And yet another evening in Jakarta . Back in India wen people used to say that Indonesian leave thier unfinished cups of KOPI and rush for time and attendence machine at 5 p.m. sharp... I used to laugh at this exaggeration. But not any more... I can see that phenomenon happening right in front of my eyes... EVERYDAY!!
And then am ready to rush home with my mind calculating the number of chappatis that i have to roll for my birdies, I witness the famous Indonesian torrents. And when it rains in Indonesia, It does rain.. And what more the traffic woes could put Amchi Mumbai to shame. In Mumbai atleast "Bhaiyaa left se aage lo naa"  "arre right se cut maar lo"..."Tum logo ko toh bus ka pichwada choomne mein maza aata hai"....and the list goes on. But the Blue Bird Taxi's in Jakarta area tad too spohisticated for Mumbaikar with ohhh  soooo Bad Jakarta traffice... Here "Mas, Cepat" just doesnt seem to have an effect on the  "damai" loving indonesians.
The FM had predicted heavy traffic and my nest being just 20 mins taxi drive from my office, I braved out.
Hopping into the first blue bird that halted ... I spoke my destination in fluent Bahasa...
And from there my journey started.... With twist, swivels and turns and past 45 minutes I managed to reach the first traffic light... My taxi driver giving me his toothsy smile and friendly advise told me "Miss U take Ojak, Machet.... Empat Jam pada Kemayoran"  (Miss.. u hire a scooter, it will take 4 hours to reach Kemayoran due to traffic). I pretended to be confident and said  "Nga apapa Maas" (no problem Bro).
My confidence was soon busted by the taxi driver's agression when he said " Miss Aku Kaal finisss.... no duty... U take Ojak) I was shocked coz he was asking me to get down in the middle of the road which had more vehicle per square meter than stones... And Imagine, poor me wid no sense of road in absolutely foreign land. And that too just coz his shift was over.
 I plead with him... and my pleading (a phone call to a local colleague who gives him earful) makes his inbuilt GPRS find a faster route (taking just 1 hour). Me,  all the while counting my Rosary beads check my phone GPRS system to ensure we are on the correct route.... And Finally after good 45 minutes I see my taxi whizz past those familiar twists and turns and Lo... Am almost home.
Somewhere I realise that he must be hungry and offer him a packet of "TIM TAM", and Lo... that immiediatly brings a smile on his  grumpy face... says a shy "No La"... but gives me a look of gratitude...
Haa... so much for the small deeds.
But in whatever adventure I had... I never felt threatened by a masculine force... never for once did I feel insecure...  guess this is one of the safest city, where I can leave  my kids with a maid, who understand  "Sidikit Ingris" but still take good care of my birdies while am away...