Gambiri Stesyan
It was like any busy railway station in India, but seeing this station was no less than seeing world history. This railway station was built during the rule of the Dutch East India Company. Presently business class and executive class trains halt at this station. One has to go to Pasar Senen station to catch economy class train. The process of stopping of trains at Gambiri station started from AD 1871. At that time its name was 'Veltvereden Station'. In AD 1884, a new present station was built in place of the old station. This station was rebuilt in AD 1927. This time it was made in 'Arc Deco style', which made the movement of vehicles very convenient from here. In AD 1937, the name of this station was changed to 'Batavia Koningsplein' (in Dutch it means - the place of the King of Holland). Indonesia became independent from Dutch power on 27 December 1949. After that the Indonesian government changed the name of the station to 'Jakarta Gambir Stasion'. In AD 1990, it was built in the Joglo architectural style and decorated with lime green color.
Bread Shop
We came out of the main building of the railway station with our luggage. Here our vision fell on a small shop on which it was written in Roman script - 'Bread'. We looked into the shop and saw that there were small sized baati-like rotis made of all purpose flour. We did not inquire from the shopkeeper because what was likely to be found in the name of the vegetable was not hidden from us.
Where is Uttara?
We came out of the main building of the railway station with our luggage. We tried to take a car-taxi from there to the hotel pop, but the car-taxi drivers standing there asked us for five lakh Indonesian rupees, which is 2500 rupees in Indian currency. We knew that Hotel Pope is 29 kms from Gambiri Railway Station. We were ready to pay one thousand rupees but they were not ready. On this Vijay booked Uber taxi service. Within no time the taxi driver reached the railway station and told us that he was standing in the south lobby. We asked the people standing nearby that where we are standing, this is the North lobby or the South. Incidentally, we did not find a single person there who could understand the English language. In the end, we went inside the station and asked the railway authorities, they told that you are standing in the north lobby. Pointing to one side, he said that there is a south lobby as soon as he exits from here. When we went from the North lobby to the South lobby with our luggage, suddenly my eyes fell on a broad pillar made of stone and cement. There was an iron plate on which was written in Roman script – UTTARA LOBY. Oh! It was that easy! In fact the people of Jakarta call it Uttara Lobby in Javanese language. If we had asked which is the north lobby, we would have got the answer immediately. The Hindi language word was widely used on the island of Java, thousands of kilometers away, and we were looking for it in English.
One thousand thirty rupees only
'Hotel Pop' was about 29 kms from Gambiri railway station. This hotel was chosen by Vijay because it was just two and a half kilometers away from Jakarta International Airport. The city of Jakarta is one of the busiest traffic cities in the world, so we wanted to avoid getting stuck in local traffic on our way to the airport. The driver of this taxi was very lax, was driving the car like a clumsy. Even when the road was empty, the speed did not increase. We requested him several times to increase the speed of his car. He kept on pretending not to understand English. Father once got annoyed at him, only then he understood what we wanted. The city of Jakarta is indeed a crowded city. By the time we reached Hotel Pop, it was dark all around. We paid for the taxi, the bill came only 1030 rupees (as per Indian currency). While the car taxi drivers standing outside the station were demanding two and a half thousand rupees from us.
Hotel Pop
There was no question of going anywhere after reaching Hotel Pop. We got tea without milk from a departmental store built in the hotel. Deepa's box of milk powder proved to be a boon for us at this time. Tea was very expensive, but tea was available, that was a great achievement. It was a convenient and very big hotel. We watched TV for a while and slept after having dinner. The hotel was clean and well equipped with various amenities but did not have the comforts that are available in service apartments. The difference between a house and a hotel was there.
That Indonesian girl full of smile
On April 22, the eyes opened at five in the morning. Around six o'clock I went downstairs to check the availability of tea. There was no staff at the reception counter, but in the lobby near the counter, a thin and skinny girl of 18-19 years was standing. I looked at her, she was standing in a calm posture with her back to a wall. Seeing her, it could be said that she had just come to her duty after taking a bath, that is, she was not among the night staff. When I said good morning to him, he smiled and replied very seriously. He probably knew only this much English. Because after that she didn't utter a single word, only smiled and kept hinting when asked anything.
