Jakarta Diary

Whosoever said walking around a city is the best way to experience its soul wouldn’t have been particularly fond of running. For that’s what I do to soak in the place and the culture.

 

In recent memory I have gone running on the streets of Manila, Tokyo, Chicago, Frankfurt and Stockholm.  Two weeks back it was Jakarta.

 

I would not claim to have run on the streets of Jakarta for those who have been there know that cars have hijacked every available inch of the road.  Bangkok traffic might be a close second and for all you fellas who constantly complain of tough driving conditions in Mumbai, Bangalore or Delhi, you ain’t seen anything yet. One nice touch though by Jakarta traffic authorities. Some designated streets are put out of bounds for motorist every Sunday for runners to get their fill – something other cities could very well replicate.

 

So it wasn’t the streets of Jakarta but a stadium – Senayan Stadium - where I got to run. The local project team invited me to join them for a few rounds of squash. While they were warming up in the court, I sneaked out to the outer periphery of the stadium to give my legs some warm-up. At 900 m, the loop around the stadium isn’t much to give variety though wide enough to accommodate a sizeable group of runners wanting to go together.

 

I will admit that I wasn’t expecting what I saw in Jakarta. Being a Muslim country, I expected very few women in Indonesia to indulge in any sports, least of all running. I realize there are various ethnicities in Indonesia and hence generalization is not appropriate but even then I was surprised to see very significant portion of women runners. Clearly, men were outnumbered here.

 

Even more surprising was to see the number of ladies on the squash court. I have played in a few Indian cities as well and very rarely, if at all, have come across a woman take to the court. At Senayan Stadium in Indonesia there were plenty, some even in headscarf. Perhaps Indonesia women are inspired by the girl next door, World No. 1 Nicol David of Malaysia.

 

Just before I landed in Jakarta I was reading a news report that hardliners had forced Miss World organizers to shift the event from Jakarta and other Indonesia cities entirely to the “Hindu Island” of Bali. When I saw the diverse community of runners and sports enthusiasts and reflected back on the news report, I realized that Republic of Indonesia – the most populous Muslim nation, and Republic of India – the most populous Hindu nation – both have a common culture of layers within layers in the society. Our perspective determines which one comes across as more prominent.