Jakarta, with population of 10,187,595 as of 2011. According to Wikipedia, the official metropolitan area, known as Jabodetabek (a name formed by combining the initial syllables of Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi), is the second largest in the world, yet the metropolis’s suburbs still continue beyond it with total population well over 28 million.
Aside from the over populated city, Jakarta is also famous for the horrible traffic. I live in Jakarta all my life and i know what it’s like to constantly haunting by the stress of getting stuck in traffic for hours.
Everything became so real when i did my internship back in 2011. I have to take TransJakarta or from home to workplace as i won’t and can’t drive. I have to travel an hour two work and sometimes two hours back. You know how crowded bus looks like right? right? WRONG!!!
As you can see, that’s how it looks like every single day in rush hour. That’s the reality of most of Jakartans have to face, including me. Well i have the option of taking a taxi, but….. sometime i don’t feel like getting stuck in a traffic. Traffic in Jakarta aren’t like any other traffic i ever see (not like i’ve been too many places).
You ever imagine getting stuck in this traffic?
Or like this,
For most people living in Jakarta, spending 2-4 hours on the road between home to work is nothing new. I spend up to one hour to wait for the bus and up to 1,5 hour until i got home. So i spend 3,5 hour going to work and going home every single day. The picture where’s people (more like tuna in the can) jammed packed inside the bus, i went through it most of the the week and the word jammed packed is totally different. Imagine people standing ear to ear, you can’t hold on to anything yet you won’t worry about falling on your ass. That’s what jammed packed means.
Can you imagine how much stressed that we felt living in Jakarta? Do we have a choice? We don’t. I live here, i work here there for it’s my everyday routine. I cried my eyes out several time after spending 2,5 hour from work. Just two days ago i waited ONE AND A HALF HOUR for a bus.
One thing that i realise, we can see people for who they are when they were tired. I don’t know if that make sense. When people are tired, they became ignorant, rude and unappreciative. Surprisingly there still good people out there. One that didn’t push you from the back and cut you in lines. I honestly didn’t care if people cut in line. I’m too tired to give a shit about trivial stuff.
Traffic obviously cause a lot of stress, mentally and physically. I applaud those who spend 3-4 hours travel for their job. It makes you appreciate the small things. Whenever i stuck in traffic, i just remember my family and how happy i am once i’m home seeing my mum’s face. They are the one that keep me humble and thankful for everything that i have.
I’m lucky as i live in a beautiful home, in a good neighbourhood and having a comfy bed to sleep in. Not everybody have that luxury. As fucked up as my country is, what makes me proud was everybody is a hard worker. You have to be if you want to survive. Not able to depending on our government and how little they care about our well being, Indonesian, especially those who live in Jakarta still know how to take care of them self.
I never been to New York City but i do believe Jakarta is the real Concrete Jungle. We have high rate of crimes, traffic is bullish*t, weather melt us to the ground but we are still and continued surviving.
I came to a conclusion that i actually feel blessed to be raise here. I know the meaning of hard work, dedication, competition and the most important thing, patience.
For those who don’t have the patience, you can’t really live her. But those who has, if you can make it here, i can promise you, you can make it anywhere. My country is fucked up, Jakarta is also fucked up but it’s home and nothing will ever change that.
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