Despite their reputation for emotional restraint, Victorians indulged in complex and elaborate rituals surrounding death and mourning. No better example is the case of Leland Stanford Jr., the only son of Leland and Jane Stanford, who died at the tender age of 15 from typhoid fever while on a visit to Florence, Italy. The family’s [...]

“Being perfect artists and ingenuous poets, the Chinese have piously preserved the love and holy cult of flowers; one of the very rare and most ancient traditions which has survived their decadence. And since flowers had to be distinguished from each other, they have attributed graceful analogies to them, dreamy images, pure and passionate [...]

“Hello Mr Ibrahim. Hello Mrs Ibrahim. How are you today? I am going to the water park this weekend with my parents. It’s a long drive from Batu Gajah but I don’t mind the drive. It’s fun to be in a car on a nice bumpy red soil road and see it turn to asphalt [...]

The big city: the life that pulses through the highways promises limitless possibilities. The bright garish lights, the mechanical bleats on the streets, the dead soulless stares, the invisible waves from every direction, the constant change – yes, they quench the thirst of the ambitious. It simultaneously drains and refuels me. Enough, it is time [...]