I’ve been in Delhi for two full days so far and am blown away by the place. I first came here in 2004, at the start of a backpacking trip around northern India, and couldn’t wait to get out of the city. Looking back, mistake number one was choosing a hotel right in the middle of the hectic old city, where travellers get hassled by hawkers and beggars from the moment they step outside and the whole experience is a somewhat unnerving introduction to India.

Four years on and after two trips totalling almost two months in which we’ve visited several states in north and south India, I’m back again – only this time for work – and my experiences so far couldn’t be more different.

Perhaps I’m just more relaxed, but I am dealing much better with the attention that a young blonde, white woman on her own inevitably attracts. Today, at the Nizamuddin Shrine – a Sufi Muslim pilgrimmage site – I literally drew a crowd. It was slightly embarrassing but I am learning to hide behind my camera and enjoy the ride.

I’ve come over here with an international NGO to see a project they are funding which could have an enormous impact on the estimated 100,000 people who sleep on Delhi’s streets.

While I’m here I’m also visiting a project that works to educate slum children, and a third group that works with the runaways and abandoned kids who end up at the city’s railway stations. I am very excited to be here and to have the opportunity to see some of this stuff.

Last night I visited a homeless shelter and spoke to staff and a number of residents. One guy particularly touched me – a former Hindi literature teacher with two post-graduate qualifications who ended up on the streets 15 years ago. Now, aged 65, he is a proud librarian and looks after the shelter’s meagre reading room. In exchange he gets a bed for the night and a few rupees to live on.