Quotes by Tahir Shah

On a harsh expedition, theres no space for anyone who does not intend to finish.

It was an awkward moment. We were burning down our hosts house, a situation which any guest seeks to avoid.

In moments of great uncertainty on my travels, I have always felt that something is protecting me, that I will come to no harm.

In some peculiar way, indeed, the rules were now beginning to seem quite logical. It was then I knew that I had been in India long enough.

A little imagination goes a long way in Fes.

I believe that Marrakech ought to be earned as a destination. The journey is the preparation for the experience. Reaching it too fast derides it, makes it a little less easy to understand.

Theres nothing like a pack of mules to give one a sense of entourage.

As anyone whos ever taken an Ethiopian bus knows, there is an unwritten rule that the windows must remain firmly closed.

I had learned years ago never to give original documents to anyone if I could help it.

One senses that, in these conditions, no amount of wet-wiping could bring true hygiene.

A journey of observation must leave as much as possible to chance. Random movement is the best plan for maximum observation

Calcuttas the only city I know where you are actively encouraged to stop strangers at random for a quick chat.

Where does one go in a tremendous city like Calcutta to find insider information? I recalled Indias golden rule: do the opposite of what would be normal anywhere else.

The mere mention of the Farakka Express, which jerks its way eastward each day from Delhi to Calcutta, is enough to throw even a seasoned traveller into fits of apoplexy. At a desert encampment on Namibias Skeleton Coast, a hard-bitten adventurer had downed a peg of local fire-water then told me the tale. Farakka was a ghost train, he said, haunted by ghouls, Thuggees, and thieves. Only a passenger with a death wish would go anywhere near it.

Back at the Chateau Windsor there was a rat-like scratching at the door of my room. Vinod, the youngest servant, came in with a soda water. He placed it next to the bag of toffees. Then he watched me read. I was used to being observed reading. Sometimes the room would fill like a railway station at rush hour and I would be expected to cure widespread boredom.

Foras Road has a sordid reputation (…) Old crones sat in doorways, while their daughters were pushed out to earn money. It is intriguing that a society which is very covert with sexuality should be so straightforward about prostitution.

Inscribed on it was a verse from the Quatrains of Omar Khayyam, the eleventh-century Persian mystic. Reading the words aloud I prepared for a most amazing journey:The sages who have compassed sea and land,Their secret to search out and understand,My mind misgives me if they ever solveThe scheme on which the universe is planned.

I was becoming addicted to Bombay. There was squalor and poverty, but I had begun to realise my good fortune and would never again forget it.

The ancient paused for a moment, as if his strength were failing. Yet I sensed that there was more to tell. Looking deep into my eyes, he whispered: The Gond kingdoms have fallen, their people live dispersed in poverty: the teak trees and the jungles have been cleared... but the importance of the Gonds must not be forgotten!

Real travel is not about the highlights with which you dazzle your friends once youre home. Its about the loneliness, the solitude, the evenings spent by yourself, pining to be somewhere else. Those are the moments of true value. You feel half proud of them and half ashamed and you hold them to your heart.