Recognise this picture? Of course these are blackberries. Who don’t? This fruit is one of my favourites. Their sourish taste gives a pleasure to my tongue. And it is not too hard to find ones here in my hometown Bandung. I only have to walk about 400 yards away to meet the first blackberry street vendor. The berries are sold on a modified motorbike with a mini-trailer. Though they are sold in purée and in the process sugar and lemon drops are added yet the berries would still taste pleasantly strong in your mouth. But don’t get surprised if your fæces turn pitch black the next day, they are obviously the remains of the berries eaten the day before.

But today I am not about to talk on blackberry the fruit. I am gonna talk about the other species of blackberry. Yes this berry is now a popular mobile communication device here in Indonesia. This article kindled when I needed to replace one of my GSM mobile phones since the battery has worn out. Though I realise that the solution to this problem is to buy a new battery of the similar kind, but this critical moment or at least  so it is called has been  manipulated into a good opportunity to buy a new mobile communication gadget. My choice falls between Windows-mobile-operated smart phones and iPhone. Probably I will single out a Windows-mobile-operated one. My colleagues proposed me to buy a BlackBerry. But I am not happy with such proposal. How come? That’s because I dislike BlackBerry. The feeling of dislike towards this Berry is largely based on subjective grounds rather than objective ones. Firstly, I dislike market leaders. I don’t know what is the position of BlackBerry in world market but obviously it begins to pan out in the competition and I get a hunch that in a year or two it will overtake Nokia in Indonesian market, in all likelihood. Secondly, this is even sillier , this communication gadget has become more and more common among the rank and file so you can no longer sport it proudly in public! Based on these shaky grounds I opt not to buy a BlackBerry!

I believe somewhere in the market there is a more powerful mobile communication gadget than BlackBerry since I am mighty sure that BlackBerry is not the crème de la crème of mobile communication gadgets! It does not have to be more expensive but at least it has to be a neck-and-neck competitor to a BlackBerry. So, anyone, do you have any suggestion what a new mobile communication gadget I should buy? But please never suggest me to buy a BlackBerry because I am not gonna have it for all the tea in China unless public has turn its back on the Heath Robinson gadget.

P.S.

This article is not a vilification of a product brand, it is merely a matter of  jocular personal opinion! Discretion is advised!

You know that I am not a junkie of soaps or telenovelas latinoamericanas or any sorts of slapstick comedy but yesterday afternoon I just found out that a talkshow on TV One concerning chats between two TV-One news presenters and Anggodo Widjojo (and his lawyer) had improbably absorbed me. Yes, for about two hours running I was made into a couch potato by the programme!

The programme on the case which has become a face-off between the police and the anti-corruption commission (KPK) might also have stupefied millions of viewers nationwide. But I don’t want to go into the lowdown on the showdown because I am not an expert at this case. I am basically neutral but my stance is clear, I am against any actions that oppose the eradication of corruption. I simply think that a law enforcement agency whatever it is must manage to root corruption out of this country once and for all! Because evidently corruption is eating away at our resources.

And for those who are reading this article I warn you that you should not have  too much of any good things whether it is a chat show programme nor a soap. Oops, correction, I don’t see any goods in a soap regardless of its measure…

Have you ever played a word game in your life? Scrabble perhaps. It is one of the most well-known word games and board games as well. And if you are a Scrabble junkie (like I used to be) you will be aware of the handiness of two-letter words especially if you face a distress when you have no vowels or no consonants in your tile rack. In such distressful condition the good thing to do is to skip your turn and to change your tiles up or you can do next to the good thing which is to recall all your two-letter English words in your vocabulary.

