Those of you who have read earlier posts will remember that the cover photographs for A Blonde Bengali Wife were taken by Jacqui Dunbar, friend and photographer (and fabulous on both counts!)  In 2008, Jacqui and  I laughed (mostly at our own incompetence) our way around Bangladesh, meeting up with my old friends and making so many new ones en route.  From St Martin's Island, at the very southern tip of the Bay of Bengal - where a tropical storm meant we were hours away from being uplifted by the Bangladeshi Navy - to remote villages in Sylhet unreachable by road, we travelled.  It's a story in itself, full of extraordinary experiences, but suffice it to say that when Jacqui is famous and invited on Celebrities in the Jungle (or similar), she'll have no problem swallowing the weirdest delicacies...Switch over to Jaqui's blog http://jacquidunbar.wordpress.com/ to get a taste of one of the journeys we...

Once upon a time there were three little Hindu girls called Shahti, Khaleda and Aasia.  They all lived and played happily together in Bhola's Garden.  Each of them was deaf but that didn't matter at all because they learned sign language and were bright and clever and they could dance to the rhythm of a drum.  As they grew older, Shahti, Khaleda and Aasia stayed at school for their lessons and they also all learned to cook and to sew.  The time came when Khaleda went away to technical school and Aasia went home to live with her family but Shahti stayed on in the boundary and helped to look after the other children.  She grew into a beautiful and kind young woman.  One day, Deepok, one of the workers there and also a good Hindu, asked Ali if he could marry Shahti.  It was a good match but Shahti wasn't sure, Deepok was so much older...

One of the continuing challenges of Bhola's Children is how best to educate the minority of blind children we have, and how they are best encouraged to live independently.  It's a great achievement that through working with Rishilpi, a Bangladeshi charity, two of the older blind girls, Rozina and Supia, who have lived in the boundary since they were small children have a really life-changing opportunity.  Dinah Wiener, Chief Trustee writes:Last November we talked with Ali of the possibility of the two blind girls, Rozina and Supia, to go to Rishilpi for a while to learn and train to become physiotherapists. In Rishilpi there is a very good and professional physiotherapist and teacher that is blind. He is extremely good; everyday there are over 40 children that come with mothers to have physiotherapy and learn what to do at home.  It's now happening!  It will be a wonderful opportunity for them to...

A very happy new year to everyone - and may it bring you happiness and good health.  So many of my recent new year 'celebrations' have been spent on a plane somewhere between the UK or Ireland and Bangladesh, that it's quite strange (and very cold) to be in Scotland where the biggest trip out has been to the zoo to see the newly installed - sleeping - giant pandas!The resolutions flying around my head are all about being organised, writing a lot, finishing that novel and trying, trying, trying to be a good mother!!  In the end I suppose only the latter really matters, but it would be nice to feel in control of life again.Thanks to all of you who bought, recommended or forced copies of A Blonde Bengali Wife on your loved ones.  To answer the most commonly asked questions I've had about the state of my writing:1)...

One of the highlights for me of the Bangladesh trip was meeting again with Hasina and Mr Hoque.  These, some of you might remember, are the lovely, lovely family who adopted me (or rather I adopted them!) and without whom I don't think I would ever have developed such a permenant relationship with the country.This time, with some trepidation, I handed them a copy of A Blonde Bengali Wife, and said I hoped we would still be friends once they had read it!  By default, Hasina and Mr Hoque - his name is Nozmul but he'll always be Mr Hoque to me!) have starring roles in the book, and whilst I dearly love them and I hope I always wrote with affection, there is no getting away from the fact that they are real characters - in every sense of the word!Well, here's waiting on their reviews...Oh, and on a personal...