Sabtu, 22 April 2023

Menjalani Hidup Gaya Masa Kini

Hidupku berbeda dengan orang pada umumnya. Aku sering muncul di media-media sosial (medsos) utama dan populer. Bahkan kalau ada media sosial baru, aku akan menganalisa medsos itu, melakukan ekstrapolasi ke masa 5 sampai 10 tahun mendatang. Dengan begitu aku mampu memprediksi tingkat popularitas, kemudahan pemakaian sekaligus potensi bisnisnya. Sehingga aku mampu memutuskan sekarang untuk membuat atau tidak membuat akun di medsos yang baru muncul itu. Aku tidak hanya sering muncul, tetapi juga muncul secara rutin, periodik dan berkala. Bisa dikatakan aku mampu mengupdate kegiatanku sehari-hari di medsos dalam hitungan jam. Pengikutku tidak akan kekurangan bahan untuk dibahas mengenai kehidupanku. Pengikutku tidak perlu ragu akan akan kehilangan tren. Justru akulah pembuat tren-tren. Aku pelopor bukan pengekor. Aku aktor bukan penonton drakor.

Hidup adalah tentang mengekspos momen-momen indah dalam hidupku. Tidak ada ekspos tidak ada memori dan momen, tidak ada memori dan tidak momen sama saja dengan tidak ada kehidupan. Aku selalu menyebarkan dokumentasi tentang Ulang tahunku, ulang tahun temanku, ulang tahun ibuku, ulang tahun ayahku, ulang tahun tetanggaku, ulang tahun ikan koi-ku, ulang tahun ikan koi peliharaan kakakku, ulang tahun ikan koi peliharaan ibu ku, ulang tahun satu tahun aku memelihara ikan koi, ulang tahun ulang tahun dan ulang tahun lain-lainnya. Aku tidak akan mampu membuat daftar ulang tahun dan momen yang bersejarah itu. Semua harus dirayakan, diingat dan diabadikan. Bukankah yang abadi itu momen - bukan sekadar gambar dan foto? Kalau aku boleh merubah syair lagu, maka syair lagu Noah yang terkenal itu adalah "tidak ada yang abadi selain momen". Maka pekerjaanku mengupdate sosial media adalah mengabadikan keabadian. Pekerjaanku adalah pekerjaan keabadian. Tak lekang oleh waktu. Tak lekang oleh zaman.

Apa artinya hidup tanpa eksposure dan eksis di medsos? Mereka yang nama dan mukanya tidak pernah muncul di media sosial; apa arti hidup mereka? Tidak ada yang mengenal. Tidak ada yang mengenang mereka. Mereka tidak punya gambar dan foto untuk di-share, apalagi momen indah yang membuat iri semua orang. Mereka adalag makhluk-makhluk yang tertelan zaman. Zaman tidak mengenal mereka. Mereka pun tak mengenal zaman. Mungkin yang dipahami dan dikenal orang-orang macam ini adalah matahari dan hujan. Hhmmm.... apa istimewanya matahari? Matahari terbit di pagi hari dan tenggelam di sore hari. Itu sudah terjadi sejak lama. Mungkin sejak bumi ini ada. Untuk apa mengenal kejadian-kejadian yang sudah pasti dan sudah ada sejak lama (baca: kuno)?  Apa istimewanya hujan? Ya seperti itulah hujan. Air yang mengucur dari atas sana. Sesuatu yang sudah pasti dan sudah terjadi sejak lama (baca:kuno).

Hidup adalah kebaruan, perhatian dan antisipasi. Selalu mengikuti berita dan tren terbaru. Mampu menarik perhatian khalayak ramai, kalau perlu menjadi perhatian mereka yang lebih terkenal dan lebih "selebriti" dari kita. Mampu mengantisipasi sesuatu yang akan jadi populer lebih dahulu dari yang lain. Itu agar menunjukkan aku mampu membaca zama lebih baik dari yang lain. Itu aku lakukan untuk menunjukkan aku lebih keren daripada yang lain.

