Reflections - 23rd August 2026
thoughts so far
The words written so far are the result of a struggle, a peaceful, non-violent struggle, that has spanned four decades and stretched from South-East Asia to India to North America. These words have been written by hand, ruler and eraser nearby. Dark-skinned hands at the ends of a dark-skinned immigrant body's arms. A dark-skinned body surrounded by, submerged and drowned by, a sea of mediocre white, fair-skinned, and so-called "upper" caste bodies.
Does the mind of a fly have a color?
Does the mind of an ant have a color?
Does the mind of a horse, a cow, or an elephant have a color?
Does the mind of a crow, a sparrow, or a parrot have a color?
I have yet to experience such a "mind-color" from any of the human and non-human sentient beings that I have observed so far. Perhaps such a thing does indeed exit.
The mind within this dark-skinned immigrant body has never perceived a color for itself. This mind is neither fair-colored nor dark-colored. This mind is a non-material entity, it neither has nor does not have a color. The color of the skin of the body is not the color of the mind, nor is it a gauge which measures the quality of the mind.
It has taken 4 decades to write and share this short set of words.
It has taken 4 decades to write and share this short set of words because the body, this temporarily existent body, connected to the mind, this colorless & shapeless mind, collecting these thoughts, memories, feelings, and emotions into words has been, and continues to be, categorized as an inferior by way of race, color, class, and caste.
It has taken 4 decades to write and share this short set of words and they feel sorely insufficient, thoroughly trivial, and saddeningly superficial.
I suppose it will always feel this way as someone born into a Savarna household attempting to annihilate caste instead of someone expected to live and die under the crushing burden of caste while watching their parents, siblings, and children all get reduced to nearly nothing with the knowledge that it has been this way for thousands of years and will be for thousands more unless Savarnas commit to the cessation of privilege and the development of individual & collective humanity.
The state of the document at the time of writing has been archived here.