Two-letter English words are very common and it is not difficult to find them. Since you were first introduced to the language through your fusty English lesson books decades ago, you had already been conversant with some basic two-letter English words such as: “we“, “us“, “he“, “it“, “on“, “in“, “at“, “if“, and whatnot. Unfortunately having only such basic words in hand usually fails to boost the scoreline and sometimes it is nearly as bad as if you don’t know all of them at all.  To break away from such impasse down the line the best thing you can do is to beef up your vocabulary with those of two-letter words beyond the basics. Of course you cannot mistake two-letter words for two-letter acronyms. The pseudo-words (acronyms) such as “U.K. (United Kingdom)”, “I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient)”, “A.C. (Alternating Current)” and so on are not legit for most word games notably for  Scrabble. That’s because they are acronyms. But the words like “op (operator)”, “bi (bisexual)” “ex (ex-wife, ex-husband, ex-boyfriend, etc.) are legit since they are short forms of a word and they are NOT acronyms. From those two sets of words given above you will readily tell an acronym from a short form of a word apart.

Now, let’s demystify the nonbasic two-letter words  by listing them below. On the list you will see various two-letter English words that might be beyond your ken. Ranging from rather acceptable words in your perception up to the incredibly rummy words. Largely the rummy words are obsolete words and were not in use after the Middle English period (ending in circa 1500). The obsolete words might usually appear in old English literature. This sort of words will appear in red and if you use them in a word game you’d better use them with discretion in that they are subject to rejection.

These are some of the (acceptable for word games) nonbasic two-letter English words:

aa =  rough cindery lava
ac = oak (plural: aec)
ad = advertisement
ae = one (Scottish)
ak = oak (dialect)
au = awe
ba = soul in mythical Egypt
bo = a kind of fig tree
bu = former Japanese coin
ca = calf (Scottish. Plural: caas or cais)
co = jackdaw
cu = cow
cy = cows (plural of cu)
da = Indian fibre plant
de = of, from
du = do (Scottish)
dw = do (Scottish)
dy = gaming die (plural: dyce or dys)
ea = river, stream (dialect)
ec = also, too
ee = eye (Scottish. Plural: een)
ek = eke
eu = yew
ew = ewe (dialect)
ey = water (dialect)
fo = area measure (dialect)
fu = Chinese district
fy = fie (an interjection)
gu = go (dialect)
gy = guide-rope (Scotish)
hu = Chinese liquid measure
hv = how
hw = yew
hy = hie (Scottish)
ia = jay (Scottish)
io = Hawaiian hawk
iv = in, of (dialect)
ja = jaw, talk (dialect)
jo = darling (Scottish. Plural: joes)
ka = spirit in mythical Egypt
ki = liliaceous plant
ko = Chinese liquid measure (Plural: ko)
ku = ulcer in the eye (dialect)
li = Chinese length unit (Plural: li)
lu = listen (Orkney)
mo = moment
na = no (Scottish)
ne = not
ob = wizard
od = hypnotic force
oe = small island
ol = hydroxyl atom group
om = mantra syllable
oo = wool (Scottish)
oy = grandchild (Scottish)
po = chamber pot (plural: pos)
py = pie
qi = life-force in Chinese philosophy
re = note in music scale
ri = Japanese measure of distance
ro = repose (Scottish)
se = Japanese measure of area
sh = command to silence
si = note in music scale
st = attracting attention
ta = thank you
tu = Chinese distance measure equals 250 li
ty = tie
ua = woe
un = one; him.
uo = foe
ut = music note C.
va = woe (Scottish)
vi = Polynesian fruit
vo = size of book
wa = Siamese measure
wo = recalling a hawk
xi = Greek letter ‘x’
xu = Vietnamese coin
yl = isle
yo = expressing effort
yu = Chinese wine-vessel
za = pizza
zo = hybrid yak (plural: zos)

