Indonesia..., a country about which i have heard only during those Tsunami tragedies in December, 2004. But the wonder that struck me was that when I was asked to travel to that land by my Project Manager, I didn’t have even the slightest jerk within my inner chest. I would always love to appreciate me for that kind of a response. Like how a philosopher told "face everything that comes to you with a slightest smile. Let the situation be anything. Let it be one that makes you laugh like the birds in the bright morning sky...or let it be one which makes you erupt like a volcano...or even let it be like one in you may drown yourself in the tears you shed..". Though I haven’t grown to the level words of that forgotten philosopher, happy to feel the change of the grown happening in me.
It was my first flight after almost fourteen years. From Cochin to Singapore and to Jakarta. Sudar, our client's driver was waiting for me at the airport. A man who was wearing a safari suit kind of dark blue uniform with a arrowed heart tattooed near to his left thumb. Apart from him one big thing what the sky of the capital city had for me was a heavy rain that poured as I stepped out of the airport. I felt a welcome rhythm being played by the rain.
I was taken to our client's office first where my colleagues Manu, Abhilash and Arun were there. Manu and Abhilash were in Jakarta since October and Pazhavoor since November. I was the last man to be on site for this project. Those, in my relatives who heard of this exclaimed this as a luck of mine and those in office advised me that it was a good team you are having. But frankly, as I said earlier, this trip was not at all capable enough to raise my excitement to at least the quantum of its degree. This was not because I will be missing many events like my Shivarathri, Vishu or my greatest Thrissur Pooram. Even though the reason was strange for me, I like the way my mind graphed the excitement curve to a straight line like a graph pertaining Perfect Elasticity.
Though the country was known for being the biggest Muslim republic, no being can have such a feel seeing the dress codes of the locales. Nor could anyone even hear the Quran being recited by the priests loud like in the Middle-East mosques. The people were free, still they are religious. They never fail in offering their prayers five times each day. Rather, I would like to say that they enjoyed it so well. I loved that.
Like any country, this land of more than 17000 islands also have so many places blessed by the omnipotent to make it the so called "tourist attraction". Our weekends that normally start from Saturday noon were mostly utilized for the city exploration like the new malls, and some places for entertainment and so on. Apart from this our client had a deal with our firm to take us for trip once in a month which also gave a pretty good access to the places outside the city.
And Aphorisms would be in limelight in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the largest blog when I start to sketch about the friends we got there. It’s usual that we befriend with those working as our clients. Excluding this there is a big gang of friends that we got. We must really thank the traffic jams in Jakarta. One day, when there was one such block, Sudar took us to office through a different way where Pazhavoor spotted a neatly painted Badminton court. That Saturday we went and enquired about if we can play. They agreed and next move was to Pejatan Village (a mall nearest to Siaga Raya - the place where we stayed) to buy the rackets, shoes and other accessories for the game for only three of us.
Abhilash - "Mr. Body-Conscious" feared to lose the shape of his muscles if he takes his gym and badminton in tandem. So he stayed back when we used to go for playing. And out of three of us Manu bhai and Pazhavoor were excellent players. And I was the infant among the armatures in that land smashing and dashing badminton players. The court actually belonged to a person called Saffy. He’s an automobile mechanic by profession. More than the income he got from this court he was concerned about the enjoyments, comments and loud loud laughter that arouse from the daily get-togethers. Saffy's badminton court used to be alive from 8pm to at least 2am - 3am. People keep coming in play their game have chats, some may take a quite nap, and some may have their dinner. The kind of mental bond those people had among themselves often reminds me my gang of friends in Vadakkumnathan temple.
Apart for all these, I would thank Indonesia for the 3 gifts that she gave me,
1) Aphorisms
2) Five medicine-free months.
3) This would be perhaps the longest span in my life in which I haven’t lost my temper even for a single time.
Speaking about my colleagues; it was my luck to be with the three of them. More than a colleague there where several moments where I used to feel that they cared me like a younger brother both at work and outside. And also a must mention name is of our project manager Mr. Manoj Balan or Balettan (That is how Abhilash and Pazhavoor used to call him. Gradually I too followed them) who was there for almost a weeks stay. As professionally a new born, they fed me with their knowledge which shined bright in the light of their experience. Thanks a million trillion times to them.
Though Amma's loneliness used to hurt me often, I knew that she could manage it well. All together, thank you gods for the five moths of meditation-like life that you gave me when i wanted it very badly.
