"Delhi Belly can be the increase of girth observed on a diplomat after a year of the capital's social whirl," writes Hankin.
With no pension, Hankin lives on earnings from guiding walking tours through the teeming streets of Old Delhi. A bachelor, he has been looked after by the same servant since arriving in India.
"We've grown old together," said Hankin, whose bony frame was a familiar sight as he darted through Delhi's perilously chaotic traffic on a battered scooter recently retired due to his failing eyesight.
Now he sticks to buses and auto rickshaws.
The Sussex native says he could not live in Britain again.
"I returned for three months in 1982 to visit my brother but it was so dull I went home after a few weeks," he said.
"I missed the chaos. Besides it's too expensive now to live in Britain. I can't afford it. And where else could I get a cup of tea brought to me in bed every morning?
"I'd miss these little comforts."
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