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OUR board of directors would like to thank your reporter Shilpa Chandran for the marvellous article and coverage published last week about The Salad Boutique Bahrain.

The article was well written and touched our heart as a family.

We appreciate the valuable support you have provided to our family business, which we are all proud of.

This support will defiantly help to enhance the Salad Boutique Restaurant's success.

Thank you and best regards,

Doa'a Essa Abdul Wahab, managing director.

THE concept of family in the Arab world is generally not fully realised by Western cultures.

Our families are well extended and tight-knit. It is not two uncles and four cousins; it's more like 15 uncles and aunts, at least 80 first cousins, they all have at least four kids, and then there are in-laws ... and we love them too. You get the picture. (Oh, and I'm only talking about one side of the family).

Since Bahrain is so tiny, with a population just over a million (half of which are expats), we all know each other. I include our beloved expat population who have found a home in Bahrain as family.

Now, extending this scale at least a little, the entire GCC is linked by familial ties. I have cousins in Kuwait, Saudi, Oman, Qatar, and the UAE. (And they are not Bahrainis' who have just moved next door, they are all half-Bahraini, half-the-other).

It is safe to say, that all Bahrainis have ties in our neighbouring countries. See, we are not just neighbours, we are family.

Further to families in the Arab world, they are not just holiday destinations, or social obligations. When one gets hurt, we all feel their pain; when one hurts the other, we all interfere, and have a say ... so, when the GCC Peninsula Shield (PSF) comes into our country, how can it possibly be called an invasion?

Note the name of this force. It is the GCC Peninsula Shield. SHIELD being the key word here, not sword, not army, not gun, not tanks, not troops.

So dare I ask the question: 'What is a shield, and what does it do?' In lamens terms a shield is a broad piece of metal ... used to protect against blows and missiles. But my favourite definition is 'a person or thing providing protection'. Our shield is here to protect us.

Know that our shields are strategically placed in sensitive and strategic areas all around our beautiful kingdom to protect our national assets.

Know that I salute them, that we all salute them. Know that I raise my hand, I touch my heart and I thank you, our shield.

Fatima Al Saad, By email.

I WAS born in Bahrain and have spent most of my childhood and working life here. Although I have not been overly patriotic towards the island, there were a few things that always reminded me that this is, to a certain extent, home - the place where my father chose to raise his family.

Growing up, I have witnessed the island's skyline grow, tall structures sprouting into full-fledged business centres, receding shorelines welcoming more inhabitants and more business enterprises.

Amidst all this growth, however, there was one thing that never changed - the Pearl monument.

My earliest memory of the monument is being glued to the backseat window in my father's car, gawking at this huge structure that held the nation's legendary symbol - a pearl.

I vividly remember our Friday morning trips to the nearby Manama fish market with my father and my sister - which was one of the most exciting days in our month.

As odd as it may sound, as children we were thoroughly amused by the heavily-pungent fish market with hawkers shoving fresh fish into our faces and trying to entice us to buy them.

This would be always followed by taking a spin around the roundabout before heading home.

Each time we passed it, we would be in awe of the monument. At the time it was one of the tallest structures on the island.

Incidentally, I also remember my mother once exclaiming how beautiful it looked one spring when the roundabout was bursting in colour with little flowers at the base. She suggested at the time to my father that someday we must try and get a good photograph. It didn't happen. There is no picture and we will never have one now.

When it was demolished on March 18 I felt a kind of sadness that comes with realising that absolutely nothing in this world is permanent.

S. Anoop, Manama.

CONGRATULATIONS on a fantastic 'Bahrain's Back in Business' campaign. It's just what the economy is crying out for. The only things lacking in Bahrain at the moment are confidence ... and yes, those visitors from across the Causeway. I agree totally with the editor's observations in the Eating Out column last week... come back, all is forgiven ... even your lousy driving!

Ali, Bahrain.