Just a quick post to say that we are flying to Los Angeles and so this blog will not be updated for a few days. Thank you for the interest you have taken in us and in our Sabbatical Journey on the other blog. This is Lilia at the William Carey exhibition in the Bible Society of India. She is standing beside a picture of her famous ancestor. (William Carey, not Mother Theresa!) Keep in touch. God bless

Just some more pictures of Goa from the post on "Lindsay & Lilian's Sabbatical Journey".

Interesting to see Indian women and girls taking a swim, fully clothed. There must be an enormous clash of cultures here in the season when Western women take to the sea wearing practically nothing! I used to come down here early and read, and update my journal. In fact Lilian came down one morning and found me standing in the sea finishing off my book.

This is Lilian trying to do a deal with a local lady who makes jewellery and sells it on the beach;-

and Rita in quiet contemplation!

It was a great couple of days. I could send a month here no problem, though I imagine it's pretty busy during the tourist season. The week after Christmas is their peak time. At the height of summer it can reach over 45 degrees here and you can't walk on the sand! It was in the 30's for us and just great.

Had an interesting experience in the early hours of Tuesday morning. I was lying dozing in bed half awake and half asleep when I saw through the far window, what appeared to be a fire starting outside the house. But it seemed to be about 3 or 4 feet off the ground. I then saw the fire approach the window and realise that in fact it was a lighted match or taper. The window had been closed but unlocked and someone outside had pulled it open and was reaching through the bars with this lighted taper. A long black arm stretched into the room holding this lighted match as a torch and moved it back and forwards, obviously peering into the ground floor bedroom in which Lilian and I were sleeping. I stared hard trying to make out the face against the bars but it was too dark and the flame from the taper was making it impossible to see past it.

I lay on for a moment considering what to do.

I assumed whoever it was could see us lying in bed but reckoned we were asleep and I was wondering how I could slip out of bed and grab the arm and hold on to him. However I saw that the flame from the paper he was holding was now quite considerable and in real danger of setting fire to the curtains. So I shouted out at him, (frightened the daylights out of Lilian who was fast asleep!) and he ran off. By he time I unbolted our bedroom door and then the front door of the house and got outside he was well gone and as I was dressed only in a pair of pyjama bottoms and in my bare feet I didn't pursue him!

Arrived at the Red Fort on a blistering hot and humid day, having just left the Taj Mahal (see Lindsay and Lilian's Sabbatical Journey). 75% of the Fort is still used by the Indian Army and is not open to visitors but it is still an amazing place. It was here that Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal, was imprisoned by his son, Aurangzeb. From this prison room he could look across at the magnificent Mausoleum he had built for his favourite wife, Mumtaz.

The fort was surrounded by two moats, a wet moat, filled with water, crocodiles and alligators, an a dry moat filled with lions and tigers and other wild animals, so sneaking into the fort, undetected, must have been a tricky business! The drawbridge was raised and lowered by two elephants pulling on chains.

Once inside you are faced with a long steep hill with a high wall on each side. Huge boulders were rolled down this hill, (Indianna Jones style!) at advancing armies. Lots of other neat tricks lay in store if you avoided the drowning, the crocodiles, the man eating tigers and the boulder crushing!

However once inside you found yourself not in a utilitarian military fort of the Carrickfergus Castle variety, but a luxurious palace of red sandstone and white marble inlaid with gold and semi precious stones. There was a large indoor market which only the women could attend, and accommodation for the King's 300 wives, concubines etc! (How could you ever decorate a palace with 300 wives all putting in their tuppence worth!)

This is a picture of Lilian and me sitting on the bench on which the King used to sit to converse with his Prime Minister. It is cracked because during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 a British cannonball ricocheted off it and punched a hole in a nearby marble panel! Typical! If Brits abroad aren't writing graffiti on walls they're shooting cannonballs through them!

On Friday, after a tour of Mount Carmel Christian School, (see the other blog) we were allocated a driver and a car for the day! (When you travel with me you do it in style!).

The first place we went to was a special market which artisans from Kashmir and beyond travel to and sell their wares! All sorts of rugs, shawls carvings and other stuff up for sale and everybody determined to sell you something! Lilian is a great haggler and was in her element!

Next stop was Qutub Minar built in 1199, which was around about the same time as Carrickfergus Castle and at 238 ft high is the tallest brick minaret in the world. Spent some time wandering around these ancient walls and buildings.

Went from there and visited the home of Indira Ghandi and her son Rajiv, two former prime ministers of India. Both were assassinated, Indira, shot by her own bodyguards at her front door in 1984 and Rajiv blown up by a suicide bomber in 1991. It was a beautiful home and seemed far too peaceful a setting to have known so much tragedy. This photograph shows the rippled glass pathway, representing a flowing river, from the front of her house where Indira Ghandi was shot. The clear sheet of glass marks the spot where she fell.

Our driver also took us to Nehru's house, ( he was India's first Prime Minister after Independence) India Gate, (a war memorial) and many other parts of New Delhi, which is beautifully laid out with wide boulevards and so on.

Saw my first snake charmer who wanted 300 rupees from me for taking his picture! I gave him 2!

