My Journey to Britain
One Man's Autobiographical Journey Through His Arrival and Subsequent Survival Over Four Decades in Britain
by
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The following day, after return from the first family holiday, was a Sunday. The day started in a slow pace. Around mid-day a long distance phone call came. My uncleA was on phone from Khulna. He was crying – and said that my Mother died the night before! I could not believe my ears, and was not able to stop tears rolling down. Uncle gave me a neighbours’ telephone number to ring to talk to my father. There was no direct dialling to Bangladesh. I booked a call, operator asked, if the call was urgent. I was crying and said, my mother has died. Operator did not waste time, said, ‘bereavement call’ and connected me then and there. The neighbour answered, I gave my name and said I was calling from England. He was expecting the call. He immediately sent for my father. We both cried on two ends of the phone…. He said, mother was saying evening prayer on her prayer-mat; as she went into ‘sijda’, touching her forehead on the floor, she did not get up – died in sijda. M , my cousin (she loved him very dearly) went to call her for evening meal and found her dead. My mother was a very brave and tough woman. She always encouraged me to study hard. In my school final year she bought me a second-hand bicycle and paid for my private coaching from her meagre savings. She told me, go to China, if you have to, to acquire knowledge. She gave me a warm goodbye with a smile on her face, on my way to England. Once, when we lived in a village in Khulna, Robbers knocked at our door in a dark night. Father and Uncle were not home yet. Only mother, unty and us, children. The Robbers were banging the door. My mother brought the gun out loaded the gun and shouted at the robbers, "go away, otherwise I’ll shoot you." She opened the window slightly and fired the gun in the air. She never knew how to fire a gun…. The Robbers ran away. My mother died at the time when I was struggling to survive in England, working 70 – 80 hours a week as a junior doctor, preparing for higher exams., providing for the family and suffering from the uncertainty of our existence in the UK. I did not have enough money to go to my mother’s funeral in Bangladesh. ''
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About the Book
The book is about the author's struggle and survival in a foreign country and establishes himself as a specialist clinician. Author has worked hard to raise the awareness of children and families' emotional and psychological needs and provide psychotherapeutic remedies along with medical remedies if required. The book covers how he developed services for child and family mental health sometimes from scratch. He was involved in obtaining ring-fenced funding from NHS for child adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) in the process of developing three services in the UK.
About the Author
Author is a retired consultant in child, adolescent, and family psychiatry. His qualifications are MBBS, DPM, FRC Psych. He came to the UK in early 1970s. He worked through the training in all specialties of psychiatry, including child adolescent and family psychiatry before taking a consultant post. He trained a number of junior doctors and his teaching was very popular in the UK and abroad. His journey through the process of learning and becoming a sensitive, competent, and effective clinician is unique. His expertise in legal reports in child and family matters earned respect from lawyers, barristers, and judges.