Inferiority complex
I was at Jakarta early this week to apply for a passport for Lila with the British Consulate.
My father-in-law recommended I travel the night before (the 5th) and return the next day. Given the fact Indonesian airlines are ill-famed for their time keeping and Garuda being the preeminent among that lot, I chose to fly over night and do as per my father-in-law's suggestion.
I am not sure how many of you know about this; but it is TRUE. I have been learning Bahasa Indonesian for the past 3 months. I am quite mortified to even attempt speaking that language with any of my friends or in-laws but all the while I cannot forbear the temptation of giving it a go. So, I contemplate: What better opportunity to experiment my newly acquired skill that too with a stranger in Jakarta. If those people had a laugh at my expense, I won't be bothered much since almost certainly I will never see them in my life again. Sounds good yeah?
The "expatriates in Indonesia" forum on the web suggested I should not take any taxi except for "Blue Bird". Add to this, my father-in-law actually told me "do not take any other taxi but Blue Bird". I come out of the arrivals hall in Soekarno Hatta International airport at Jakarta and I cannot find any taxi counter with "Blue bird" written on it. Oh; a funny observation. I actually thought Soekarno Hatta was the guy's full name. It turns out, Soekarno and Hatta are two different people altogether - brothers in arms; Freedom fighters of an age long gone. I know you Indonesians are laughing at my ignorance, but do you know Soekarno's full name ? It is Ahmed Soekarno !! Yeah, did my research on it.
Coming back to the Blue bird taxi: I walked the length of the airport hall and cannot find any blue bird. A few hecklers kept following me saying "Taxi Missturrrr" ? I am a bit apprehensive; See, I have been presaged about this already and I would do well to keep myself away from these tricksters. I am giving up, NO Blue bird !! Finally, one of these guys who kept following me said "Blue bird Misssturrrr" and that rang a bell. I turned around and said "Blue bird ?". He nods and I follow him. He takes me to a counter that certainly had a blue BOARD but the name was "Garuda Biru". It hit me suddenly. Hmm, Garuda is indeed a Bird. Biru indeed means Blue. Balle Balle !! I felt quite accomplished. I can translate and make sense all by myself !!! They charge me 200,000 rupiahs for the ride from the airport to my hotel, The Mandarin Oriental; A fine hotel it is. 5 star in every way.
I came back and told Monica with great pride about "Garuda Biru" episode and extolled my intelligence. She laughed her arse off. Apparently, it is a phony!! Bluebird is a different taxi company altogether. Gaduda Biru is a competitor to confuse Indians like me. Oh Yeah; Do you know how to make a rich living in Jakarta ? Of course by driving taxis for stupid Indians like me. Who in the heck pays 200,000 rupiahs for a taxi ride?
So, I told myself: 200,000 is a lot, Yes. But it is ok. I will practice my Indonesian with this crazy taxi driver. The taxi driver, soon after starting, asked me with one word: "Hotel?". I replied with "Yes, The Mandarin Oriental please". He replied, in short, "ok". I do the Balle Balle again. Taxi driver cannot speak English well; I will electrify him with my Indonesian. So, I started blabbering a few words: I knew it was crap. The hardest part was to stop me laughing at myself. I was cracking up. Some of my words were even filled with laughter. Man I am having a ball here!! Who in the world would have thought I would be brave enough to clown myself.
The driver said, "It is ok Mr. I speak English. You can speak English with me". WHAT THE FUCK!! This guy gave me an inferiority complex. My Indonesian must have been so painful for this reluctant taxi driver that he actually chose to have a discussion with me - but in his own terms. But he was not going to speak with me in Indonesian!! Oh boy!! He shut me up for a good 5 mins all the while zooming through at 120kph.
The Mandarin Oriental: Felt like Fort Knox at first. 100 plus security guards; for a hotel? Ok, a 5 start hotel; but is it not too much? Then I realised; Indonesia had seen a few hotels bombed a few years earlier. Apparently westerners were targets. But, if you ask me Indonesians are very very passive. Close to 95% of all Indonesians you see are incapable of harming anyone. I think they are incapable of even thinking about harming anyone. Having said that, there is a minority that is bent upon destabilising their own country for whatever reasons. Extremists. But reflecting on that, which country in this world does not have extremist elements?
After an airport style security check, I am allowed inside. The girl at the reception pronounced my name correctly as if she was an Indian herself. Actually, she started a conversation with me in Indonesian; Quite happy. I fought, replied with some broken Indonesian and was happy. I gave her my British passport for Identification. She said, "Oh ! Ingriss ?" and continued in grammatically perfect English. Man, what is it with people in Indonesia? When you want them to speak with you in English, they say "Maaf, saya tidak mengerti" or some shit like that. When you desperately want them to speak with you in Indonesian, they become qualified English lecturers. What the heck!!
I prepared Lila's application overnight. Woke up early morning, showered and went to the consulate. The British consulate is on the 19th floor of the Deutsche Bank building just 20 meters away from The Mandarin Oriental. I registered her birth with the consulate at first and then applied for her passport. Payment was in rupiah at the prevailing rate against the sterling pound; 4.36 million rupiahs for the passport plus the registration. Expensive shit huh?
Lila will have her passport in approximately 1 week.
I am going back to Melbourne on Saturday. Having dinner with Zita & co on Sunday before boarding the flight at Singapore later than night.
I had a call from my Programme manager; some urgent work and I am off to Japan for 2 months or more from the middle of next week.
My father-in-law recommended I travel the night before (the 5th) and return the next day. Given the fact Indonesian airlines are ill-famed for their time keeping and Garuda being the preeminent among that lot, I chose to fly over night and do as per my father-in-law's suggestion.