Ini cerita sewaktu di Jakarta lalu ketika saya selesai menghadiri Pesta Blogger 2009 di Gedung Smesco Sabtu tanggal 24 Oktober lalu. Dalam perjalanan pulang, saya mampir ke Ace Hardware di Jalan Fatmawati Jakarta Selatan untuk membeli sebuah multitester dan juga sebuah pancuran shower. Karena kebetulan shower di rumah saya di Jakarta sudah agak bocor jadinya perlu diganti. Multitesternya? Tentu saja tidak ada hubungannya dengan bocornya shower saya itu dong! Ketika saya akan membayar kedua item yang saya beli sebesar Rp. 278.800,- saya membayarnya kas dengan 3 lembar uang kertas masing-masing Rp. 100.000,- di kasir. Namun ketika si kasir ingin mengembalikan uang kembalian, tiba-tiba si kasir menyerukan: “Pak, yang Rp. 200,- ingin disalurkan ke daerah gempa di Padang?” Saya tegas menjawab: “Tidak!”

Saya pelit?? Terserah pembaca mau menilai saya ini pelit atau nggak. Tapi dengarkan dulu penjelasan saya, entah kenapa saya ini paling sebal jikalau disuruh menyumbang di depan seseorang, walaupun itu cuma Rp. 200,-. Apalagi model “todongan” seperti yang saya alami di Ace Hardware Fatmawati ini. Menurut saya pribadi, orang lain nggak perlu tahu saya sudah menyumbang atau belum menyumbang untuk korban gempa bumi di manapun juga (bukan hanya di Padang, Sumbar).  Alasan kedua, saya agak sebal dengan cara Ace Hardware ingin berpartisipasi menyumbang untuk korban gempa bumi jikalau caranya seperti itu. Jikalau mereka ingin berpartisipasi menyumbang sekalian ingin berpromosi mendapatkan nama harum, kenapa nggak langsung saja menyisihkan keuntungannya untuk para korban musibah alam tersebut tanpa harus melibatkan pelanggannya. Atau, jika ingin melibatkan pelanggannya, kenapa nggak disediakan kotak amal atau tuliskan saja nomor rekening yang bisa menampung sumbangan di baliho atau di banner depan pintu masuk toko? Beres kan? Masalah ada orang yang nyumbang atau nggak ke nomor rekening tersebut ya itu bukan masalah. Pokoknya entah kenapa aku paling sebal kalau harus menyumbang langsung di depan orang, apalagi model “todongan” seperti yang saya alami ini.  Apalagi kalau nyumbang pakai dicatat nama segala. Bukan hanya riya tapi kok sepertinya norak banget gitu. Walaupun mungkin catatan nama diperlukan untuk pertanggungjawaban penyaluran dana bantuan.

Nah…. jadi ada dua hal yang mau saya sampaikan dalam artikel ini. Pertama, menurut saya sebisa mungkin seminimal mungkin orang lain yang tahu kita menyumbang kecuali jikalau kita tidak ada pilihan lain. Kedua, jangan gengsi untuk mempertahankan prinsip yang anda pertahankan sejak dulu. Saya sendiri tidak malu dikatakan pelit atau kéré karena tidak mau menyumbang meskipun hanya Rp. 200,-. Biarin aja kalau saya dibilang pelit sama si mbak-mbak kasir (atau mungkin ada di antara pembaca yang juga menganggap saya pelit? ). Toh, saya tidak perlu pengakuan dari si mbak-mbak kasir (atau dari orang lain manapun) apakah saya pelit atau tidak…..  Nggak ada gunanya saya mempertahankan gengsi saya di depan si mbak-mbak kasir!

It was 2002. Prior to the Japan-Korea 2002 World Cup for the first time in this beloved country I expected to have a broadband connection to the Internet which would do away with paying ballooning monthly phone bill as the consequence of rather uncontrollable net connection on dial-up plan. Yes my ever growing appetite for information could no longer be sustained by a dial-up plan subscription. It was the phone bill that shook me down with nearly one million rupiahs monthly. That’s why I began to search high and low for a new connection plan that provided an unlimited basis yet with a more economical fee. The options were limited at that time but a friend of mine apprised me of the presence of a cable TV service which also provided an Internet connection on unlimited basis. Soon afterwards I began enjoying the unlimited basis which freed me from paying skyrocketing phone bills. I only had to pay Rp. 350.000,- monthly (10% VAT not included), it is way economical vis-à-vis the phone bill I had to monthly pay on the dial-up plan. Speed?? Well…. at the time I began to subscribe to it, speed did not much improve, it lumbered at a little bit over than 64 kbps! Or even in the peak hours of use, speed can drop to the level where you can appreciate your old 56 kbps dial-up modem. But I did not really care, I was absorbed with the fact that I had to pay less with more time of connection every month and it made me be in seventh heaven!