Itulah hidupku. Hidup yang bahagia dan sesuai dengan tren-tren masa kini. Sampai jumpa di medsos. Sampai jumpa di puncak tertinggi eksposure medsos.

Minggu, 12 Februari 2023

Random - Stay Abroad (part 1)

Many Indonesian students and intellectuals who reap promising and prestigious position abroad are rarely going back to the country. One of them is a computer expert residing in Singapore, Ainun Najib. A well-known story has been viral on the internet as he was asked directly by the President of Indonesia to leave Singapore and relocated to Indonesia in order to build the nation and share his knowledge for domestic audience. Looking farther, back to the time when President Yudhoyono selected and then announced his cabinet, an appointed minister was drawn controversy because he has spent a quite lengthy period in the US and been granted citizenship. Although the citizenship was then confirmed untrue, the story told us that intellectuals outflux is not uncommon in Indonesia.

Looking broadly, intellectual drain is not endemically Indonesia's problem. Many countries suffer from the same problem. Several factors seem to induce this wide-spreading trend. First, better remuneration scheme is not available domestically. Second, better career development is found abroad. Third, staying and working abroad is seen as inevitable before back home and build the home country because there is no opportunity to develop further ones' competence.

University of Birmingham is a red brick university in the UK
where many Indonesian students study.
 

There is another type of diaspora who studies abroad. These are students who are already working and whose position are already secured. They are usually sent by the governing ministry of their institution. This means if someone worked in a university under the ministry of education, his/her studentship/scholarship is a contractual agreement between them and the ministry. Hence, regardless of his/her institution location, once he/she completed the respected doctorate or master degree they must return as soon as possible. In this case, their fiduciary rights and obligation are not negotiable unless clearly stipulated in the contract.

Still, the controversy carries on. There is a time when the government vis-a-vis the ministry-sponsor fails to meet awardee's right and vice versa. Despite each party's good intention, the agreement seemed a formality in nature. There is a nuance of lack of self-discipline and communication. 

On top of this, the controversy is not the main story. As Indonesian, the main issue is how far Indonesians, from the most eastern to the western part, being exposed to high quality education which will further their live and well-being - not merely intellectual per se. This eternal vision has already been mentioned about a century ago by a former education ministry, Ki Hajar Dewantara. Understandably, this might not be realized in less than 10 years. Yet, several steps are not incomprehensible and un-identified. These easily defined steps are supposedly easier to deal with. The number of Indonesian students actively study in the world's top 100 universities, for instance, is left behind neighboring countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore not to mention China and Korea. Interestingly, the so-called world's level university in developed countries is less in the number than that in Indonesia. Why is that? I believe it is related to culture and political decision - among others. 

to be continue



 


Jumat, 09 September 2022

Having a Baby While Doing Post-Grad Study - Departure

We knew we're going to be parents about 3 months before departure. Setting and packing everything up for a long flight is daunting task. Coming to know that I have to make sure my wife and our baby safe is an extra responsible, yet we don't see it as an extra problem. As soon as we knew there was a baby in my wife's tummy, we rang a women and children hospital to have our daughter checked. We're fortunate to had already visited the hospital a few times beforehand. Several months in advance, We visited a gynecologist in the hospital to plan a pregnancy program. It was a several simple medical treatment to help us having a baby as we're already married 3 years and my wife have not been pregnant.

The first concern was the pregnancy age eligible for a flight. Some say that we should have no problem once the pregnancy reaches 3 months. Other say it is preferably 5 months old. The earlier was confirmed by the doctor, however, he stressed that it was his own opinion and put no pressure on us. 

In the end, we departed from Indonesia for Birmingham, UK on the 25th of July, 2021. This was quite long flight. The plane took off from Jakarta at 11.30 PM Indonesia time and touched down in Birmingham International Airport on the 26th of July at 17.00 PM. 

Having a pregnant wife in a long flight was a fun experience for me. Having a baby is such a great news and everyone who knew it during the flight extended good wishes, congratulations and other nice words. In the first airplane, Emirates, the stewardess provided an extra mineral water for my wife without being asked. And two stewardess in the last airplane, KLM, gave my wife a pack of extra full snack, souvenirs and a sweet greeting and wishes on a post card. 




