because I could shine a light in my own mind on memories which have been hidden away in a long time. My childhood was extraordinary. Indeed, there was never really anything ordinary going on at all. I didn’t quite see it at the time, but I see it now... and rather than shying away, grimacing at the strangeness and the oddball characters, I applaud it. My father taught us some things directly, but much more is what he taught us indirectly, through stories. They filtered into us, drip drip drip over decades, and form the most amazing kind of instruction manual to the world.
The most astonishing of all, looking back and forward, is how an upbringing that’s diverse can set someone up, and get them ready for all sorts of situations, preparing them to be ready in the most unconventional way. If anyone’s interested, I suggest they look for zigzag paths in life, as throughout human history it’s been the zigzag route that’s been most instructive, most beneficial.