As I stated, this is a throwback post, when I joined Women's March in Jakarta for the first time as they have held it for the second time. Excited af I must say, even until now! I missed it already and hopefully the universe may give me chance to experience it again for years to come.
On April, 27th, I woke up early and super excited as I dressed up and took my rainbow flag enamel pin from the black denim jacket that I decided not to bring with me to the march, it was heavy and too warm for such (thank you, universe!) sunny morning. My sister and mom drove me where I met my super best buddy and we went to the assembly point by bus. We chatted like A LOT in our way in the bus, until he needed to pee. We were looking for the meeting point plus somewhere that had toilet where he could pee. After not so long walk, we stumbled upon one of those fast-food restaurants. He was in doubt to take pee as for the reason that we didn't buy anything from the restaurant, so I convinced him to use the toilet and I would wait on the restaurant's patio which was located outside and across the parking lot. It was 6.30 AM, so I thought the waiters wouldn't bother if these two students just wanted to save their money on something they didn't crave at that morning. Several minutes passed as I waited for him to walk out of the toilet, but that didn't happen for the next several minutes, suddenly he walked out quickly, in slightly panic and awkward gesture, than sat in front of me. We laughed our way out of the restaurant as the cashier noticed us walked out without any purchases. Rebels!
We walked in rush as the clock ticked, it was almost 7 AM. Surprisingly, as we arrived at the meeting point, the marchers were still preparing their posters and attributes. We looked at each other and exhaled as the sign that we weren't late for the march. We waited for my three other friends, but unfortunately, only one that joined us as we began the march by walking along the track, raising and shouting our posters. It was such a moment, it felt like the time went slowly and we were all sharing these concerns, we were celebrating this moment where diversity and equality was there, alive, regardless of what your gender, appearance, and sexuality was. We were there as one, celebrated and sounded our concerns. Hours went and we finally arrived at the final assembly point, the landmark of Jakarta itself, The National Monument. And what made it really dope? A fucking drag show with drag Ariana, Jessie J, and Nicki Minaj, y'all! If that wasn't dope, I don't even know what else would! Plus, it was my first openly drag show! Major thing in life to witness, and this girl wasn't disappointed at all! They served me well. We met up with my two other seniors, and we discussed about sexuality and gender, included ourselves. Then me and my two other friends decided to have lunch together somewhere else. He ordered the taxi online and three of us hopped in. We were starving after the energetic march!
As we arrived at the other fast-food restaurant (this time we bought the food, I swore!) and immediately walked to the cashier to get our foods. We ate and discussed back the topic we left hanging earlier at the march, plus we talked about our future self, which I found scary to talk about. Future is a mystery, right? It feels like you are walking forward this dark unknown paths and can't undo what you've done, either it was right or wrong. I may sound so pessimistic about future, but failure is deep down everyone's darkest fear, right? Or is it just me? Only ourselves have the answer to it. Let it be unanswered, just like the future. My other friend decided to go first cause she had a movie to catch up, the overhype Avengers: Endgame. We also got a movie to catch as it was the closing screening of today's Women's March.
We would like to go home and said bye, but the rain forced us to stay longer after the movie. I couldn't lie that I was so fucking tired, my lower back was sore for standing so much that morning, my ankle was also sore for walking too long, lastly, my throat was so fucking itchy for shouting my concerns out loud to whoever that could hear me out that morning! We talked again for hours about everything that we haven't got time to share for the past 3 months. It was nice to have this kind of conversation again, discussing about something that had value in it, not just casual gossip about boys or unnecessary things such like other people's life, or comparing people's ex with their present partner and deciding who is more beautiful or handsome. Fuck those! I prefer not to waste my time and energy discussing about what other people's have in their plate. The rain finally stopped and we went home. It was tiring and my whole body was fucked, but the march was so worth the pain I got all over my body.
May our path come across again for years to come. I was grateful to be able to meet and be with all of you as we marched together and sharing this energy. May the universe hear me out.
