I am neither historian nor Indologist, but I have been a guest in the country since I first arrived uninvited in 1945, and at least in the later years of this period, I have tried to keep my eyes and ears open to what has been going on around me. I like to think I have read fairly widely and I have constantly badgered friends, casual acquaintances and even total strangers: Why? Why? Immensely helpful explanations have always followed, although sometimes - such is the diversity of India - one would be at variance with another: especially so with regard to food. No two cookery books nor housewives seem able to agree on the details of prepared dishes. Also, as everywhere, precept and practice can be worlds apart.

- Nigel Hankin

Originally from Bexhill, Sussex, Nigel Hankin came to India as a Captain in the British Army in 1945 and has been here ever since. In the early days he ran a mobile cinema, and then worked for many years for the British High Commission. Nigel is a well-known Delhiwallah, now famous for his fascinating, insightful conducted walks of the city which include the bustling alleys of the fragrant spice market and a lonely graveyard for statues of the Raj. He used to negotiate the traffic on an old Vespa but now sticks to buses and auto rickshaws to get around. Nigel never married but is delighted to be able to have his tea and newspaper brought to him every morning by his old retainer who has been with him for over forty years.

On Nigel’s walks in Delhi.:
'It occurred to me that for him to know this labyrinth so well, he must have spent the past 40 years poking his head inside every doorway in Old Delhi. The same applies for his glossary (Hanklyn-Janklin)'

- Tim McGirk, The Independent on Sunday.