Page 27 - James Caan - The Real Deal

2 · Growing Up Fast

The problem was that I was finding business too interesting, and
I started to wonder if being handed a company to run on a plate
was just a bit too easy. Although I wasn’t really articulating it to
myself yet, I was definitely starting to think that I would prefer to
start a business of my own. I hadn’t given any thought to what
that business might be; I just knew I wanted something that would
be mine.
Our family kept on growing, and while I was at secondary
school my sisters Nazima and Irem were born. There is a
seventeen-year gap between Nahid and Irem, and for us older kids
that meant doing homework to the accompaniment of crying
babies, or little ones playing, not to mention countless other
distractions. I find it pretty easy these days to work anywhere,
and I wonder if this is because I grew up in a house with so much
going on.
I got on extremely well with all my brothers and sisters – we
always looked out for each other – but my friends were becoming
increasingly important to me. I was starting to get invitations to
parties and discos, but there was no way my father would let me
go. As one of seven kids, I understood that if I was allowed to go
out all the time my father would find it impossible to discipline the
younger ones. So, of course, I started sneaking out.
I would have to wait until my parents had gone to bed, and then
I’d go to places like the Palais in Ilford. At fourteen and fifteen I
never had any problem getting in, and I’d stay out until the early
hours of the morning. When I got home, the door was locked, and
as I’d never been given a key because my mum was home to let us
in, I would throw stones at Azam’s window and he would open
the door for me. My brothers and sisters all knew what I was
doing, and to them it was a bit of fun because we all knew that I
would get a colossal telling-off if I was caught. After a while, I
realised that they would also be punished if they were caught
helping me. That wasn’t fair, so I got a bit smart. Before I left I

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