Of all New Year celebration customs and traditions, none is more extraordinary than those of Bali people. Nyepi Day, as how their New Year is called, means total silence. And total silence means "no fire", "no travel", "no activity" and "no entertainment".
On that special Neypi Day, no one drives or goes to work. Everyone is off duty, and even ATMs are no different - but of course, no one needs money because there's nothing to buy. Or, as the Dutch call it, niksen, meaning "doing nothing" or "being idle".
The creepy experience of shutting down everything including airport is clearly going to give us uneasy fear, and it pains me to say this, but fear mounts if such "niksen mode" isn't an one-off event on the New Year. Having a Neypi Day once a year is fine, but we don't need that many months of silence.
May we wish for an audacious new year ahead.
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