When I pointed the camera, the man gave a quick thumbs-up as soon as he could.

If you're lounging around with a friend, you can get lost in the chatter and play games, but you can't do anything on your own. You can only chew on the passage of time.

A man in a polo shirt I saw in a residential area of Jakarta was sitting on a bench by the side of the road, idly resting on his own. As I walked by, I pointed my camera at him and he came to his senses. But he was confused as to what to do and gave me a quick thumbs up.

The fact that he gave me a thumbs-up is an affirmation of something, but I'm sure neither I nor the man knew what he was affirming. The thumbs-up was casual.

It is not uncommon to see people walking around streets and spending their time on the streets doing nothing. But those people are invariably men. It is very rare to see a woman idly spending her time on the street. I guess women are more hard-working than men in Indonesia as well, or perhaps they are forced to work. They are so busy with child-rearing, housework, and cooking that they don't seem to have time to do anything but idle on the roadside.

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