The Busway Experience

June 13, 2009

I don’t take public transportations. It’s not just how uncomfortable or how unhygienic or how crowded they are or whatever. It’s more of a safety issue. My brand new handbag was one sliced open by a mugger a few years back (leaving it practically a garbage afterward), and then on another occasion, a mugger took my mobile phone (leaving me very pissed off of all the lost contact numbers). But this morning, on a whim to go to the museum to indulge in my photography hobby, my friends suggested taking the busway. So we did. My first time ever. It was not that bad, really, I even took some shots inside the bus, despite the fact that I was constantly in a paranoia state of somebody mugging my camera or my iPod or my mobile phone. And you know what my friend said when we’re at the bus stop: “You know, Ka, you gotta make it big here. So you can ride in an Alphard with a driver chaffeuring you around. Not like us, taking the busway because we have to, enduring the sweaty crowd and all.” True. But in truth, the one thing that I hate the most about public transport is this: I can’t close my eyes and relax, plugging the iPod inside my ear, just me and my thoughts. The most precious time I have to have everyday just to clear my mind. How do you think I stay sane with three main jobs, countless projects, and at least 12 hours a day at work?

People said that I should be really happy about living here now because it gets me so much closer to whom they assume is my inspiration. What they didn’t know is that leaves me no time and energy left to actually write.

It’s not that I love Medan more than I love him. It’s that I hate Jakarta more than I love him.