I'd barely got home when Olly's Dad was on the phone. I'd been planning on a good summer of helping him and earning money but plans were about to change. He did have a job for me but it wasn't what I expected, an intervention was needed! Olly had dropped out of Uni the previous year and headed off to Australia to work, he'd then got bored and gone backpacking. He'd made his way to India and was now up in the Himalaya, well the foothills at least. He was being less than communicative and his parents were convinced he'd gone rogue and was hooked on drugs. Legitimate fears that parents get when their children are backpacking but most parents don't have the money or the inclination to pay someone to fly over and check he's ok. I.e me. Now I love India but the plains of India in July is weather wise pretty shitty. But Olly's Dad was paying for the flight, paying me what he was going to pay me for the summer and also paying me extra with a fair chunk on top so I couldn't complain.
Also, Olly was up in Manali, or the environs of it at least. So I'd be in the cooler mountain air and in theory avoiding the worst of the monsoon. I hadn't been but I knew about it. There were other smaller places along the Kullu Valley and there were a few places a few hours south in the Parvati valley where people had got into trouble with drugs so that was another option where he might be.
I wasn't exactly Sherlock Holmes but I had a guidebook and knew where to start. It might take a while but I was hopeful I'd track Olly down. He'd mentioned a couple of places in a postcard to a friend that he frequented so I thought it would be an adventure. In fact the more I thought about it the more excited I got. I managed to sneak over to Nottingham for a night with Mike who was back from Uni too but aside from that it was a rush to pack, get a visa, travellers cheques and get on the plane to Delhi.
I arrived in Delhi late at night. The experienced backpacker in me considered waiting it out as taxis are notoriously scammy in Delhi but I was tired and keen to get to Paharganj, the backpacking area, so I could sort out transport up to Manali the next day. I went to the prepaid counter, put my don't fuck with me face on, paid for a taxi to Paharganj and raced off after the driver who had taken my piece of paper and was weaving through the waiting cars. I kept pace and to his disappointment made it to his ambassador taxi. He was youngish guy with a big hairy moustache, and keen to get going. I put my bags in the boot and off we drove.
"First time in India?" "No been here many times"...."Bad riots today, roads closed, can't go to paharganj, need to go to different hotel".."I'm not falling for that one, just take me to paharganj"...."You like girls? boys?"..."Both but not now, just take me to Paharganj, I'm meeting a friend there"..and on it went for the journey. Despite myself I was getting progressively annoyed. On a quite dusty street he started to slow down, I knew this wasn't Paharganj. "We go to travel agent so you can phone hotel to see if it's open". I was pissed off now and snapped.."Look, there are loads of fucking hotels in Paharganj, they're all open, unless you're slowing down to suck my dick then floor the fucker and drop me off. I am not going to pay you more, the quicker you drop me off" I said in exasperation. He drove on in silence, I recognised we were near New Delhi station so not far away although he then turned off just before Paharganj and a smartish looking hotel. Well I say smartish, more of a £20 a night hotel than the £5 max I was planning on staying in at paharganj. He parked up and said it was his Uncle's hotel and he could get me a good rate. I sighed and said ok, I'd check out a room but I didn't want to pay more than 600 rupees (around £8 at the time from memory). He took my big bag before i could stop him and went into the hotel, I chased after him with my smaller day bag and he was already talking to the receptionist. The receptionist gave me a heavy key for a room on the 3rd floor and said 600 was fine as I was a friend of Gopi and his uncle was the owner. I was surprised that Gopi wasn't lying and also a but guilty I hadn't asked his name. i paid Gopi for the taxi but he insisted on accompanying me to my room with my bag. I checked the room out and it was actually really nice, well for Delhi where it tended to be 5 star or no star at the time. It had aircon, a comfortable bed and clean. He put my bag down and stood there. "Look thanks for this but I;m not paying more for the taxi, oh fuck it, here's 50 rupees, now good night". He still stood there and refused the money. '"Ok what the fuck do you want" (in my defence I was tired and very grumpy as a result). "Er Mr Andy, you said about sucking your dick in the taxi and I er want to know if you were joking". I looked at him in shock "It was just a joke, a figure of speech, why?" He walked over to me, "I'm gay and I don't really get a chance to suck dick, my parents would kill me. literally. It would dishonour my family. Please let me do this" I looked at him and could see he was keen and desperate, but I had no idea of his cleanliness, whether he was being truthful (he'd messed me around so much in the taxi that the thought did hit my mind that it might be a scam of a sting) and I wasn't remotely attracted to him or in the mood. So I said I was flattered but sent him away. I lay in my bed afterwards wondering if I'd done the right thing, I probably should have let him do it but I was tried, grumpy, smelly and just not feeling it. I fell asleep in the comfy bed and slept really well. I did end up staying the next night too before booking a bus up to Manali the next evening.....