Unfortunately I had to subscribe to the pay-TV too to enjoy the cable connection. That’s because the cable TV operator did not offer Internet service and if you wanted to connect to the broadband connection you had to contact an Internet provider that became the business partner of the TV cable operator, as simple troublesome as that! But for the total enjoyment in surfing the Net, I was prepared to expend ‘more’ and quitting the subscription to my old pay-TV operator.

The clock ticked on, in 2004 the provider raised the fee to Rp. 500.000,- (10% VAT not included). In the previous year, I had to leave Jakarta for Bandung due to my job’s prerequisite. I did not quit the service because I still needed it in case I had to stay in Jakarta for a day or two in slack times or in holidays. Meanwhile in Bandung, I also enrolled in another TV-pay service as a subscriber (2006) and in another broadband Internet provider (2007). With the multiple subscriptions like this of course it brought out the financial burdens in me and somehow I had to find a way to cut down the budget.

In the late 2007, I was informed that the (Jakarta) TV cable operator had offered the integrated Internet service with more economical value because it operates on its own network unlike the third party provider which must offer the service with a higher fee due to the additional network lease fee. Initially (and oddly) I doubted to switch to the new provider as they tried to improve their service. Speed had quadrupled since 2002 when first I subscribed. And last but not least I did not have the heart to quit the weaker side ( I take the third party provider for the weaker side because in no way they can compete with the host or TV provider integrated Internet service on cable network).

But in the end of the day I had to make up my mind since I am not a well-to-do person, I am just another man in the street. After mulling it over for more than a year, soon after the last Eid-ul-Fitr holiday I decided to switch over to the TV cable operator’s Internet service, bidding the old Internet provider adieu. However despite undergoing the ups and downs with the service I would like to thank the old Internet provider for giving me the first experience of broadband Internet connection…..

__________________

My old Internet broadband provider in Jakarta: Centr*n

My so-called new Internet broadband provider/TV cable operator in Jakarta: Kabelvision F*rst Media. I subscribed to FastNet 512 which only costs me Rp. 195.000,- (VAT not included).

Seorang rekan blogger, baru saja memutuskan langkah yang “drastis” **halaah** dengan mendeaktivasi (bener nggak ya Bahasa Indonesianya??) akun Fesbuknya di dunia maya. Rekan blogger tersebut mengeluh karena tidak bisa menghentikan kecanduannya sehingga khawatir akan menemukan kesenangan palsu dalam dunia maya sehingga akan mengalahkan aktivitasnya sehari-hari dalam dunia nyata. Sebenarnya menurut saya pribadi, ia tidak perlu untuk membabat habis akun Fesbuknya, bagaimanapun juga suatu saat akun Fesbuknya bisa sangat berguna kelak untuk sesuatu yang lebih serius (walaupun sebenarnya mudah saja untuk membuat akun baru, namanya juga gretongan!). Namun tentu saja saya juga harus mengerti keputusannya “membabat habis” akun Fesbuknya karena mungkin kecanduannya sudah over, cara satu-satunya mungkin adalah dengan cara mendeaktivasikannya.

