So when the official angled for a bribe, my father turned on him with all the force of his years of debating. ‘Why are you asking all these questions?’ he demanded. ‘Am I in an office or am I in a police station or a court? Am I a criminal?’ He decided to challenge the officials to protect other school owners from such bullying and corruption. He knew that to do this he needed some power of his own, so he joined an organisation called the Swat Association of Private Schools. It was small in those days, just fifteen members, and my father quickly became vice president.

所以，当官员摆明要收红包时，父亲用他这么多年来辩论的经验做出回应。“你为什么要问我这些问题？”他质问道，“我现在是在办公室里还是在警察局？还是在法庭上？我是罪犯吗？”他决定挑战这些官员，以保护其他学校免受这样的欺凌和腐败。他知道要这么做，他自己得先要有一定的实力。于是，他加入了一个叫作斯瓦特私立学校协会的团体。这团体当时规模还很小，只有十五个成员，父亲很快就当选为副主席。

The other principals took paying bribes for granted, but my father argued that if all the schools joined together they could resist. ‘Running a school is not a crime, ’ he told them. ‘Why should you be paying bribes? You are not running brothels; you are educating children! Government officials are not your bosses, ’ he reminded them; ‘they are your servants. They are taking salaries and have to serve you. You are the ones educating their children.’

其他的校长们都把送红包当作理所当然的事，但父亲坚持认为，如果所有的学校都团结起来，那么他们就可以抵抗这种不良风气。“办学又不是犯罪，”他对他们说，“为什么你们要塞钱？你们又不是在开妓院，你们是在教育下一代！政府官员不是你们的老板，”他提醒他们，“他们是你们的公仆。他们领薪水是要为你们服务。教育他们的小孩的人是你们。”

He soon became president of the organisation and expanded it until it included 400 principals. Suddenly the school owners were in a position of power. But my father has always been a romantic rather than a businessman and in the meantime he and Hidayatullah were in such desperate straits that they ran out of credit with the local shopkeeper and could not even buy tea or sugar. To try and boost their income they ran a tuck shop at school, going off in the mornings and buying snacks to sell to the children. My father would buy maize and stay up late at night making and bagging popcorn.

父亲很快成为协会的主席，并不断扩大协会规模。直到后来，协会拥有了四百个校长会员。突然间，这些创学之人形成了一股力量。但我父亲虽然身为生意人，却更是一个浪漫主义者。当时，他和希达亚图拉已经完全陷入绝境。他们在当地店面已经不再被允许赊账，甚至连茶或糖都买不起了。为了增加收入，他们试着在学校里开了一间糖果店，早上开始做生意，买进点心来卖给小孩子。我父亲会去买玉米，然后连夜爆成爆米花并装袋。

‘I would get very depressed and sometimes collapse seeing the problems all around us, ’ said Hidayatullah, ‘but when Ziauddin is in a crisis he becomes strong and his spirits high.’

“我当时非常沮丧，有时会因为看见太多问题无法解决而整个人几近崩溃。”希达亚图拉说，“但是当齐亚乌丁身陷危机的时候，他却会变得更强壮，意志更加高昂。”