Jakarta : Came down to Jakarta, Indonesia, to be with my son Shashank, daughter-in-law Arsh and grand daughter Mehar for a month. Time to enjoy local cuisine and explore the nation whose moto is ‘unity in diversity’. It officially has 700 languages and 1300 ethnic groups. Muslims are 86.70 per cent of the population, Christians 10.72, Hindus 1.74 and Buddhists 0.77.
Indonesia consists of over 17,000 islands, including Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and Papua. It is the world’s largest island country and the 14th-largest country by area. With population over 270 million people, it is the world’s fourth-most populous country and the most populous Muslim-majority nation.
Jakarta is in Java, the world’s most populous island, and home to more than half of the country’s population.
Being an Indian I was comparing Java island with two Indian landmark river islands—the world’s largest river island, Majuli, and the world’s smallest inhabited river islet, Umananda/ Peacock island — both in Assam and both an integral part of the Brahmaputra riverine system. However, the comparison was unwarranted since Java is between the Indian and Pacific oceans and just huge.
Indonesia today is the 17th largest economy in the world by nominal GDP and the 7th largest in terms of GDP (PPP).
Like Indonesia we too as a nation profess unity in diversity. Reached with certain preset notions only to discard and revise each one of them after arrival. No doubt arm chair perspectives are the undoing of mankind. They turn us into retards.
Shock number 1: Indonesia is modern and welcomes you with open arms. Men and women managing Visa on arrival and immigration greet you with a pleasant welcoming smile, unlike Indian counterparts who look at every arrival and departure with stiff facial muscles and a constipated scowl, like a prison hangman ready with a rope to ‘hang you by the neck till you are dead’ expression.
Shock number 2: It is a nation of soft spoken and smiling people who always greet you with a big wide smile. People are calm and easy going. Not loud like us North Indians, especially the Delhi and NCR types.
Shock number 3: Jakarta is an island of traffic jams. To the one coming from Delhi, observing people strictly sticking to lane driving is a strange site.
Shock number 4: Even after nearly a week I am yet to hear a car or bike horn, though so far I have spent more than 12 hours in traffic jams in the city as well as on highways.
Shock number 5: It is a nation of SUVs and MUVs. Small cars are a rare sight.
Shock number 6: Petrol prices in Indonesia took me back to the year 2006 in India when petrol was priced at Rs 45 a litre. A golden era in India it was.
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