You come close, just smile
The girl with coconut water cut the coconut and put two straws in it and gave it to us. On the one hand, the coconuts there are two to three times bigger than the coconuts found in India, but this coconut was much bigger than the coconuts there. We filled that water in our glasses and water bottles. About two liters of water came out of that coconut. This was enough for all of us to drink in one go. While we were drinking coconut water, two Javanese boys, aged 20-22 years, came to us and started singing while playing guitar. They were the first beggars we saw in Indonesia. They were both wearing nice clothes. He was playing the guitar well. An Indian Hindi film tune started coming out of his guitar, and soon he started singing – 'Tum paas aaye, zara muskreinye……. Something happens.' We were shocked, how did they know that we were Indians, but the very next moment it was understood that one could easily recognize us that we were Indians because of Madhu wearing a sari.
We didn't want to give anything to the boys in such nice clothes and playing the guitar so well. My mind was also spoiled because till now I had been thinking that there are no beggars here, but these boys had broken that notion. In no time, Vijay came there with his father. We also gave them coconut water to drink and after sometime we left from there. By this time it was three o'clock in the afternoon. Mr. Finally found us in the parking area.
Lunch in a moving car
We have Mr. Told Anto to stop the car somewhere in a park so that we can have lunch. Mr. Anto suggested that since there is very little time left in the evening, it is better that we have lunch in the moving car, otherwise we will not be able to see the spot ahead. This was a good suggestion. So we had lunch in the car itself. There was no inconvenience in doing so.
Gambira Loka Zoo
In Javanese, Gambira means happy, Lok means public and Zoo means Zoo. Thus the name of this zoo appears to be Gambira from Javanese language, Loka from Sanskrit and Zoo from English language. It was almost four o'clock by the time we reached the zoo. The zoo is spread over an area of 54 acres and remains open till 5.30 pm as it becomes dark after that. We had little time left. It was not possible to see it completely in a period of one-and-a-half hours. Nevertheless we hurriedly booked tickets and entered the zoo. This zoo was opened in AD 1956.
It houses 470 species of a wide variety of animals, among which the orangutan, komodo, dragon, gibbon and hippopotamus were of special attraction to us. We focused our attention on these. This zoo is built on the Gajahwong River. Elephant is called Gaj in Java. Elephants are found in large numbers in the area of this river, which is probably why this river would have been named Gajah Wong. Jawai elephants are displayed in one enclosure, which in stature and physique do not stand anywhere in comparison with Indian elephants.
Still, it was interesting to see them because by spreading their long trunk, they were accepting gifts like bananas etc. from foreign and domestic tourists. In one enclosure we saw two brown orangutans. One of these orangutans was sitting on a high wooden loft, enjoying the sight of foreign tourists while his companion rested in a cave-like cabin. In about an hour we saw komodos, dragons, gibbons and hippopotamuses and giant parrots. Four or five camels are displayed in an enclosure. This was the first time for us that we had seen a camel among the exhibiting animals in the zoo. These are camels with single tusks like those found in the Thar Desert of India.
Lord Bhuvan Bhaskar had bowed down a lot and the light in the zoo was very low. Meanwhile, we also saw a thin snake crawling outside a cage. It was not advisable to stay in the dark as it was not like the typical Indian zoos that are set up in an artificial park in the middle of the city, it was a zoo spread among the real dense forest where animals live even outside the cages. So we went outside.
Meanwhile, the zoo guards were seen sitting on their motorcycles taking stock of how many tourists are now roaming in the zoo. We were the only ones there, the guards closed the main gate of the zoo as soon as we left. At this time it must have been five-seven minutes above five and a half o'clock, but it seemed as if it was seven thirty in the evening. Mr. Anto was pleased that we had taken full interest in both the places he mentioned.