My father went to see the building after work. It was a perfect night with stars and a full moon just above the trees, which he took to be a sign. ‘I felt so happy, ’ he recalls. ‘My dream was coming true.’

虽然有些犹豫，父亲下班后还是决定去看一下那栋建筑。那天晚上夜色十分美好，星光璀璨，明亮的满月挂在树梢上。父亲认为这是个好兆头。“我觉得好快乐，”他回忆道，“我的梦想要成真了。”

Naeem and my father invested their entire savings of 60, 000 rupees. They borrowed 30, 000 rupees more to repaint the building, rented a shack across the road to live in and went from door to door trying to find students. Unfortunately the demand for English tuition turned out to be low, and there were unexpected drains on their income. My father’s involvement in political discussions continued after college. Every day his fellow activists came to the shack or the school for lunch. ‘We can’t afford all this entertaining!’ Naeem would complain. It was also becoming clear that while they were best friends, they found it hard to work as business partners.

纳伊姆和父亲投入了所有积蓄，大概有六万卢比。他们还借了三万卢比，将房子重新粉刷，并在对街租了一栋棚屋来住。然后，便开始挨家挨户地招生。不幸的是，学英文的需求并不高，而且他们有许多预期外的支出，很快便榨干了他们的收入。从大学毕业后，父亲持续投入政治探讨活动。每天，他的这些活动伙伴都会来到棚屋里或是学校里吃午餐。“我们招待不起这些人！”纳伊姆对此抱怨道。渐渐地，他们也发现，即便是最好的朋友，也未必能成为生意的伙伴。

On top of that, there was a stream of guests from Shangla now that my father had a place for them to stay. We Pashtuns cannot turn away relatives or friends, however inconvenient. We don’t respect privacy and there is no such thing as making an appointment to see someone. Visitors can turn up whenever they wish and can stay as long as they want. It was a nightmare for someone trying to start a business and it drove Naeem to distraction. He joked to my father that if either of them had relatives to stay, they should pay a fine. My father kept trying to persuade Naeem’s friends and family to stay so he could be fined too!

除此之外，因为父亲在这里有了可以落脚的地方，香拉县开始不断有许多朋友来访。不论有多不方便，我们普什图人都不能拒绝任何亲戚或朋友。我们不在乎隐私，也没有来访前事先预约的习惯。访客可以随性地不请自来，想待多久就待多久。这对刚开始创业的人来说，简直是场噩梦，也快把纳伊姆逼疯了。他开玩笑地说，如果他们两人之中有谁的亲戚来过夜，就要交一笔罚款。我父亲便一直说服纳伊姆的朋友和家人来过夜，好让他也被罚一笔！