I am not sure how many of you know about this; but it is TRUE. I have been learning Bahasa Indonesian for the past 3 months. I am quite mortified to even attempt speaking that language with any of my friends or in-laws but all the while I cannot forbear the temptation of giving it a go. So, I contemplate: What better opportunity to experiment my newly acquired skill that too with a stranger in Jakarta. If those people had a laugh at my expense, I won't be bothered much since almost certainly I will never see them in my life again. Sounds good yeah?
The "expatriates in Indonesia" forum on the web suggested I should not take any taxi except for "Blue Bird". Add to this, my father-in-law actually told me "do not take any other taxi but Blue Bird". I come out of the arrivals hall in Soekarno Hatta International airport at Jakarta and I cannot find any taxi counter with "Blue bird" written on it. Oh; a funny observation. I actually thought Soekarno Hatta was the guy's full name. It turns out, Soekarno and Hatta are two different people altogether - brothers in arms; Freedom fighters of an age long gone. I know you Indonesians are laughing at my ignorance, but do you know Soekarno's full name ? It is Ahmed Soekarno !! Yeah, did my research on it.
Coming back to the Blue bird taxi: I walked the length of the airport hall and cannot find any blue bird. A few hecklers kept following me saying "Taxi Missturrrr" ? I am a bit apprehensive; See, I have been presaged about this already and I would do well to keep myself away from these tricksters. I am giving up, NO Blue bird !! Finally, one of these guys who kept following me said "Blue bird Misssturrrr" and that rang a bell. I turned around and said "Blue bird ?". He nods and I follow him. He takes me to a counter that certainly had a blue BOARD but the name was "Garuda Biru". It hit me suddenly. Hmm, Garuda is indeed a Bird. Biru indeed means Blue. Balle Balle !! I felt quite accomplished. I can translate and make sense all by myself !!! They charge me 200,000 rupiahs for the ride from the airport to my hotel, The Mandarin Oriental; A fine hotel it is. 5 star in every way.
I came back and told Monica with great pride about "Garuda Biru" episode and extolled my intelligence. She laughed her arse off. Apparently, it is a phony!! Bluebird is a different taxi company altogether. Gaduda Biru is a competitor to confuse Indians like me. Oh Yeah; Do you know how to make a rich living in Jakarta ? Of course by driving taxis for stupid Indians like me. Who in the heck pays 200,000 rupiahs for a taxi ride?
So, I told myself: 200,000 is a lot, Yes. But it is ok. I will practice my Indonesian with this crazy taxi driver. The taxi driver, soon after starting, asked me with one word: "Hotel?". I replied with "Yes, The Mandarin Oriental please". He replied, in short, "ok". I do the Balle Balle again. Taxi driver cannot speak English well; I will electrify him with my Indonesian. So, I started blabbering a few words: I knew it was crap. The hardest part was to stop me laughing at myself. I was cracking up. Some of my words were even filled with laughter. Man I am having a ball here!! Who in the world would have thought I would be brave enough to clown myself.
The driver said, "It is ok Mr. I speak English. You can speak English with me". WHAT THE FUCK!! This guy gave me an inferiority complex. My Indonesian must have been so painful for this reluctant taxi driver that he actually chose to have a discussion with me - but in his own terms. But he was not going to speak with me in Indonesian!! Oh boy!! He shut me up for a good 5 mins all the while zooming through at 120kph.
The Mandarin Oriental: Felt like Fort Knox at first. 100 plus security guards; for a hotel? Ok, a 5 start hotel; but is it not too much? Then I realised; Indonesia had seen a few hotels bombed a few years earlier. Apparently westerners were targets. But, if you ask me Indonesians are very very passive. Close to 95% of all Indonesians you see are incapable of harming anyone. I think they are incapable of even thinking about harming anyone. Having said that, there is a minority that is bent upon destabilising their own country for whatever reasons. Extremists. But reflecting on that, which country in this world does not have extremist elements?
After an airport style security check, I am allowed inside. The girl at the reception pronounced my name correctly as if she was an Indian herself. Actually, she started a conversation with me in Indonesian; Quite happy. I fought, replied with some broken Indonesian and was happy. I gave her my British passport for Identification. She said, "Oh ! Ingriss ?" and continued in grammatically perfect English. Man, what is it with people in Indonesia? When you want them to speak with you in English, they say "Maaf, saya tidak mengerti" or some shit like that. When you desperately want them to speak with you in Indonesian, they become qualified English lecturers. What the heck!!
I prepared Lila's application overnight. Woke up early morning, showered and went to the consulate. The British consulate is on the 19th floor of the Deutsche Bank building just 20 meters away from The Mandarin Oriental. I registered her birth with the consulate at first and then applied for her passport. Payment was in rupiah at the prevailing rate against the sterling pound; 4.36 million rupiahs for the passport plus the registration. Expensive shit huh?
Lila will have her passport in approximately 1 week.
I am going back to Melbourne on Saturday. Having dinner with Zita & co on Sunday before boarding the flight at Singapore later than night.
I had a call from my Programme manager; some urgent work and I am off to Japan for 2 months or more from the middle of next week.
posted by Dingleberry Delight | 8:40 AM
1 Comments:
About languages - many years ago in France, a couple of us were there on business.
Now, the French are very fussy about their language. If you there and speak English, you might still get the cold shoulder even if the other person could speak it.
No problem, we were both studying the language, and wanted to practice anyway. My friend (honest!) was doing this in the hotel, and quite successfully communicating, but after a while of this got the reply "Its OK, you can speak to me in English".
But remember, the French do protect their language. Perhaps its so painful to hear it spoken badly that its the lesser of two evils to speak to someone in English instead.
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