What it is like living between two worlds

A few days ago, we left our breakfast midway to catch a glimpse of the fighter jets in formation. It was a spectacular sight. We knew it was part of practice drills for Double Ten National Day celebrations and reminded us of the Annual Republic day celebration in India.

While channel surfing, I came across a news debate about immigration laws, where an academic asked a fellow panelist: “Why should we be interested in your point of view when you don’t even belong here?” That got me thinking. Was our enthusiasm about the upcoming Double Ten celebrations unwarranted? Was this a case of the Indian proverb, “Begaani shadi mein abdullah diwaana,” or “someone getting overly excited or involved in something that has nothing to do with them”?

According to Psychology Today, “Over the last century, many seemingly different psychological theories have come to similar conclusions: that our identity and sense of self is not a singular thing but an amalgam of many, sometimes conflicting parts. Psychoanalyst Philip Bromberg called these self-states, coming from the perspective of dissociation. Carl Jung referred to these as archetypes.”

This theory becomes even more interesting when we consider multi-colonial cultures such as Taiwan and India, which have seen a lot of upheaval on the cultural, political and social front. Here, there can exist very different beliefs, ideologies and practices, but common lived experiences and events also become a factor to bond over, and promote empathy and understanding between cultures.

The world today, with its depleting resources, divided borders, feverish jingoism and resource power play, wants people to be neatly divided into those who belong and those who do not. Yet, there is something innately simple and innocent about the human spirit that is always fighting to break out of these confines, for the sake of joy, peace, discovery, empathy and curiosity.

It is the very thing that drives us to every corner of Taiwan any free weekend we can find: From the devilishly beautiful shores of Yehliu Geopark to the temples of Tainan; the endless verdant miles of Yangmingshan to the undulating ocean kissing the sands at Kenting. Whether it is the Lantern Festival or the Pudu feast during Ghost Month, the Dragon Boat Festival or the Mid-Autumn Festival, there is so much to absorb and experience if one can only shed the arrogance of geography and civilizations.

I might sound like a philosophical Indian guru, but sometimes, the most complicated things are childishly simple, if we allow ourselves to tune in to our basic nature.

Last weekend, we drove out to Dasi town. While walking off the beautifully lit up bridge, I walked into a Taiwanese flag by mistake, as it was hanging very low. I touched it to my forehead, bowed and smiled. It was my way of respecting another flag that stands for decades of strife and triumphs, and reminding myself that for now, I belong right here and that when I go back home, I will take a part of it with me. That does not deplete me in any way.

Richa S Mukherjee is a former journalist and an author based in Taiwan.