Sabtu, 12 Februari 2022

Mandalika

I'm not a dead fans of MotoGP but the first event of the year that held in Indonesia catches my attention. Today is a day away from the main race. Many other Indonesia folks are just as excited as I am. The last motogp race hold in the country was about 15 years ago. At that time, as far as I can remember, Valentino Rossi was still in his prime and he was still in his 20's I guess. What makes this particular event feels special is the circumstance that is the pandemic is still going on.  In this difficult situation the government of Indonesia and all related partners manage to organize a world class event.

For your information, a motogp race is a series of four race. The first three race are practice riding. Racers are learning the circuit and get use with every curve. On the fourth they will struggle to die for being the champion. Overall, motogp series is a competition where racers collect points from every race they completed. In other words, the world champion motogp 2022 is the one who has the highest accumulated points of all.


Picture source: @motogp instagram

The circuit is located in Mandalika, Lombok. Lombok is a small island next to Bali. It is so close to Bali. That's why traveling to Lombok from Bali takes much less time than travelling to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Like Bali, Lombok has rich culture and many exotic beaches. In fact, the circuit is just about 20 minutes walking to the nearby beach.   

Jumat, 28 Januari 2022

Indonesian Student in Birmingham: Places I've Visited

My first impression in England was quite boring. Arriving in the United Kingdom during pandemic, I had to spend 10 days in quarantine hotel. I was not allowed to leave the hotel except for small walk for about 15 minutes in the hotel car park. It was not a wonderful situation but it was not awful either. In spite of this, at least I was with my wife. That way I had someone to talk to. Another thing that made the quarantine less miserable was food. We brought many Indonesian food. So, to kill the time and wierd-tasted food which served by the hotel, we ate the food earlier. I mean, the food was supposed to consume once we arrived at our home. But "emergency" situation made us to change the plan.

After 10 days, we managed to leave the hotel and the first interesting place we visited was Birmingham City Centre and Bullring Market. The later is familiar since I watched several video about this market on youtube. What makes this market outstanding is the way people sell the goods which is mostly veggies and fruits. They, the sellers, offer the goods in such a way people from Asia selling their products. The market is crowded and loud. The sellers who are mainly immigrant in my view, yell and shout to catch visitors attention. Exactly they share the same passion and enthusiasm as the sellers in Indonesia. Regarding the prices, they are affordable and when it is approaching 5 PM, it is the time when the market closed, the prices go down. In the morning you can get a bowl of apple for 1 pound but late in the afternoon you can get three bowls of them for 2 pound. Next, the city centre. In the surrounding you can find big malls and many big stores, banks, restaurants, hotels and tourist destinations such as museum (Baskerville house), Gas Street Canal, Victoria Square and city library. In short, the city centre is a one stop destination where you can visit places in one day walking.

Gas Street Basin, The Canal Side, Birmingham



I want to talk about Birmingham Arena separately. Why? Because the Birmingham Arena has close connection with Indonesia. As the venue of one of major badminton event, many Indonesian athletes have won the championships for numerous times. The last event, the all England 2021, that's how the championship officially named, our male-double athletes was undefeated and became the champion. The arena is right on the side of the canal. It's the opposite of sea world. If you take a bus from the city centre using bus number 23 or 24, you will see it on your left after 7/8 stops. On the other side of the arena, the one closer to the canal, Lego Land is waiting for you and your family to be explored. I had a chance to take a photograph on the site (see picture). The building is very active. Every now and then, music concerts, exhibitions or conferences are held.
Lego Land. Right behind the Birmingham Arena
where the All England is annually held.


I think that's it. In conclusion, there are many places to enjoy in this West Midland region. And the city centre is the best place to start as many interesting places are scattered around and accessible by foot in less than one day. Highly recommended. See you later.    


Does anyone know Ozzy Ozbourne of Black Sabbath
is from Birmingham? You can find the Black Sabbath Bridge built
to honor the singer right on the Gas Street Canal. 


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