Unfortunately not many people were convinced. When the school opened they had just three students. Even so my father insisted on starting the day in style by singing the national anthem. Then his nephew Aziz, who had come to help, raised the Pakistan flag.

不幸的是，没几个人相信这一套。学校开学时，他们只有三个学生。即便如此，父亲依然坚持照章办事，从唱国歌开始一天的学习。然后，由来帮忙的侄子阿齐兹升起巴基斯坦国旗。

With so few students, they had little money to equip the school and soon ran out of credit. Neither man could get any money from their families, and Hidayatullah was not pleased to discover that my father was still in debt to lots of people from college, so they were always receiving letters demanding money.

因为学生太少，他们没有钱替学校添购设备，而且很快，钱也就用尽了。他们经常收到讨债的各种信件，两人都无法从家里要到钱。而当希达亚图拉发现父亲还积欠许多大学同学的钱时，也很不高兴。

There was worse in store when my father went to register the school. After being made to wait for hours, he was finally ushered into the office of a superintendent of schools, who sat behind towering piles of files surrounded by hangers-on drinking tea. ‘What kind of school is this?’ asked the official, laughing at his application. ‘How many teachers do you have? Three! Your teachers are not trained. Everyone thinks they can open a school just like that!’

父亲去办注册时，情况更加糟糕。在苦等了数个小时后，他终于被带到负责官员的办公室里。官员藏身在桌上堆积如山的文件后面，几个攀权附势的人坐在一旁喝着茶。“这是什么学校？”官员拿着父亲的申请表，嗤之以鼻地问道：“你们有几个老师？才三个！你们的老师没有受过训练。人人都以为自己可以随随便便就开所学校！”

The other people in the office laughed along, ridiculing him. My father was angry. It was clear the superintendent wanted money. Pashtuns cannot stand anyone belittling them, nor was he about to pay a bribe for something he was entitled to. He and Hidayatullah hardly had money to pay for food, let alone bribes. The going rate for registration was about 13, 000 rupees, more if they thought you were rich. And schools were expected to treat officials regularly to a good lunch of chicken or trout from the river. The education officer would call to arrange an inspection then give a detailed order for his lunch. My father used to grumble, ‘We’re a school not a poultry farm.’

办公室里其他人都笑了，并揶揄他。父亲很生气。很显然，那个官员想收红包。普什图人最不能接受的就是被其他人歧视，父亲也不会为了他本来就应该得到的东西额外付费。他和希达亚图拉连饭钱都快没了，更别说拿钱行贿。注册费一般的行情大约是一万三千卢比，如果官员们觉得你很有钱，就会要得更多。学校也不得不定期请官员们吃全鸡大餐，或是去河里捞鳟鱼招待他们。教育官员不时打电话来约督察的时间，然后明确告诉你他午餐要吃什么。父亲总会嘟囔着说：“我们是学校，又不是养鸡场。”