Ten talks in which Ray Gosling tells the story of his travels overland to the East.
6: Calcutta Christmas
' When the old tram woke me on Christmas Night I fancied a cup of char. Down the marble staircase of my Grand Hotel - £6 a night-and outside where the beggars sleep on the pavement, beneath the colonnades. One small bundle raises itself:
" Sahib Ray , Happy Kiss Miss."
It's the hunchback who mended my shoes. We walk to the Esplanade.
" You missed a big event the other day ", I say. " While you were away there was an election rally in the park: great red banners and huge painted canvas portraits of Joseph Stalin. And there's been an incident - I've had to ring Mother Theresa ... l' 1