Saya sendiripun sebenarnya punya akun Fesbuk, namun entah kenapa saya tidak bisa ketagihan dengan yang namanya Fesbuk. Mungkin juga karena dari semula akun Fesbuk saya hanya saya fokuskan untuk mencari teman-teman lama saja walaupun masih banyak teman-teman lama yang belum saya temukan via Fesbuk. Sementara rekan-rekan blogger, teman-teman yang setiap hari hampir ketemu dan juga saudara-saudara dekat yang juga sering ketemu, tidak saya “add“. Apalagi orang-orang yang tidak saya kenal sebelumnya, yang justru paling banyak untuk minta di-add!! Mungkin ini menyangkut kesinisan saya pada jejaring-jejaring sosial macam ‘Fesbuk’ ini, karena pada zamannya Friendster dulu saya mengalami banyak kepalsuan yang ada dalam Friendster, pertemanan hanya didasarkan pada penampilan foto saja dan bahkan tidak jarang demi menggaet teman-teman yang banyak mereka menggunakan foto-foto palsu! Sejak itulah saya merasa bahwa mencari pertemanan  lewat jejaring sosial seperti itu kebanyakan (tidak semua lho) akan mendapatkan teman-teman yang “palsu” terutama bagi yang belum dikenal sama sekali. Mungkin saja fotonya palsu, atau bisa jadi fotonya asli tapi ia menyembunyikan “jati diri” yang sebenarnya.

Hal ini diperparah dengan banyaknya narisisme yang ada di Fesbuk demi “mencuri” hati atau mendapat pengakuan dari pengguna Fesbuk lainnya padahal keadaan sebenarnya tidak seindah apa yang ditampilkan di Fesbuk. Mereka yang narsisis di Fesbuk (terutama narsisisme yang “tidak jelas” atau dalam konotasi negatif) biasanya orang yang tidak mendapat pengakuan di lingkungan riilnya, orang yang kesepian (walaupun bisa saja ia punya banyak kawan riil, namun tidak “dianggap”). Orang yang sudah mendapat pengakuan dari lingkungan riilnya biasanya tidak akan merasa perlu berlaku narsisis di dunia maya atau jikalau ia narsisis, warna narsisismenya akan berbeda.

Namun tentu saja kita tidak perlu anti dengan Fesbuk. Hanya saja jikalau kita ingin lepas dari jeratan “candu Fesbuk” gunakanlah jejaring tersebut pada satu atau dua fokus yang jelas dan positif saja. Misalnya untuk mencari teman-teman lama atau untuk promosi bisnis ataupun untuk bertukar fikiran yang positif atau untuk misi-misi sosial atau kemanusiaan. Tidak perlu mulai melontarkan kata-kata di dinding dengan komen-komen yang berkualitas rendah sekelas komen-komen yang dilontarkan oleh, maaf,  un/une domestique!

Food rich in carbohydrate

Saturday afternoon about five I just returned from a shopping spree with my family. I sank myself in a couch. I did not know what else to do. So to drive away the ennui I grabbed the TV remote and I switched the TV on. The first scene appeared on the screen was a talk show programme aired by Global TV. It seemed that someone had previously tuned in to the station. Yes, the programme is called “Asyiknya Bertani” (the engrossing farming). Actually it is not one of my fave programmes yet I was clueless why at that moment I could focus on the programme.

I do not know how the show kicked off but all of sudden I noted that the female presenter of the programme which is an Indonesian TV personality made a comparative slip-up, remarking (it approximates to): “Corn has more calorific value and less costly than rice”. Okay, let’s leave the economic facet out in that I am not too interested. Let’s focus on the calories produced by two objects. Can you see what is critically missing from the presenter’s remark above? Yes you are right, the units that should be applied to both objects are not there! How much corn is she talking about? a kilo of corn? Just a grain of corn? a cob (or an ear) of corn?? And how much rice is she talking about too? a grain of rice? a tablespoon of rice? a plate of rice? or is it possibly a kilo of rice? To make a comparison useful especially if we are talking about a quantitative comparison, interconvertible and well-defined units should be applied to all objects being compared. If we fail to do so the comparison will likely be futile, perplexing and misleading. Of course it is not just to compare the calorific values between a tablespoon of rice and an ear of corn. The rather fitted comparison might be between a plate of rice and an ear of corn but the most acceptable comparison is to use a mass or weight unit like kilogram, gram, pound, ounce and whatnot so the comparison can be analysed through a more fair basis.