I asked him where to get tea here! She certainly understood what a man might need at this point in time! He pointed to a large tea kettle. There was no limit to my happiness. There were not only about 8 liters of big tea kettle filled with tea but also small sachets of milk powder. I made and drank a cup of tea right away and went back to my rooms to share the good news with the rest of the crew. In no time we were all in that lobby. During this time Madhu met an Indian man who said something in Hindi. Madhu, shocked to hear Hindi, could ask him something else, till then the Indian good Manus went away walking fast and was never seen again.
We had coupons for free breakfast but we couldn't use them anyway because breakfast was of no use to us. So we drank a cup of tea each and went to our rooms to get ready. During this, Deepa took stock of the entire front view of the hotel and I checked e-mails etc. on the computers kept in the lobby for the convenience of the guests.
If there were Indian boys and girls
We stayed in that lobby for about an hour. Meanwhile we saw that tourists from many countries of the world were staying here. They were reaching this lobby for tea and snacks. So many people were there but there was no shouting. The smiling Indonesian girl stood the whole time and attended the guests. She was doing her work very efficiently without speaking. He did not let any guest face any kind of problem. I thought to myself that if she had an Indian employee instead, she must have pulled up on the chairs lying there and sat and talked on the cellphone the whole time. Far from smiling, she doesn't even respond well to guests because her preferences and training would all be different. If there was an Indian male employee in his place, half the time he would not have been found at his place and by speaking loudly, he himself would be disturbing the peace there.
Ghat Kacha
We had scheduled the whole day today to visit the city of Jakarta. We came to know that there are three bus services running from Monas National Museum in Jakarta which gives tourists free tour of Jakarta city. Of these, the first bus service is for cultural sites, the second bus service is for the old Jakarta city and the third bus service is for the new Jakarta city. The Monas National Museum is approximately 24 kilometers from Hotel Pop. So we booked an Uber taxi. The taxi arrived in about 10 minutes. The taxi driver was a fair-skinned and soft-spoken young man of 25-26 years old. His clothes seemed very expensive. She was wearing the same rosary of Rudraksh in her hands, the value of which was told to us in the Chinese shop of Tanahlot, six lakh Indonesian rupees. I asked him on the way whether his main job was to drive a taxi or something! He told us that he had a garage and was engaged in cable supply. On Sundays he has a garage holiday, on which he drives a taxi for Uber. I asked him if this job makes a lot of money! He replied that sometimes there is a very good income but it is not less even on normal days. On the way, in the middle of a huge square on the side of the road, there was a model of the chariot of Shri Krishna and Arjuna, which was pulled by horses. I asked the taxi driver whose statue it was! He said that either this incident is Kacha or Bhima. His answer was shocking. He did not know about Lord Krishna and Arjuna. For him, from Shri Krishna to Bhima and Ghatotkacha were the same.
Jakarta City Tour
The free tour bus service starts from Bundaran Hotel Indonesia, goes north to Sarinah Department Store in Thamrin Jalan and from there goes to Jalan Mahapahit located in Jalan Juanda via the National Museum and finally ends at Istana Negara i.e. Negara Palace She goes. Merdeka Square is located near the National Museum. We found a red bus in front of the Monas National Museum that used to tour the Old City. It is a very big city full of congestion. It has a population of more than one crore. There are 34 cities in the world whose population is above 10 million, Jakarta is one of them. It is the largest city in South-East Asia. The new Jakarta city has huge roadside malls, markets, hotels, palace buildings and government offices. The roads here are very wide and clean. People from all over the world come to see the city of Jakarta, so there is an influx of tourists from all over the world. By 2020, the population of this city is going to cross 16 crores. Therefore, the Indonesian government has started working on the Greater Jakarta Plan, under which the surrounding villages and towns will be merged into the city of Jakarta. This round was completed in about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, the bus stopped in front of some museums but we decided to see the city while sitting in the bus and got down at the last stop of the bus.
