Words and I

I waited for a taxi outside a railway station this morning. I stood on the narrow pavement which divides the street for busway and the street for other vehicles. A friend came along with me, and with some other people, we stood and waited.

The taxis were full, so we waited a bit. Not far from us, there were two policemen standing. They were doing their job, making sure the traffic was fine, that’s what I thought. Then an empty taxi came, we jumped in quickly.

Suddenly, one of the policeman was in front of our taxi and asked the driver to step aside. What did we do wrong? Well, it turned out that the taxi wasn’t supposed to stop where we were standing. What? We didn’t know we weren’t allowed to stop a taxi there. Both the policemen knew all along that we had been waiting there for a taxi. Why didn’t they tell us in the first place? WHY???

We were both so upset, and pitied the taxi driver. He had to pay some money for the fine because he couldn’t stand the complicated bureaucracy. We all knew that the money would go right into those policemen’s pocket.

I know there are about trillions of stories like this in my country. The corrupted officers in every walk of life. I thought as the country was getting older, the people would be getting wiser, at least people from my generation or younger generation.

But… corruption is in our blood already.

I just read that Paris will launch bike rental stations soon. The city will have 1,400 stations by January 2008 with over than 10,000 bikes! This project means freedom, freedom from too many cars and carbon fumes.

When will Jakarta be like Paris? I would love to bike to work. On the street I often meet one or two bikers. But then I look around, the street is full of vehicles and so polluted and… less trees. Is it worth it to bike there, inhaling carbon fumes and ruining your lungs?  

Ugggghhhhh… I wish I could get away from here now!

I have been eagerly checking the job vacancies on Internet lately, out of curiosity at first, wondering what’s in store for me, if any. I found one or two vacancies which seems adequate to my working experience and education. Will I love the job? I hear myself asking the question over and over.

"Will I love the job?"

Is it so impolite or even rude to ask such question when so many people are unemployed and that it’s such a bless that ones can have a job at all? But the question is very important. It’s what having a job is all about, to love it because it will be a part of our life.

Mmm… I suppose I should create my own job… as soon as possible. The thing is… what kind of job will it be? Sigh….

:D

I love the fact that more events are held to improve our natural environment in my country recently. Events such as planting 1 million trees, cleaning up a mountain, saving Bali mynah bird, or Jakarta’s blue sky are all worthy. But sadly, I don’t know if these events are being followed up or only a one-day celebration. The truth is, I rarely hear a significant change or improvement in our natural environment.  

I read an invitation to an event in the newspaper, an organization is planning to plant mangrove trees along the coast of North Jakarta. It’s really wonderful. Being advertized in a big newspaper means more people would likely join the event. I just hope these people won’t litter too much. Littering? Yes, it’s our culture, sad to say. I’m just imagining that people would flock to the coast, the weather would be so hot, people would be thirsty, and they would bring glasses of water and some snacks. I bet there would be no garbage bins out there. There would always be people who throw the plastic glass, tissue, etc., just anywhere. I hope I’m just imagining it all.

About two years a go I heard about Jakarta’s Blue Sky. It’s a program to reduce air pollution in Jakarta. One of its agendas was to ban vehicles with black and thick exhaust smoke. If we were on the street and spotted a vehicle with very bad exhaust smoke, we were supposed to send a short message to an organization who cared about the clean air, informing them the kind of vehicles we saw and its plate number. For a month or two I was so eager to send them SMS, because I saw many vehicles on the streets, mainly buses and trucks, with very bad exhaust smoke. But then their number was unavailable, I couldn’t short message them anymore. Now, I still can see buses, trucks, cars, and motorcycles with bad thick black smoke coming out of their exhaust pipe running around the streets PROUDLY. I have to believe my eyes, do I?

I just wish more similar events are held and being followed all the time. I wish people could start loving their own natural environment, AT LEAST. Everything has to be started from ourselves.  

Everyone had been so kind to me yesterday. They let me smell and inhale cigarette’s smoke for FREE, no payment charged. Such a nice deed! Do you know how much a pack of cigarette is? I don’t. They must be so expensive… or cheap?

Yesterday, I took a public transportation to the station and the driver was ever so kind. He filled the whole car with his cigarette’s smoke, so all the passengers could smell it freely. I opened the window so wide, but a teenage girl closed it again, so afraid that the wind would damage her hair. I argued, and we decided to open it a little. I felt like a fish in a drying river, gasping for some fresh air. 

Then I queued at the station’s ticket booth only to find that the next non-smoking express train was not available until the next hour. What?? I just couldn’t wait that long, not where everyone was too kind: they smoked everywhere to let everyone smoke, too. How would I repay for their kindness??

Luckily, an empty economy train was on the way. I knew the risk, but I needed to leave soon. I chose a seat near an opened door. Yes, the doors are always open even when the train is speeding like a million kilometers away! Unluckily, some men were sitting on the door, smoking comfortably! The wind mixed with the smoke was blowing to my face. Phew! I didn’t know there were so many kind men in the world. I left to find a ‘comfortable’ place.

I found a seat near an opened window. Not bad, I thought. But not for long. A man in his fifties sat down next to me and started to smoke a cigarette. Oh, God, this is really my day, I thought. So I stood up and looked for another empty seat with a ’safe’ surrounding. I couldn’t. People smoked everywhere. So I chose to stand up for the whole journey, once in a while popping out my head to the nearest window, breathing for some fresh air.

From the station, I took a taxi to work. I was so glad it was my yoga day in the evening. If it’s the Korean course’s day, I would have been DOWN and FAINTED (hahaha!)… even though my course’s friends are so kind.  Well, the Korean thing is another story.