It is hard to miss the Taipei 101 building when one visits Taipei or any other tourism-related video about Taiwan. It is a marvelous building that took extreme dedication, meticulous planning, and as well as thousands of hours of manual labour. Like millions of Taiwanese and foreigners, I was in awe too when I first saw it in 2015 when I came to Taiwan as an exchange student. In this piece, I will share my own story of " How I built my own 101 accidentally? " I still can't believe how it happened, but yes, it involved a lot of people who were crucial in setting up or filling the blocks of concrete for the foundation of my "Accidental 101."
During my exchange period, I had a mixed experience of Taiwan, where I faced multiple rude comments about my skin colour, country, food, etc. I have been called "Black boy, your English is not good, your hospitals are not clean enough, etc." Such experiences made me angry at first towards such people, and I always had multiple thoughts such as "Which world are they living in? Even though I cannot understand India well by being born and brought up there, how come some people claim that they know it when they have only lived there for a week or a month?
Why did I start?
At the beginning of my PhD in September 2016, I again faced racial comments which agitated me thoroughly. It brought back those memories which I faced during my exchange period. But then, very soon, I was lucky enough to have this thought in my mind, "Hey Manu, you are only complaining, doing nothing. It is easy to criticize but hard to bring any change." The realization of "easy to criticize, but hard to bring any change" changed how I started to look at things. In my culture, we call schools and universities "temples of knowledge". In other words, schools are the place for teaching knowledge. I thought, why not reach out to the students in the educational institutions? They are the future of Taiwan, and they will help me speak to other students in Taiwanese schools. This could be the way for me to pass on the knowledge of India.
How did it start?
Luckily around the same time in September 2016, the Taiwan Experience Education Program (TEEP) started at NCCU. The TEEP program allowed foreigners to visit the partner schools of Taiwan to participate in some classes and experience to understand Taiwan's society and education closely. It was a fantastic opportunity for the students to interact with foreigners from different countries. I started doing this in September 2016, and my first visit was to Chengfu Elementary School.
I was nervous for sure in my first visit, but over the two years until 2018, I visited Chengfu thirty-two times until the TEEP program got closed in NCCU. Additionally, I also got the opportunity to visit other schools due to TEEP. I made a very close relationship with the students, teachers and the TEEP staff from NCCU as they all became a part of my life in Taiwan.
But I wanted to do more by going to schools, speaking about India, and letting the Taiwanese know India's basic things like the languages used, climate differences, dance, food, etc. Coming from a rural area, I would have been excited if a foreigner could have come to my school and talked about his country. The hunger to go to more schools and do more besides my PhD led me to ask around my friends, and through one friend, I came to know about a project called—Couchsurfers in Class, now it has been renamed into Culture Diving Taiwan. This project allowed me to go to their partner schools and talk to the Taiwanese students. In due course of time, I also came across other outstanding projects- The World in Your Classroom, and iEARN, which led me to visit multiple schools.
Over the time when I started going around schools, it also helped me take a break from my studies and go out of Taipei often and meet with several people from all walks of life. It made me learn multiple things that I could hardly imagine. It led me across Taiwan, including Penghu, Matsu, and Kinmen. It showed me the differences of Taiwan across counties and cities, the differences in languages, food, festivals, history etc., which I couldn't have gained to know had I not been going to schools.
As the teachers kept contacting me to come and visit their school/class, I tried to make the most use of it. Such as, when I went to Lugu, Nantou for school sharing, I asked the teacher if there was any other school interested in interacting with students. Such things helped me reach out to more schools around Taiwan.
My Impressions of Taiwanese Schools
I very much liked the fact that the students clean their schools and classrooms by themselves, there is a sleeping time during the break, and mostly they have plenty of opportunities from 3D printing to drone flying. Besides all the rosy pictures, I do see a few challenges.
Firstly, the students lack the motivation in asking questions to their teachers. I understand that they might be shy when facing strangers like me, but I have participated in the class as a silent observer multiple times, and it remains the same.
Secondly, the amount of time spent in school. Some schools get the students from 7am until 4-8pm, depending on the school. I personally believe a student also needs time to spend with family. By spending long hours in school, one gets less connected with family, and sometimes students feel lost and don't know whom to approach if they face any challenges. It is impressive that most schools now have "therapists" to address students' mental pressure, but nothing can win over family support and care.
Thirdly, some English teachers only emphasize that students pronounce at a native speaker level. I understand that they want to make the student sound better while speaking English, but in my opinion, one should focus on speaking clearly as opposed to one's pronunciation and accent. With Taiwan trying to become a bilingual country, it is necessary to accept that English has become an international language with multiple accents and types and is not limited to a few countries.
My "Accidental 101" journey
When I began to visit schools, I thought it would probably be one or two schools only. But slowly, I became addicted to it. The adrenaline rush I get while speaking to the students is something I will always cherish. One became two, fifty and when it reached 85, I thought to give it a push for 101, and now it has reached 101.
Usually, people collect Pokémon; I was accumulating schools I had the chance to interact with. Interacting with thousands of students also helped me understand India better. Sometimes, some questions push me to the edge of my thoughts and make me wonder, oh wow! I never thought of this in this way. I could not answer a few questions, which I humbly accepted and reached out to the students later when I found the answer. I am glad to also mention that some of the students I met in 2016 are now in top Ivy league universities abroad, and also some of them who joined NCCU have become good friends of mine.
During some visits, I also did face some rough comments from teachers and students. It would be a lie if I say I never felt angry or sad by those. But, I also push myself to ignore those comments, thinking my main goal is to show them the other side of the story, and if I get angry and respond to them, then the whole purpose of my going to school will get in vain. Such experiences taught me to have patience and empathy. It also helped me develop myself to be a better person and a teacher, which will be a boon to me as I have already started teaching in university.
Sometimes, some schools were far off places, I had to leave home from Muzha around 5.30am by bus, and sometimes I reached home around midnight or past it from schools.
Why 101? It also has a cultural meaning in India. While giving money on special occasions in India, such as weddings, etc., we give in odd numbers. The reason is, an odd number cannot be divided equally, and the love and support will keep continuing. I would definitely not be stopping at 101 schools. In fact, I will do my best to do as much as I can.
Last but not least, the 101 I accidentally built was not only my own work but also thanks to each one of the students who have ever listened to me, to the teachers and parents, who have painstakingly invited me, translated for me, fed me most of the time, and gave me a place to stay during my travels. Most importantly, I would like to thank those who have constantly supported me since the beginning of my "Accidental 101" journey.
*For the Chinese version please check: 印度留學生走訪全台 101 所學校：「和台灣人介紹印度，讓我成為更好的人」
執行編輯：林翊婷
核稿編輯：林欣蘋
