Education of a Commuter

Just get home after a rainy day.. Even air-con train could still have its limitation that an umbrella need to fill.

Now it is almost a month since I join the commuter crowd. I am quite fortunate to live near by train line with express (mean more expensive with 8k rupiah but more comfortable). Catching the train also make a good excuse to leave office at certain time routinely.

The return train is rather convenient since it starts from Manggarai and I took it from Dukuh Atas, the next station. Thus almost always getting a seat. It irregularly late from scheduled 18.05 though, between 5 minutes to 30 minutes Rendering precise planning to be impossible. The 18.17 pm traini s even worse since it come from Depok with farther trip and more possibility of delay. So I always tried to get the 18.05 pm train.

Surprisingly, being a commuter enable me to read more books. With 35-50 minutes on train daily (50-60 minutes of total travel time), I usuually read 40-50 pages in a trip. One or two books a week is the norm. Accompany by R& B or pop in the morning and classic or jazz in the afternoon in my E51.

In the morning I usually take the first gerbong (forget the english word) on the first train at 6.40. It is mostly the same people so I start to know who’s who even though I never talk to anyone. Some are always reading newspaper and some listening to MP3. One that is always talking with different person. There is another one that is always knitting a sweater whenever she get a seat.

But what really gets my attention is how so many people look so tired in the morning. Already so exhausted and dispirited at the start of the day. Would they able to be productive in the office? How tired they are in the afternoon? Now really appreciate how one smile could brighten a day. That’s the least I can do.