Got back home to the Williams' house, had some supper and went to bed. Mr Williams didn't join us as he had a 7.30 pm prayer meeting. I was about to offer to join him until I was told the meeting lasted until 3.00am. I had to be up at 4.45am to catch the train to Agra!

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!

After our visit to the National Park on Saturday we went out for a meal in a restaurant called, "The Only Place". It's essentially a steakhouse, not that common in Bangalore, the cow being a sacred animal to Hindus. Vegetarianism is the big thing here, but I've been a carnivore all my life and I'm unlikely to change now, especially at these prices! A Chateaubriand with all the trimmings for 300 rupees! (£3.75!) I had a beautifully done medium-rare steak, the first in many months, but maybe not the last before I leave India!

Though I happen to be in Bangalore right now, my spies are everywhere! Here is a photo of Ireland's 24 - 20 defeat of Italy at Ravenhill on Friday Night. With O'Driscoll injured, I half expected a phone call, but I suppose they didn't feel it was worthwhile bringing me all the way from India just to play against Italy! But without the ref we wouldn't have made it. I hope he's not planning his holidays in Italy this year!

You can buy nearly anything here straight off the street. The vegetable man and ice cream man, (to name but two) come to your door and the rest are on every street corner. (Note the bell on the ice cream man's cart! Real Mr Whippy stuff!)

You can also buy "The Bourne Ultimatum" on DVD here for 50R (60p)! I'm not sure whether the film has been released yet in the UK but every street DVD seller is selling it!

Was visiting another part of Bangalore today speaking to some staff at a Christan organisation in an area of the city known as "Richardstown!" This was the sign outside the park. Taken up on to the roof of a tall building and shown some great rooftop views of a part of the city I hadn't seen before!

BANGALORE TRAFFIC

One of my regular stops every day has become the "Coffee Day" Cafe on what is called the CMH Road, (The full name is too long!) Their slogan is, "A lot can happen over a cup of coffee". A lot can happen over a cup of coffee here because it moves at India speed and there's nothing "express" about their espresso! I usually sit outside in a covered terrace and on the street outside and watch life pass me by. From "Elecrical engineers" climbing telegraph poles in their bare feet to fix the supply to camel drivers and ox carts and a family on a scooter, "all human life is there!"

In the little booth facing the coffee shop a lady sells sweets, single cigarettes and tiny cups of tea to local men. (The tea comes in the sort of little plastic cup that you sometimes get with a bottle of medicine to measure out the dose!) It's also at a cross roads which always makes for drama with Bangalore traffic. Most days I'm there I see a minor "bump in traffic" accident and a great hullabaloo for five minutes which everybody joins in on.


Today when I arrived a tight rope walker had set up her equipment and for 15 minutes entertained us all with an amazing display. Not only walking, but then walking with a lid on one foot which she deftly lifted off and on the rope with every step. Then she walked across with her feet inside a cycle wheel and finally went across kneeling on a lid and pushing herself forward with her toes! She managed to collect a few Rupees from the onlookers, before the police arrived and moved her on! I've included some pictures of what is happening outside while I'm waiting for my coffee. I'm reading a copy of "Kim" by Rudyard Kipling during my time in India. The young lady told me that was her name. When I pointed out to her that her name badge didn't say that, she told me that "Kim" was her pet name. She is a real pet, no doubt about it.

Passed a booth at the side of the road selling engraved plastic signs. The owner had three samples of his work on display, "NO SMOKING" "WELCOME" & "ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY"! I suspect the last one isn't a big seller!

Bought a bag of coffee on the way home. 18 rupees. There are 80 rupees to £1. So it must be good stuff! I'll let you know!

Saturday is our day off school and so Dean, Lilian and I took an autorickshaw into the city centre centre to what is known as MG Road. (nothing to do with the sports car. MG stands for Mahatma Gandhi.)
Dean loves riding in rickshaws just for the adrenalin rush! They are crazy drivers. We stopped at a large emporium in which there were all sorts of locally produced handicrafts and carvings. Some amazing stuff! Being India of course shopping has to be a bit complicated so having made your purchases the sales girl takes them back off you and gives you a receipt in duplicate for each item you've bought. You then go downstairs and join a queue at a hatch where you hand one copy of the receipt to the guy there and pay him. You then join another queue at another hatch across the hallway and hand the other copy of the receipt to a guy there. His job is to put your goods in a bag and hand it to you. But of course your goods haven't arrived from upstairs yet, so you have to wait! These are the same goods you had in your hand twenty minutes ago! Eventually they arrive. You get your stuff and the transaction is completed.
We went for a snack and then on our way to a bookshop we bumped into the four Americans who were also staying with us at Prem and Rita's house and working in the school (what are the chances in a city of 7 million people!). Really impressed with the bookshop, like Waterstones except that the books are very cheap.

Eventually made our way home.

Went out and lay down in the park and read for a while.

We all went out for a meal that night to a beautiful Indian restaurant. Although you can't see it in the photograph, the cucumber in the centre of this dish has a candle glowing inside it like a little nightlite!Incidentally the bill for 9 of us was probably about £20! Can't get over these prices, and I'm putting on weight!