January 13, 2024

To Fully Understand

To be honest, I think I was half asleep the whole day. However, the few moments that I was truly awake for was at the small-scale jaggery factory where a humble group of workers crafted some of the tastiest sugary treats I’ve ever had. Jaggery, a concentrated product of cane juice, represented the source-to-product processing of goods found in abundance here. When talking to the factory owner’s daughter, she told us about how she plans on taking over the business when she grows up. I found this somewhat surprising as the silk factory owner said his children were not planning on taking over his family business, meaning this generational knowledge would die with him. Amongst today’s generation I feel that it is common to see small business owners’ kids not want to take over the generational practices they grew up with. This is valid as socio-economic mobility is usually found within different sectors of work; however it is admirable seeing the youth take pride in the deep-rooted mastery their predecessors have sustained over generations.

Continuing on with the day, we sat around discussing yet another book Julian made us read. Even though I somewhat dread these Socratic seminar-esc sessions, I found the insights today further build upon the context of the land I sit on and remind me of how separated I am from the millions of people around me right now. More specifically, when Bhargavi mentioned the Ramayana and Mahabharata, two of the main Hindu epics that contain dense amalgamations of stories, as the foundational knowledge many kids grow up reading and hearing, I realized that I might never be able to fully understand another person to the extent I thought I could here. Although I understand growing up in a religious protestant household, it’s difficult to visualize myself being the same person if I grew up in a deeply Hindu, Islamic, or Buddhist household. The immense amount of rich historical and religious knowledge that many people here have ingrained in themselves since childhood is something I can’t fathom knowing myself but respect coming from a someone who used to do anything in her power to reject tradition.

Hinduism for example has been around since 2000 BCE, making it the oldest known religion in the world with concepts that western religious theory doesn’t even have words to clearly define. Of course I can’t make up for the thousand years of knowledge that the people here live and breathe in, but I do know that we all want the best for ourselves. Why else do we latch on to these Gods if not for the hope that maybe the next day will be better than today? To think I can contribute to making someone else’s day a little better here honestly seems kind of hard at this point, but Julian told us anything is possible with a growth mindset. So even though I might not know the language, or have endless stories of multiple deities memorized, or know the entire history of India despite my endless Wikipedia reading, I can, at the very least, use what I do know to help make someone’s tomorrow better than today.

By Taekyung

The making of jaggery