Tahir Shah Quotes

In Morocco," said Osman, "word spreads like a fire tearing through the depths of Hell.

The first few hours in the cell were quite stimulating. I'd never been in a prison cell before and was quite enjoying the experience.

During the days I felt myself slipping into a kind of madness. Solitary confinement has an astonishing effect on the mind. The trip was to stay calm and keep myself occupied. I spent hours working out how to break free. But trying to escape would have been instant suicide.

Explorers like to pretend that they are a select breed of people with iron nerve and an ability to endure terrible hardship.

Bombay is a city where gossip is treated as a commodity.

Prideep pointed to the flames of paraffin lamps as they came alive in the distance and cackled in awe at the experience. (…) I was to discover that making tasty soup with one carrot, ten peas and a little dishwater, was his greatest skill. One wondered what the man would be capable of creating with a blender and a non-stick frying-pan.

At the last moment, the fish and I exchange a troubled glance. The murrel seems to be demanding an explanation. Alas, I am in no position to start justifying the unusual treatment. What comes next is a new experience for both the fish and me.

It is almost impossible to overemphasize the importance with which ancestry is held in the Middle East and North Africa.