An arranged marriage to my rescue?

‘Like Christmas cake that is fresh up until the 25th but with each succeeding day becomes less appetizing and edible, women too lose their marital appeal as they pass the mid twenties mark’. You can’t argue with this old Japanese…

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Favourite picnic spots in Sydney

Many people who live in Sydney have come from near and far, lured by the lifestyle, the weather, the beaches, job opportunities, or an Australian partner. Others have no choice but to leave their home countries for reasons we can’t possibly…

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A Nepali meaning of family: A source of identity and existence

“Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in…” What a beautiful poem Robert Frost has written. When I read this poem, ‘home’, to me, means ‘family’, and I wonder if Frost…

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(S)mothering to the core

You know what I don’t understand? Overprotective parents. No no, hear me out. Here’s a typical scenario when you are out with your friends (If you are a Sri Lankan girl living with your parents). Phone rings. “hello?” “Putha*, where…

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Family tradition, from Hong Kong to Sydney

I thank my lucky stars that I was born into a large family. Count seven children on my mother’s side and six on my father’s – that’s a whole lotta uncles and aunties. Throw their offspring and their offspring’s offspring…

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It’s not death, but passing away from this birth to the next

There are two occasions where I get the chance to meet up with my entire extended family: Weddings and funerals. More recently, as economic constraints have taken their toll on the overly flamboyant Sri Lankan weddings, invitations lists have become…

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Thingyan spirit

In Myanmar (or Burma, as it was once known before), March is the time when summer steps in, and summer holidays start. Like in many other countries, summer holidays are the time when families carry out their plans for summer…

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