The TV presenter is LK if I don’t mistake someone else for her. What rather surprised me is that she holds a degree in medicine. Considering a degree she holds she ought to make a better comparative remark than that she had. I would not be so taken aback if such remark came out of my domestic employees who did not pass grade school. But of course as an old cliché said: to err is human and slip-ups got nothing to do with a degree someone holds. I am sure I am prone to mistakes as well. I do not want to be something that borders on a cynic but this article rather reminds us to be very critical and analytical upon digesting a bit of information…..

Post scriptum:

After hearing out Kang Anggara’s voluble address on ethical blogging in Pesta Blogger 2009, I decided to abbreviate the subject’s name. I realise that in the last paragraph of the post, it merely touches on subjective matters rather than the objective issue. So it is my mistake. It proves out that mistakes work on me too!

The Ramen Girl adalah judul film yang “tidak sengaja” saya tonton pada bulan Ramadhan yang lalu. Ceritanya waktu selesai sahur, saya menunggu azan shubuh. Acara Tafsir Al-Mishbah-nya Pak Quraish Shihab baru saja selesai. Saya iseng-iseng membolak-balik saluran televisi mencari acara Ramadhan lainnya yang bagus. Karena ketemunya cuma acara-acara lawak atau acara-acara yang pembawa acaranya model pelawak yang norak dan menyebalkan dan tidak mendidik maka akhirnya saya memilih-milih saluran televisi kabel. Secara tak sengaja saya melihat saluran Star Movies yang baru saja mulai memutar film “The Ramen Girl” ini.

Mula-mulanya saya tidak yakin akan terhibur dengan film semacam ini. Maklumlah entah kenapa saya sepertinya sulit terhibur (bukan berarti nggak bisa sama sekali loh…) dengan film-film drama, namun karena setelah tidak ada pilihan yang lain lagi maka terpaksa saya lanjutkan menonton “The Ramen Girl” ini. Ternyata setelah saya menonton agak lama film ini, film ini punya daya tarik tersendiri yang sanggup membuat mata saya terbuka lebar untuk terus menikmati film ini.

“The Ramen Girl” bercerita tentang seorang gadis Amerika bernama Abby (diperankan oleh Brittany Murphy) yang menyusul sang pacar (orang Amerika juga) ke Tokyo, Jepang yang tengah bekerja di kota itu. Namun sang pacar memutuskan hubungan dengan Abby dengan alasan ada pekerjaan di Osaka. Di tengah kesedihannya karena sebatang kara ditinggal sang pacar di kota Tokyo yang asing, Abby melihat kedai ramen (mie) yang kecil di seberang jalan dari apartemen tempat ia tinggal. Walaupun kecil namun kedai ramen itu menarik hatinya untuk mengunjunginya. Ketika Abby sampai ke kedai ramen tersebut ternyata kedai tersebut sudah akan tutup namun karena pemilik ramen dan istrinya tidak bisa berbahasa Inggris sedikitpun maka Abby tidak tahu kalau kedainya sudah tutup dan karena hatinya tengah sedih ditinggal pacarnya maka Abby menangis di kedai tersebut. Pemilik ramen mungkin menyangka bahwa si Abby adalah bulé kere yang menangis karena kelaparan untuk itu ia memberi Abby semangkuk ramen gratis. Ketika mencoba ramen tersebut Abby sangat tertarik dengan ramen tersebut. Setelah selesai makan, Abby disuruh pulang (Abby ingin membayar tapi ditolak oleh si pemilik ramen dan istrinya) namun ia bertekad besoknya akan kembali mengunjungi kedai ramen tersebut dan ingin belajar memasak ramen.

