For centuries, the written word has undergone an inexplicable process of evolution, leaving great works such as the metaphysical poetry of John Donne, the innumerable sonnets of William Shakespeare, the frequently quoted work of Dante Alighieri ‘The Divine Comedy’, Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, The Iliad by Homer, the historic novels of ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ and ‘Great Expectations’ by Charles Dickens and the literary classics of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. For the longest time, world literature remained extremely euro-centric but the 21st century has made abundant progress in this regard and recognised works by authors such as Salman Rushdie and Shyam Selvadurai, writers from the Indian sub-continent, the Middle East, and South East Asia. Given this …

For 650, 000 years, the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere remained below a comfortable three hundred parts per million yet in the last fifty years alone, this number has increased up to three hundred and eighty parts per million. Other compelling evidence which are tell-tale signs of climate change include the rise of sea levels by a stunning seventeen centimetres, a significant increase in global temperature, warming of ocean waters, ice coverage in Greenland and Antarctica reducing drastically, glacial retreats being recorded across the world etc. The globe is now experiencing extreme climatic weather patterns in the form of tropical storms, extreme rainstorms and increased rainfall while other parts of the world suffer from a drastic lack of water. Such phenomenon supported by scientific …

A fascinating festival welcoming the New Year, the Water Splashing Festival is a much looked forward to event amongst the Chinese.  Anantara Xishuangbanna Resort & Spa is a preferred hotel in Yunnan among those who flock to the city in time to witness the festivities as this hotel Yunnan has to offer is placed ideally in the middle of all the happenings so as to not miss anything. The water-splashing Festival is considered to be the most important festival of all by the Dai ethnic community. Held during the sixth month of the Dai calendar, the festival falls mid-April and is also known as the Festuival for Bathing the Buddha. In the Dai language, the festival is also known as “Shanghan”, “Jingbimai” or “Hounan” and lasts for three days …

For all Sinhalese and Hindus, April is all about festivity. From the end of March even the environment seems to feel this heart-warming change. The trees look much greener with flowers blossoming covering up every inch making it look like Mother Nature’s decorations done specially for the Sinhala and Tamil New Year. To add to this beautiful site, the sound of the cuckoo bird can be heard as the background music throughout this special time. While nature gets ready to celebrate this festival in its own way, the people in Sri Lanka too start adding their contribution to enhance the excitement. Everything is done according to an auspicious time, so when the time gets closer the astrologers in the country get together to give the …

2014 looks like a very busy year for the city of Dubai with many exciting events such as the Design Days Dubai, Middle East Film and Comic Con and the Airport Show taking the centre stage during this period. All of these events are organized in order to make plans, enhance productivity, maximize utilization of resources, reduce living cost and to increase the quality of life of the citizens of Dubai and Middle East as a whole. The Airport Show 2014 is a major airport and aviation based exhibition which sets the stage for businessmen and business related parties to engage in B2B sales pertaining to airport related products and services. The 2014 Airport Show will take place from the 11-13 May 2014 at the …

Running parallel alongside the Airport Show 2014 which is to be held in Dubai from 11-13 May 2014, the authorities have also organized a Travel Catering Expo to take place at the Dubai Exhibition Centre, formerly known as Dubai World Trade Centre; same dates, same venue, two different experiences. With an estimation of over 400 million air passengers to Dubai by 2020, there is certainly much planning and preparation to do in order to provide superlative customer services, care and attention in all areas related to air travel and hospitality. A main feature of a world class airline together with unparalleled customer service would be the food and beverages served on air. We all would love to have a taste of a home cooked meal, …