Tahir's Notes
I never planned to write SORCERER'S APPRENTICE. It happened because I couldn't get my time with an Indian magician out of my mind. As is often the case, my quest for magic and illusion in India seemed quite normal at the time. But when I got back home to Europe, I began thinking about it, realizing that I had delved deep into a world which many people don't know exists.
From the first moment I travelled in India I was transfixed by the society, by the cultural colour. It hit me like a bucket of ice water. I found myself feeling that, after India's goulash, other countries were thin soup. And at the same time, I was obsessed with learning magic from a godman, as I had met a conjurer from India in my childhood.
When I wrote SORCERER'S APPRENTICE, the critics were kind but disbelieving. Some of them implied that I'd made the whole thing up. What I have been trying to explain ever since the first copies hit the bookshop shelves is that this is a story of India -- a land where the unbelievable is the norm. I wish people who don't get this point would leave their usual lives in Europe, North America or wherever, and would travel to the Indian Subcontinent. If they left right away, they could be having breakfast there tomorrow morning... and they'd understand that India is a place crafted in magic.
I had known that the idea of writing of my experiences with Hakim Feroze, the great magician, would be extremely frowned upon by him, and they were. Feroze telephoned me one night when it was pouring with rain. I can remember the call. As soon as I heard the 'click' click' of the international line, I'd known it was Feroze. He was fuming. As far as he was concerned, my time with him was denigrated to fodder for a travel book. It is a view that upset me greatly. I have always held Feroze in the highest respect. When he died in 2001, I felt an emptiness that I have rarely experienced.
I hope that people who read SORCERER'S APPRENTICE will allow themselves to be sucked into the reality of India. And I hope they will then go on their own travels in that land. Let the book not be a guide, but a catalyst. Dive in to the culture. Thrive, enjoy every breath.
From the first moment I travelled in India I was transfixed by the society, by the cultural colour. It hit me like a bucket of ice water. I found myself feeling that, after India's goulash, other countries were thin soup. And at the same time, I was obsessed with learning magic from a godman, as I had met a conjurer from India in my childhood.
When I wrote SORCERER'S APPRENTICE, the critics were kind but disbelieving. Some of them implied that I'd made the whole thing up. What I have been trying to explain ever since the first copies hit the bookshop shelves is that this is a story of India -- a land where the unbelievable is the norm. I wish people who don't get this point would leave their usual lives in Europe, North America or wherever, and would travel to the Indian Subcontinent. If they left right away, they could be having breakfast there tomorrow morning... and they'd understand that India is a place crafted in magic.
I had known that the idea of writing of my experiences with Hakim Feroze, the great magician, would be extremely frowned upon by him, and they were. Feroze telephoned me one night when it was pouring with rain. I can remember the call. As soon as I heard the 'click' click' of the international line, I'd known it was Feroze. He was fuming. As far as he was concerned, my time with him was denigrated to fodder for a travel book. It is a view that upset me greatly. I have always held Feroze in the highest respect. When he died in 2001, I felt an emptiness that I have rarely experienced.
I hope that people who read SORCERER'S APPRENTICE will allow themselves to be sucked into the reality of India. And I hope they will then go on their own travels in that land. Let the book not be a guide, but a catalyst. Dive in to the culture. Thrive, enjoy every breath.
posted by Mangorains at 11:05 AM
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