Dari sinilah cerita mengalir sangat menarik bagi saya. Keesokan harinya si Abby kembali ke kedai ramen tersebut dan ingin diajarkan cara memasak ramen. Namun oleh sang pemilik kedai yang bernama Maezumi diperankan oleh Toshiyuki Nishida, malah dijadikan pembantu untuk bersih-bersih kedai. Masalah komunikasi (bahasa) memang menjadi hambatan yang sangat serius di antara mereka berdua. Namun justru itu jadi keunikan tersendiri yang cukup menghibur. Setiap kali berargumentasi selalu apa yang dikatakan mereka berdua tidak pernah nyambung namun toh argumentasi tetap lancar mengalir di antara mereka berdua walau nggak nyambung. Belum lagi perbedaan karakter antara mereka berdua, Maezumi yang keras dan disiplin (namun sebenarnya baik hati) sering berbicara kasar kepada Abby dan juga menempeleng Abby sementara Abby terbiasa dengan sifat Amerikanya yang “menghargai” kebebasan ekspresi individualnya. Namun begitu adegan “kekerasan” yang ditunjukkan dikemas secara apik dan tidak terlihat vulgar.

Film ini benar-benar sangat netral dalam ‘benturan’ antara timur dan barat. Abby sangat menghargai filosofi dibalik pembuatan semangkuk ramen yang mewajibkan semangkuk ramen untuk memiliki jiwa di masakannya sehingga siapapun yang menyantap ramen tersebut akan merasakan emosi yang tengah dirasakan oleh pembuatnya. Jadi semangkuk ramen yang sempurna bukan hanya enak dimakan tetapi juga harus mempunyai ‘jiwa’ atau ‘emosi’ di dalamnya. Sesuatu yang mungkin menurut kebanyakan orang Amerika adalah gila dan sangat berlebihan. Sebaliknya pacar Abby yang baru, seorang Jepang keturunan Korea yang bernama Toshi (yang diperankan oleh So Hee Park), yang semula memilih jalan yang sangat “Jepang” dalam meniti karir di perusahaannya yang cenderung setia dengan perusahaan akhirnya memutuskan untuk memilih jalan “Amerika” untuk keluar dari karir di perusahaannya yang cemerlang untuk menjadi seorang musisi sesuai panggilan jiwanya.

Film ini, menurut saya, berhasil memadukan antara sedikit humor, drama kehidupan sehari-hari dan kisah percintaan dengan sangat apik, tidak dipaksakan dan tidak bertele-tele. Ketika Abby berpisah dengan pacarnya yang Amerika untuk pertama kali dan juga ketika berpisah dengan Toshi ketika ia dipindahtugaskan oleh perusahaannya ke Shanghai, China, perpisahan tersebut tidak digambarkan dengan tangisan air mata yang berlebihan. Tidak seperti kebanyakan film-film cinta a la Indonesia, di mana putus cinta selalu digambarkan dengan air mata dan tangis yang berkepanjangan seolah-olah si sutradara kehabisan plot cerita dan hanya menghambur-hamburkan waktu dengan adegan tangisan yang panjang sehingga menjadi sebuah melodrama yang menyebalkan untuk dilihat……

A Troop of orangutans on "The Orangutan Island"

The Orangutan Island show on The Animal Planet is one of my favourite shows which is aired every Friday Night. The episode aired on last Friday was “Chen-Chen’s Return” which told us about the return of an orangutan called Chen-Chen to the island from the rehab centre. Chen-Chen was rushed to the rehab centre because of the head injury he suffered. But the episode is not just about Chen-Chen’s return. Another story included in the episode was about a 10-year-old male orangutan called Hamlet who attacked and hurt a security guard (satpam).

