4 February 1948

Today is Sri Lankan independence day...59 years of freedom, with the last 27 odd, tainted by division and violence...celebrating with fellow Sri Lankans in Belgium today, reminded me how often domestic division can be heightened within a large diaspora community, but amongst a small one, those divisions can often become submerged under a greater sense of solidarity. It fascinates me how our personal identities can be so dynamic and fluid, particularly for immigrants and their families, graced as they are, with a rich cultural diversity around and a very part of them. How do we locate our identity, when it isn't threatened, but detached, and free to absorb and to simply exist unquestioned?