You came again
After a short walk around the old city, we found a yellow bus that was supposed to take us back to the National Museum showing the sights of new Jakarta. A girl aged 20-22 years was driving this bus. Two girls in the bus were working as tourist guides and were telling each tourist place on the microphone. Since this description was in Indonesian language, we could not understand anything. Suddenly one of the tourist guides got up from his place and came to us and said - India! When we said yes, she said the next sentence in broken English, which made us guess that this girl had gone to India and had seen the city of Delhi. I greeted him with a smile and looked outside again. Not seeing my interest in talking, she went to her place and started singing the same song in a slightly louder voice as two young men playing guitar in the market of Borobudur memorial complex - 'Tum paas aaye, yun muskare, kya karoon haye ke kuch -Something happens.' I guessed that this Indian film must have been very popular in Indonesia! In a short time the Monas area came where the National Museum is located. We got down here because Merdeka Square is in front of it. We wanted to spend some time in this area.
Merdeka Square
Once upon a time this place used to be the grazing place of wild buffaloes which could easily live in high water. The people of Java started the cultivation of rice with the help of these buffaloes. In the 18th century AD, the Dutch built many important buildings at this place. At the time of the East-Indies colonial government, this place was called Koningsplein or King's Ground. Merdeka is an Indonesian word which means freedom. That is, what was the place of kings in the time of the Dutch, has now become a field of freedom. The place where Jakarta's national monument is built is known as Merdeka Square. It is also called 'Maidan Merdeka' and 'Lapangan Merdeka' in Indonesian language.
Four grounds are located around the national monument. The word Medan (Dumkand) is also used for these. The plain facing north is called Medan Uttara. Both these words are from Hindi language. Merdeka Square is located in the center of Jakarta on an area of one kilometer square. If the adjacent plains are included under this, then its area is 75 hectares. Thus it is the largest square in the world. The national monument situated in the middle of it is called Monas in the local language. Various events of national importance, military parades, civil demonstrations etc. are held at this place. सप्ताहंत की छुट्टियों में हजारों लोग अपने परिवारों के साथ यहाँ पहुंचते हैं। इसके चारों ओर विभिन्न सरकारी भवन स्थित हैं जिनमें मर्डेका पैलेस, नेशनल म्यूजियम, सुप्रीम कोर्ट, रेडियो ऑफ रिपब्लिक इण्डोनेशिया सहित विभिन्न सरकारी मंत्रालय भी शामिल है।
राष्ट्रीय स्मारक
