6th August

Well, we are moving into the hostel it would seem. Ben has nowhere to go and Sahu is being a right twat about phoning anywhere to let him in to stay. This feels like such a mess.

Today I had my first History class in Imperial Controls. It was quite interesting, and the professor seems really passionate so I have high hopes. I also was not the only white person in the class which is slightly comforting.

Today Crispin came to visit us with Iya. We all got pretty annoyed dwith him when he began to make out that the whole Guest House, no accommodation thing was our fault. He also kept on excusing all our problems as “part of the experiment”. Not good enough! I think Ben was ready to murder him. He has been left with no where to stay because of Crispin. And he told us all this random crap about how we should stay in these old palatial hotels and things. Iya is far more on the ball than he is. We have yet to work out why she is with him at all. She is so calm and intelligent and beautiful, whereas he is balding, over-bearing and ultimately annoying. So their visit was completely unhelpful. Not particularly great. However, Iya says we should meet her tomorrow and she will show us where the good books stores are, so that is one good thing.

Spent this afternoon packing everything up to take to hostel. Apparently a Lithuanian girl is going to come to dinner and dissuade us from going to the hostel.

Went to an incredibly crowded piece of Delhi for dinner. We went to the Metropolis restaurant, which has a roof terrace, and didn’t give us food poisoning! I stuck to Indian food, but they had British and Western food on the menu as well, so Amanda got spaghetti. We had beer as well! Our first drinks here! It was amazing just to be out. I had a milkshake, a litre of beer, curry and naan for just 5.50. Not bad at all.

There were begging children in this part of Delhi. We haven’t had much of that before now and it is hard saying no to them. One girl’s face was burnt and the skin all twisted. You wonder what sick person had done that to her, probably just to make her a more effective beggar. I know that you are not supposed to give money to them, as you are just perpetuating the problem, but it seems wrong to leave them be as well. I don’t think I will ever be able to quietly ignore them. It isn’t like it is in Glasgow where beggars are old men or junkies, and even then they do get some help. There are services available to them, that many an ordinary Indian could only dream of. People sleep here across the pavement and you have to step round. There are even a couple of slum dwellings in the University grounds. It is very difficult to get your head around.