Villagers and the poor who don't keep track of their own birthdays

I just read a profile on Dahlan Iskan, the founder and current CEO of Jawa Pos (a major Indonesian newspaper) on a book titled "Rahasia Sukses The Best CEO Indonesia" by Harmanto Edy Djatmiko.

There it was said that Iskan was unaware of his own birth date since he came from a poor village in Java. His birthday was written down in a cupboard which was sold off to help pay for his late mother's surgery a couple of decades back in his home.

Iskan, who is now famous and successful, then decided to "brand" his own birthday by designating the date 17 August 1951 as the day he was born, using its auspicious links in relation to the Independence Day of Indonesia.

The story of Iskan also reminds me of my childhood friend back in my old house in Pondok Pinang, South Jakarta.

She was around a year older than me, and her parents (who both originated from a rural family in Gombong, Central Java) made it no importance to  keep track of their children's birthday.

Not knowing their own birthdays?

I wonder whether this is a truly rural Indonesian phenomenon or whether this also exist in other parts of the globe. One thing for sure, not knowing your own birthday means that you don't own a birth certificate, and this further means that your name is not recorded in your country's database.

Some governments in developing countries seem to view it unimportant to record the names and birth dates of its citizens in the poorest and remotest areas of the country.

Such a sad fact, really.

As a result, some large number of its population remains uncounted and their voices are unheard of.

No wonder cycle of poverty never stops in some parts of the globe (including Indonesia). If their voices are unheard of by the government, how is the government able to help them?

This also makes me wonder if the number of people living below the poverty line (less than EUR 1.50/day) in Indonesia is actually higher than the 47% according to the government's statistics.

There may be another 10% or 20% who are uncounted for... Who knows?

The government doesn't even keep any record on them.

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Liking for blue ink

On ballpoint pens, I have a liking towards using the blue-inked ones (as opposed to the black-inked).

Why?

It's a matter of contrast.

Especially when I have to annotate things up on a printed paper (where the printed ink is black by default), I always make it a point to use blue inked pens as to make my writings more reader-friendly.

And yeah, on printed papers which are intended for my personal read only, I always prefer printing by using blue ink instead of black.

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A phone call to Bangkok is cheaper than to Bangka?

3 (Three), a cellular telecommunication provider in Indonesia, had recently run catchy advertisements across the Indonesian mass media spectrum, either thru the newspapers, magazines, or billboards on street intersections.

The ads puts a slogan that goes on like this:

Kini, nelpon Los Angeles lebih murah daripada ke Lenteng Agung

(Now, a phone call to Los Angeles is cheaper than to Lenteng Agung)

Kini, nelpon Melbourne lebih murah daripada ke Menteng

(Now, a phone call to Melbourne is cheaper than to Menteng)

Kini, nelpon Singapura lebih murah daripada ke Singaparna

(Now, a phone call to Singapore is cheaper than to Singaparna)

The advertisers had made it a point to put at least the two first letters of a foreign location and compare it to a local place which also had the very same first two letters.

Put into simpler words, it is a play on phonetics.

Funny idea, methinks.

Despite the ongoing criticism by brand marketers and truth-openers in an e-mail mailing list which is widely circulating among Indonesian netizens now, I find it unique to create my own catchy slogans like follows:

Kini, nelpon Nagasaki lebih murah daripada ke Nagrek

Kini, nelpon Puerto Rico lebih murah daripada ke Purwokerto

Kini, nelpon Amsterdam lebih murah daripada ke Ambon

Kini, nelpon Monako lebih murah daripada ke Mojokerto

Kini, nelpon Paris lebih murah daripada ke Pasar Minggu

Kini, nelpon Boston lebih murah daripada ke Bogor

Kini, nelpon Sydney lebih murah daripada ke Sidoarjo

Kini, nelpon Kazakhstan lebih murah daripada ke Kampung Utan

Kini, nelpon Den Haag lebih murah daripada nelpon Denpasar

Kini, nelpon Madrid lebih murah daripada ke Magelang

Kini, nelpon Bahamas lebih murah daripada ke Bandung

Kini, nelpon Jamaika lebih murah daripada ke Jambi

Kini, nelpon Polandia lebih murah daripada ke Pondok Labu

Kini, nelpon Kuwait lebih murah daripada ke Kuningan

Kini, nelpon Meksiko lebih murah daripada ke Medan

Kini, nelpon Chili lebih murah daripada ke Ciamis

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Indo-lyric: Mengapa Ini yang Terjadi (Tere feat. Valent)

English translation:

Why is this happening

there is nothing wrong with differences
and everything we have
it's only our views that disagree
as it builds distance between us

* bcoz we're not supposed to have
these differences as a barrier

reff:

aren't we created
to complement each other
why is this happening

differences are not a reason
not to understand each other
which is why we should pave the path
to join our wishes together

repeat *
repeat reff

Original lyric in Indonesian:

tiada yang salah dengan perbedaan
dan segala yang kita punya
yang salah hanyalah sudut pandang kita
yang membuat kita terpisah

* karena tak seharusnya
perbedaan menjadi jurang

reff:

bukankah kita diciptakan
untuk dapat saling melengkapi
mengapa ini yang terjadi

mestinya perbedaan bukan alasan
untuk tak saling memahami
harusnya kita bisa memberi jalan
tuk satukan semua harapan

repeat *
repeat reff

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Our Zodiac changed?

I hate to find this out, but most of our zodiac seem to have changed.

Mine has changed from Scorpio to Libra... Ah, what a pity.

However, let us pretend that we know nothing about this, eh?

I'd very much prefer continue living as the toxic Scorpio rather than that dull-looking inanimate lawful Libra.. Hahaha.

clipped from www.livescience.com Your "Real Sign" The table below lists the dates when the Sun is actually within the astronomical constellations of the Zodiac, according to modern constellation boundaries and corrected for precession (these dates can vary a day from year to year). You will most likely find that once precession is taken into account, your zodiac sign is different. And if you were born between November 29 and December 17, your sign is actually one you never saw in the newspaper: you are an Ophiuchus! The eliptic passes through the constellation of Ophiuchus after Scorpius. Capricorn - Jan 20 to Feb 16 Aquarius - Feb 16 to Mar 11 Pisces - Mar 11 to Apr 18 Aries - Apr 18 to May 13 Taurus - May 13 to Jun 21 Gemini - Jun 21 to Jul 20 Cancer - Jul 20 to Aug 10 Leo - Aug 10 to Sep 16 Virgo - Sep 16 to Oct 30 Libra - Oct 30 to Nov 23 Scorpius - Nov 23 to Nov 29 Ophiuchus - Nov 29 to Dec 17 Sagittarius - Dec 17 to Jan 20

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