On a warm night in April 2004, seated on a low chair on my balcony in the compound in Es Showak, eastern Sudan, my very precious hand-me-down silver MAC on my lap, staring up at the seemingly endless Sub-Saharan African sky, I started to write. What started as notes to myself and over time became long emails to friends and family first in Sudan and later Liberia, resulted in this, my first book. Released on 18 December 2008, the book is a personal memoir - reflections on the two and a half years I spent working and living in the two countries - and the impact this had on my life and the way I viewed the world. Being a 'brown' woman in Sudan was interesting, if at times challenging, while in Liberia, I was as fascinated with the locals as they were taken with my straight black (in those days long) hair. The book will be in stores in India within the week and soon after on amazon.  Merry X'Mas - fill up those stockings!