मर्डेका मैदान के मध्य में इण्डोनेशिया का राष्ट्रीय स्मारक बना हुआ है। यह 132 मीटर ऊंची लाट है। इसे इण्डोनेशिया के राष्ट्रीय स्वातंत्र्य संग्राम का प्रतीक कहा जाता है। जब ई.1950 में डच सरकार ने इण्डोनेशिया को स्वतंत्र राष्ट्र के रूप में मान्यता दी तो इण्डोनेशिया की राजधानी योग्यकार्ता से जकार्ता लाई गई। राष्ट्रपति सुकार्णो की पहल पर ई.1961 में मर्डेका स्कैवयर में राष्ट्रीय स्मारक का निर्माण आरम्भ किया गया। यह ई.1975 में बनकर तैयार हुआ तथा देश की जनता को समर्पित किया गया। इस लाट के ऊपरी हिस्से में 14.5 टन कांसे से 14 मीटर ऊंची एवं 6 मीटर चौड़ी, आग की लपटें बनाई गई हैं जिन पर 50 किलो स्वर्ण से बनी हुई चद्दर मंढी हुई है। यह प्रातः 8 बजे से सायं 4 बजे तक खुला रहता है। सायंकाल में 7 बजे से 10 बजे तक रात्रि कालीन पर्यटन के लिए पुनः खोला जाता है। सोमवार को पूरी तरह छुट्टी रहती है।
संसार का सबसे बड़ा शिवलिंग
इस स्मारक के निर्माण के लिए इण्डोनेशिया सरकार ने दो बार खुली प्रतियोगिताएं आयोजित कीं तथा दोनों ही बार एक ही डिजाइन चुना गया। जब यह डिजाइन राष्ट्रपति सुकार्णो को दिखाया गया तो उसे यह पसंद नहीं आया। सुकार्णो इस स्थान पर एक विशालाकाय शिवलिंग का निर्माण करना चाहता था जो जावा की संस्कृति का वास्तविक प्रतिनिधित्व कर सके। वह यह भी चाहता था कि इस शिवलिंग को इस तरह बनाया जाए कि उसके आधार की योनि, चावल कूटने की ओखली की तरह दिखाई दे और शिवलिंग, चावल कूटने के मूसल की तरह हो।
सुकार्णो के मस्तिष्क में जितनी विशाल योजना थी, यदि उसे अपनाया जाता तो इण्डोनेशिया की आर्थिक स्थिति ही डांवाडोल हो जाती। अतः 132 मीटर ऊंचे शिवलिंग का निर्माण किया गया जो चावल कूटने के मूसल को भी प्रदर्शित करता है तथा इसके आधार पर योनि को इस तरह बनाया गया है जो चावल कूटने की ओखली का प्रतिनिधित्व करती है। इसी तरह का एक छोटा स्मारक सेंट्रल जोगजा में भी बनाया गया है। इण्डोनेशिया के राष्ट्रीय स्मारक के रूप में बने शिवलिंग को सकारात्मकता, शक्ति एवं दिन का प्रतीक माना जाता है जबकि इसके आधार में बनी योनि जीव के शाश्वत अस्तित्व, संतुलन, सामंजस्य, ऊर्वरता एवं रात्रि का प्रतीक है।
इस स्मारक को इण्डोनेशिया के स्थानीय पुष्प ‘एमोर्फोफलुस टिटेनम’ का प्रतीक भी माना जाता है। इस पुष्प के आधार भाग में एक योनि जैसी संरचना बनी होती है जिसके बीच स्तंभाकार रचना बाहर निकलती हुई दिखाई देती है। इस प्रकार यह संसार का सबसे बड़ा शिवलिंग है जो अपने आधार से 132 मीटर अर्थात् 433 फुट लम्बा है। इस लाट के भीतर म्यूजियम स्थापित किया गया है। इसके बाहरी हिस्से में प्रस्तर शिलाएं लगाई गई हैं जिन पर इण्डोनेशिया का इतिहास लिखा गया है। इसके आधार भाग में बने स्वातंत्र्य द्वार की बाईं दीवार पर इण्डोनेशिया का राष्ट्रीय चिह्न गरुड़ अंकित है जिसे यहाँ गरुड़ पंचशील कहा जाता है तथा Garuda Pancasila लिखा जाता है।
मर्डेका स्क्वैयर से वापसी
अभी लगभग साढ़े चार ही बजे थे कि अंधेरा घिरने लगा। आकाश में काले बादलों के समूह चारों तरफ उमड़-घुमड़ने लगे। आज न तो पुतु हमारे साथ था और न मि. अंतो। इसलिए हमने तत्काल होटल वापस लौटने का निर्णय लिया। विजय ने उबर की टैक्सी बुक की। केवल पांच मिनट में टैक्सी आ गई और हम अपने होटल लौट पड़े। हमने होटल पहुंचकर उसी छोटे से डिपार्टमेंटल स्टोर से चाय खरीदी। यह एक अच्छी और सुविधाजनक दुकान थी। जहाँ जरूरत की बहुत सारी चीजें उपलब्ध थीं।