Here how the story rolls. In the orangutan island which houses tens of rehabilitated orangutans security guards have to constantly watch the perimeter of the island to thwart poachers and illegal hunters from hunting down the orangutans and from damaging their surroundings. The guards usually make the patrols on the waterway. To fortify their presence in the island, the guards set up a few posts but the posts are relatively distant from the platforms where the orangutans usually gather to socialise amongst themselves. The “safe” distance between the posts and the platform seems necessary so the orangutans would not feel disturbed with the presence of the guards. And that’s why the posts are not frequented by those of our red hairy distant relatives!

But it happened one day when a 10-year-old male orangutan called Hamlet came too close to a post where there was only a lone guard therein. Orangutans are normally very gentle. They are even way gentler than their distant African relatives, the chimps. But of course there has always been an anomaly in a population and these orangutans are  no exception. In the wild, adult male orangutans live solitary and they are exceptionally territorial. It means that they would defend their territories if they saw other males intrude into theirs. Usually orangutans do not attack people but in a rare case an orangutan might regard an adult human male as an unwanted element that must be forced off. And the case is true when Hamlet saw a security guard stood alone inside the security post.

An adult male orangutan can be six times as strong as an adult male human. An adult male orangutan can tip the balance at up to 250 lbs. A 10-year-old orangutan like Hamlet is not considered fully grown-up yet his strength is much greater vis-à-vis the security guard’s. But of course when it concerns strength it is no surprise that Hamlet could easily overcome the security guard. What surprised me most is the intelligence used by this ape to subdue the security guard. Before attacking the guard, the ape tipped the guard’s boat over and made it sink. The orangutan knew that by sinking the boat the guard would not be able to escape the attack because the only way for the guard to escape is through the waterway! Since the boat was gone, the security guard would be helpless and would be more prone to the ape’s vicious attack.

The security guard was wounded at various parts on his body. The worst one is at his foot. If the infection ran too deep the worst scenario is that he might lose his foot for good. But fortunately the guard’s foot was healing and he did not have to kiss his foot au revoir. The site manager of Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, The Danish Lone Dröscher-Nielsen had decided on what to do with Hamlet. If the same accident happened again the fate would be clear Hamlet has to stay ‘behind bars’.

I am still astonished with the strategy used by the orangutan to beat the security guard. Sinking the guard’s boat before attacking him. That’s a very complex mind and it is exceptionally intelligent. Considering the wit shown by the orangutan, do you think that we share the same genetic traits with them??

Oh Malas……

Mengapa engkau tiba-tiba datang membabibuta….

Setelah dua tahun aku lebih lamanya aku menulis di sini…..

Dan engkau tak pernah kuberikan nafas untuk mengendalikanku di sini…..

Tiba-tiba engkau berhasil bertahta di kerajaanku ini dengan anggunnya…..

Oh Malas….

Walaupun kepalaku terus kuisi dengan 2002*) hal-hal dan ilmu-ilmu baru…..

Yang nampaknya ku tak pernah lelah mengisinya…..

Namun ternyata engkau berhasil mencuri energiku agar tanganku terkunci tak menghasilkan output….

Oh Malas……

Setelah dua tahun aku mengisi kata dan ilmu di sini tanpa terusik denganmu….

Kini aku kagum kepadamu karena kini kau berhasil bertahta dengan manisnya……

Dan setelah dua tahun aku mengendalikanmu kini giliranmu mengendalikanku….

Oh Malas……

Setelah dua tahun aku tidak berlaku adil kepadamu…..

Kini aku sadar suatu saat pasti akan terpaksa berlaku adil kepadamu…..

Namun jangan ge-er dulu karena suatu saat aku pasti juga akan menurunkanmu dari singgasana dengan paksa…..

Bandung, 5 Oktober 2009

Ini adalah contoh puisi malas yang diciptakan oleh orang malas dalam kondisi yang malas! Mudah-mudahan orangpun akan malas membaca puisi (or whatever it is!) ini agar mereka jadi tidak tertular malasnya!

*) Kenapa 2002? Habisan bosen sih 1001 melulu. 2002 kan masih kelipatannya 1001 juga!