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Dreamy Dreamy
2005-06-21
[Theechomagazine.com]
Many people commence their working day with a dream. Some have their dream fulfilled; while most others get caught up in the continuous sequence of merely dreaming. According to an old Indonesian proverb - a dream is the flower of sleep. In the cycle of dreaming, gamblers in Bali somewhat depend on their dreams to fulfill their lifelong dream of striking it rich.
These days in Bali it is easy for a foreigner to make acquaintance on the streets of Kuta, Ubud, Sanur, or anywhere in the island simply by asking the question, "Nomor togel berapa yang keluar?" which translates as: "What is the latest lottery number?" (Who is this tourist that understands Bali's togel business?) The lottery has become a popular pastime. Locals call it "togel" (tou-geil), abbreviated from "toto gelap" literally meaning the dark lottery or illegal lottery. You will obtain the answer with a friendly smile and become embraced into a not so secret circle. If you know about the lottery you are considered a gambler, one amongst them.
|  Some people dream a life of financial freedom: if not for the remainder of their life, at least for a day or two. "If you have good education and a decent job with a high salary you can save for the future," says Sunarto (23) a Javanese construction worker in Denpasar. "But if you are not that lucky, you can only rely on your dreams." Sunarto buys togel regularly from a small food stand in Sanur, next to the place where he waits for trucks to transport him to his place of work, which can be anywhere in Bali. "The lottery gives me hope that one day I will have a pocketful of money. I really want to know how that feels, even if it is only for one day."
For your information, everything we will talk about in this article is related to an action that is illegal. The state regulation of the Indonesian Republic declares any form of gambling is against the law. But, dear readers, sometimes the rule of law is not necessarily the rule of public habit: people consider it a game. Aren't the terms 'game' and 'gamble' rooted from the same word?
Lottery stands have long been a common sight in public places all over the island; however, the police force supposedly swept away the practice of lottery gambling from the streets of Bali. But last February, in Supratman Street alone, where the regional police headquarters is located, there were as many as eight places selling togel tickets. In a more recent series of police raids most ticket dealers and retailers simply disappeared (from the public eye anyway). And despite the crackdown many people still run the togel, illegally, of course, making the name 'dark lottery' an appropriate choice.
Togel is basically a system that allows purchasers to choose their desired numbers on a lottery ticket. Once a week, the togel organizers will draw a number and you win if your number matches. Anyone is eligible to buy as many tickets as they like, and write down any two, three or four digit combinations. Usually there are four numbers per ticket. You may write down a random number, anything comes into your head at. But most 'players' like to ponder over their choice of number and link it to something tangible. The game of togel is one of prediction and chance.
The minimum price for a single number selection is Rp. 1,000 to 2,500 depending on the ticket provider. One ticket enables the holder to choose a combination of up to four numbers. Predicting the last two togel digits correctly offers a prize of 60 times the amount of their original ticket. A three digit togel win is 350 times the ticket price, while a four digit win is 2,500 times the ticket price.
This is a dream of wealth that many people can afford to buy. With as little as Rp. 2,500 it is possible to win as much as Rp. 6,250,000 if their four numbers match what is drawn. My friend Ketut Mulyadi, a visual designer actually won the six million cash prize a year ago.
"My wife had a dream the other night, she saw a shining number," said Nyoman Setiawan. "She wasn't sure if it was 92 or 29." The day before the lottery draw, Setiawan was still deliberating about which number to write down.
| From reading one's dreams, to quasi-statistical methods, there are many ways for compulsive gamers to find their number. "Basically, the prediction can rely on signs of nature or reading the results from previous draws," says Mulyadi, my friend, himself a compulsive gamer.
Reading the results from previous draws, commonly called paito, is principally trying to find some sort of pattern in the draw outcome. The pattern method is subjective, depends on the gamers' taste and his eye. He examines a table of numbers from previous draws, to seek a hidden answer that could earn him a fortune.
