Nigel Tour

Meet Nigel Hankin. He is an 80 year old Englishman who literally is left over from before Independence. As a young man in WWII he fought against Rommel in N Africa. He was on his way to fight the Japanese when VJ happened, and since he was already in Bombay was reassigned to the Indian Viceroyship, then to the High Commission (effectively the British Embassy). He retired from service 2 decades go and makes a living by giving tours. He's something of an institution in embassy circles; he's basically gone native, and is very proud of the fact that he drinks the tap water in Delhi.

Since Nigel lacks a phone, to book a "Nigel tour" he keeps a date book at the British High Comission. You show up, propose in the date book a day for a tour, tell a little about yourself. He comes twice a week to check the date book, writes in it "Confirmed" or "Denied." If confirmed, you meet him at the indicated time and place for the tour, which then takes all day. If an appointment is made, and you miss it, you are black-balled forever. Its very soup-Nazi-ish.

Anyways, we went on a "Nigel" tour today and it was phenominal. He showed us a number of cool things about Impirial British Delhi, and also took us on a tour of "working Delhi" which meant a walk through the back-allys and stalls of Old Delhi. See below for details.