Forget what I said about Bangalore being hot and humid! Compared to Delhi, Bangalore is like Carrickfergus on a Spring evening! I have no idea what the temperature is here but when I stepped out of the aeroplane I thought I was stepping into a fan assisted sauna. My glasses immediately steamed up and before I reached the bottom of the aircraft steps my shirt was transparent and sticking to my back!

Thankfully we had brought only hand luggage and made our way outside where a driver was waiting for us with a big placard on which was writ en in Big letters "REVEREND AND MRS LINDSAY ALLEN" so no low key entrance here. Incidentally I noticed our tickets were in the name of Mr Lindsay Allen and Mrs Lilian Carey so I just hoped that it didn't create any problems having a double room!
The driver who was an employee of the school spoke little English but managed to let us know that everyone was expecting us! I didn't know what I was expecting from Mount Carmel Christian school but what I saw as we swept through the guarded gates took my breath away! A magnificent campus on a grand scale. This was no ordinary school as I was to discover. It was founded and is still run by Mr and Mrs Williams who started it with Mrs Williams teaching a few pupils in her garage. Today it has 2,500 pupils, and 150 staff!

We arrived on Mrs Williams Birthday and sort of "gate crashed" their big family party! Found myself in the company of Senior Educationalists, a television producers, a senior Liver Transplant Surgeon and a Justice of the Supreme Court of India! (The sort of gathering you find yourself part of most weekends in fact!) Absolutely amazing food again and of course all served by delightful and beautiful, doe eyed, Indian servant girls. But I have eyes only for Lilian!We turned in early so as not to intrude too much on what was very much a family occasion, (didn't tell them that actually we were Mr Allen and Mrs Carey!) very grateful that the house and bedrooms are air conditioned!

I've just remembered that in the middle of the party my mobile phone rang and it was the BBC in Belfast asking if I could come down to the studio to do a piece on Mother Teresa! The last time he rang me on my mobile I was in a car in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, this time I'm at a party in Delhi! He must wonder when I'm ever in Carrick! Glad I'm not paying his phone bill!