I see Afghanistan and Bangladesh are competing in the 'Backwards Third-World Dump'

[Sir C]

Remind me again, how many of the Tory toffs managed to get back from Kabul in 1842? They went in in 1839 with a pack of fox hounds and two camels carrying the officers' cigars, so I'm sure they must have had the backward 3rd world dump well under manners 3 years later.

Also, the capital of Bengal, before the 1905 partition, was Calcutta whose uni let in totty about a decade before Oxford or Cambridge did. So definitely more enlightened.

And how many holy rivers flow through Croydon?

Tbf, g, whilst I bow to know man in my appreciation of the delights of the *ahem* 'developing world' metropolis, you must admit that the term 'thrid world shíthole' coulkd easily have been invented for Dacca. And, by some strange coincidence, I have a new Afghani chum, and he told me recently how he was talk to strip and reassemble an AK47 by the time he was 8 years old because, 'Anyone could try to kill you at any time'.

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

Tbf, g, whilst I bow to know man in my appreciation of the delights of the *ahem* 'developing world' metropolis, you must admit that the term 'thrid world shíthole' coulkd easily have been invented for Dacca. And, by some strange coincidence, I have a new Afghani chum, and he told me recently how he was talk to strip and reassemble an AK47 by the time he was 8 years old because, 'Anyone could try to kill you at any time'.

I trust your judgement, C. I've obviously never been to Dacca. While I respect them for letting the noble Indians liberate them from the dastardly 'Stanis in '71, I still haven't forgiven them for siding with Jinnah in '47. Hope the 'Ghanis hammer them.

[Sir C]

I trust your judgement, C. I've obviously never been to Dacca. While I respect them for letting the noble Indians liberate them from the dastardly 'Stanis in '71, I still haven't forgiven them for siding with Jinnah in '47. Hope the 'Ghanis hammer them.

I was in and out as a guest of the Bangladeshi parliament, so you'd imagine I'd have got to see the best of it.

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

I was in and out as a guest of the Bangladeshi parliament, so you'd imagine I'd have got to see the best of it.

One of the glw's mates is the daughter of the Bangla that signed the '71 treaty. But if you say the nice bits are shît, it must be a dive. No lovely Lutyens architecture, I take it, as in civilised sub-continental capitals?

[Sir C]

One of the glw's mates is the daughter of the Bangla that signed the '71 treaty. But if you say the nice bits are shît, it must be a dive. No lovely Lutyens architecture, I take it, as in civilised sub-continental capitals?

Not the bits I saw. Imagine the really crumbling bits of paharganj. Now imagine much, much worse...

[Sir C]

Not the bits I saw. Imagine the really crumbling bits of paharganj. Now imagine much, much worse...

Disclaimer: that was 10 years ago. It might be like Manhattan now.

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

Disclaimer: that was 10 years ago. It might be like Manhattan now.

Wouldn't surprise me. When I first went to Delhi, CP was so run down. The neo-classical pillars that would have looked sublime when they were built were just so tatty. Nehru had introduced subsidised rents for chunks of it, so you had people with little typewriters in their office paying a pittance for what is now some of the world's prime real estate.

Now it's full of western brands. Gutting.

Though one time, about a decade back, they'd changed one of the outer circle corner blocks to look a bit like our Parliament. So there, the mock-Georgian had become mock-mock-Gothic.

I was in a taxi, a bit fragged on K, and it was lit up by lasers and looked quite beautiful. It actually made me quite proud to be British - that they'd made this corner look like Parliament as if to say CP {or Rajiv Chowk as they call the metro station now} links the world's largest democracy with the Mother of Parliaments.

The best of both worlds. I guess you know enough about me to know why this would moisten the eye a little.