There are also signs of nature to help one determine a number. This can be anything from an earthquake to a rain storm or just everyday happenings. A person may suddenly see a flock of birds or visualize a snake in his dream. Dreams are an important to connection to the laws of nature. All dreams are considered a sign from nature, a clue about which numbers will appear in the next togel draw.
"I saw a cockroach sitting on my motorbike when I went to work one morning," said Nyoman Radana. He considered that this unsightly insect would play important role in the next draw. The number of the cockroach is 61, so he followed the sign and played this number on his ticket. But perhaps this natural sign was attributed to the standards of cleanliness of his bike motorbike!
The lottery is not only about playing a game; you must become the reader of natural phenomena. You must develop a sensitivity and awareness to anything that happens around you, and turned it to a winning number.
Last month, there was a big political party congress in the Bali Beach Hotel in Sanur. A week after the congress of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), the lottery number drawn was 4518. Made Arta, a compulsive gambler from the Sanur area, who is also the keen supporter of the Democratic Party revealed, "I didn't realize that the congress was such an important sign of nature. 18 was the number of the party in the last election, 45 was the number of Sukarno." Sukarno was the main figure in Indonesia's proclamation of Independence in August 1945. Megawati Sukarnoputri, who was re-elected as the party's chairman is the daughter of Sukarno. Everything, including a party chairperson, can be related to a number.
Signs of nature can literally be related to anything, and the search for signs reduces people to silly behavior. Several months ago, a group of five people, all male, spent their whole night sleeping on the open verandah of a Balinese compound in Sukawati, Gianyar. The following morning, while sipping the first glass of coffee for the day, they asked to each other about their respective dreams. They conducted a serious discussion about what the law of nature was trying to say to them. In order to find the right number, they intentionally slept on an uncomfortable verandah so that they could dream together. Their only concern was the wisdom of numbers. What would be the number of the next lottery draw? It's all quite childish when you think about it.
| Numbers have taken people to remote places, where they consult "orang pintar", which translates as "intellectual" or wise man, to ask for the right number. Some even meditate on sacred ground, asking for divine inklings. "I was sleeping under the sacred tree, when suddenly I had a vision of a bat approaching me."
In conjunction with this compulsive interpretation of dreams and hunches, there is even a book, sort of like a dictionary, where you can look the meaning of your latest dream. This is the bible of "the signs of nature" which is entitled "1000 Tafsir Mimpi" (the interpretation of 1000 dreams). Many Balinese lottery gamblers rely on this book to find their wealth. Inside the visual book, there are clues that link dreams to numbers relating and each page bears numbers and pictures. There are six pictures with five different numbers; the pictures are of human professions, animals, human activities, the wayang puppet figure and daily activities. Dreams are visual and everything visual is numerical.
If you dream you see a buffalo, it can be easily translated to a numbers, and the number representing the buffalo is 09. Elephants are symbolized by the number 13; playing tennis 22; monkey's 23; game of baseball 25 and wrestling 33. In short, any human activity has a number, every animal has number; almost everything in everyday life has number. Soap is 33, rope 32; hotel 47; taxi 53; skirt 51; wallet 52; table 99 and the calendar is 00. Everything has number that enables gamblers to predict their future fortune.
What is the logic behind each number given? No one has ever bothered to ask. Why is the elephant numbered 13? Perhaps 1 represents its nose and 3 for its big ears. Nobody even knows who invented this gambling bible of lottery prediction.
One thing that is evident from the book: there is a combination of Chinese and Javanese influences. On every page, there are two frames of pictures; on the upper-left side of the frame, there is one person wearing Chinese traditional clothes like a comic character, while the lower-right corner of the frame bears Javanese wayang puppet characters.
Perhaps the inventor of this book, the interpreter of dream, is of Chinese-Javanese origin and a dreamer by choice.
So, remember your next dream could very well earn you a small fortune in Bali's illegal lottery draw.
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