Every Tuesday and Thursday after my Indian social sciences lesson with the older girls at Hope Girls’ Home, I wander down to the Hope Lifeskills Café for chai and revision for the next class (I’m usually ever only a couple of chapters ahead of them - ssssh!). More often than not, I actually get bugger-all done because a friend or friendly stranger ambles past in search of a chat. Bengalis are genuinely the most chilled, friendly people… this day, I get talking to Hope’s security guy who tells me all about his daughter’s school successes, and his undying love for Calcutta