_Listen to podcast: _ [audio:lfdpc1.mp3] Transcript: While research suggests that people are connected to one another within six degrees of separation worldwide, one of the charms of a small island country like ours is that everyone on it seems to be connected within a degree or two at the most. Such closeness of relation in large cities or countries provides for happy coincedences, perhaps even serendipitous encounters. Yet in Bahrain finding out that for instance a certain stranger in a restaurant happens to be a friend of a friend does not call for celebration.