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There is so much segregation around us. Gender, age, color, caste, race, religion, language, income, salary… there are so many silos, slots and diversification. There is no reason to embrace diversity, if you didn’t slot people into categories.

When people feel the need to adorn a building or a compound with an “Arbeit Macht Frei,” a “Biggest Little City in the World,” or “The Happiest Place on Earth,” it’s a sign of insecurity, a contrived excuse for taking up our finite space and time. Ever been to Reno, Nevada? It’s the Shittiest Little City in the World, and if Disneyland was indeed the Happiest Place on Earth, you’d either keep it a secret or the price of admission would be free and not equivalent to the yearly per capita income of a small sub-Saharan African nation like Detroit.

The Sellout, Paul Beatty

I absolutely loved this book (The Sellout by Paul Beatty). Although it talks about segregation in a black community, just switch the stereotypes and it hits right home. What does all this have to do with what is in the pictures? This is a view from a very Hindu Seetha Temple in Sri Lanka. It is a relatively new structure. We were four of us visiting and I was the only practicing Hindu in the lot. But had we been picky, we would’ve missed out on this breathtaking sunset!

My greatest blessing and gratitude, from this very non-descript episode is this: I am lucky to live in a world where live and let live freely, despite whatever negativity surrounds me. I have an opinion and I have a voice that is heard, and thus it is my responsibility to choose my words and thoughts wisely.