I heard on the radio this morning, the first of May, that there would be a huge demonstration in Jakarta today. There would be over a hundred thousands workers flocking from all over the cities to Jakarta. Today was International Labor Day.
Great! I was already late for my last express train to Tanah Abang Station. There had to be heavy heavy traffic jams all over the city and it would be such a foolish thing to do to take a bus from my home, Depok. I had to take a train somehow. Not an express train with its air conditioning, clean, and unpacked car, but trains without those I mention. Sigh.
So there I was, waiting patiently at the station, hoping the next train arriving would be empty. I think I have to redefine what the meaning of ‘empty’ is here. Empty means you have enough space just to stand among other passengers, and if you’re lucky, you can read a paper or a book quietly. Well, yes, I was ‘lucky’ that day.
I could barely enter the train’s door because passengers were already ‘hanging’ at the door. But I pushed myself through, thinking there would be empty space inside. With my heavy rucksack I carried on the front, I could easily push through and the result was… a mother scolded me for trying to push her aside with my rucksack. Oh, okay, I moved to another side. Ha, it was empty all right.
But then I stumbled into a sack on the floor. It was a big sack, lying there hopelessly. I couldn’t get any further inside, so I stood there with other passengers only inches away from me. The sack turned out to be my lucky escape. I stood facing the sack, that’s why there was still a space in front of me because there’s no way you could stepped in the sack, right? Unless you wanted the sack’s owner to punch you, of course.
I can’t tell you how hot and stuffy in there but I could read nicely! I brought The Alchemist and read it undisturbed while I tried to keep my balance. Everyone is fighting each day… for their family, their faith, their country, even their life! How could I not fight also for reading the novel all the way, I tried to philosophize.
After fighting for…er…my life, I finally made myself get out of the train at my destination, just in time! There were cases when some passengers could not get off at their destination because it’s difficult for them to reach for the train’s door and when they actually reached it, the train has already moved. Still hard to imagine? Just think of a tin of sardines and you are one of the sardines. There you go.
In sweat and thirst, I sat on the Cawang station’s bench. I had to wait for another train to Tanah Abang because the train I just took was heading to Kota. When the train arrived, it was really empty. Really empty means really empty. You get a seat!
The train was dirty… I have been thinking why the economy trains to Tanah Abang are mostly so dirty, compared with the same trains to Gambir and Kota. I haven’t come up with a good answer yet. Anyway, this train was full of entertainment. First, a young child and her elder sister were singing endlessly with a karaoke set carried on the elder’s shoulder. Then came a group of band consisted of two guitarists and a drummer, all of them being the vocalists.
The last one was a topeng monyet family; they were a little boy, his brothers, and a hopeless monkey. Topeng monyet is the show of the monkey in chain and the monkey tries some acts with the beat of a drum in the background so that people can laugh. Unfortunately this time, the monkey didn’t make the passengers laugh, instead some elderly women screamed as the monkey tried to grab their handbags and bracelets. The little boy, I guess, was not that strong to handle that little but strong monkey. What a commotion!
It was almost 11 am when I get off at Tanah Abang station. It’s already late for work so I tried to find a taxi. There’s no taxi after a while and I had to walk quite a long way in the hot sunshine. It was almost 11.30 when I got to office. According to the taxi driver, the streets had been rather empty than usual because of the demonstration. Oh, great!
