Wheels and Shows

I see myself as a half-spoiled person when it comes to traveling these days. I prefer taking taxi than bus to go somewhere. Yeah, Jakarta with its overcrowded, overnoisy, and overpoluted traffic give you bigger vein on your forehead, makes comfortable journey such a delicious dream. Of course I am not always that rich to have taxi all the time (civil servant, what do you expect?), so I take the bus and the angkot.

You really experience being a very common person (read "rakyat jelatah") when you are in the crappy old bus, full of people in super various smell. Full has a new meaning for people in sardines' world. When it's so overpopulated, you wouldn't need any bar to grab on. Just like sardines.
But, some really interesting shows often happen in the bus. Things that paint a smile on your face, even a giggle. Always find good things to enjoy, man.

Here is one of the moments. It happened couple years back when I was still in Jogja, at the time I was learning to play guitar. Learning to play guitar means that your ears are getting more sensitive with tunes, whether you realize it or not. Somehow you know when something is wrong with your opening tune (when you're singing).
So, my friend and I sat on the chair...or bench?...right after the bus door. When we arrived at four junction near Gramedia store, the bus stopped for a while, waiting for passengers. Soon after that, three men got into the bus, the street musician - pengamen. They played in front of me. It seemed okay when the music was on. It was not okay when the vocalist started to sing. His tune was a bit high, which I assumed he wouldn't make it with the chorus. And he didn't. As an emergency procedur, he lowered his tune to fit the music. I couldn't help it, I giggled. The vocalist then giggled too and that ruined their song. Hahahaha... He said "Mbak e ki ngguyu barang, aku dadi melu ngguyu" and we laughed again.
Beside common street musician (solo or band, with guitar plus other isntruments: violin, harmonica, [home made] drum) other types of street musicians are:
Karaoke on Box Artist - man or woman, sometimes alone, sometimes with partner, holding a box of tape recorder, playing dangdut or pop songs, mostly (sad, miserable, gloomy) dangdut songs - with a bit echo sound, then they sing without expression, or maybe a little sad, miserable, gloomy expression like the song itself. "Masak masak sendiri...nyuci baju sendiri..."
Traditional Instrumentalist - Whether you are in group or just solo. The instrument might be a flute, a rebab (don't know the English word), kecapi or harpsichord, kendang, or maybe combination of some of those. Since the instrument is traditional instrument, you might wear traditional outfit too to perform totally. "Yen ing tawang ono lintang cah ayu..."
Then we have Bottle Caps Shaker -you just need a stick about twenty centimeters, put two or three nails on it filled with some bottle caps. Shake it and clap it, then you hear "ecrek ecrek" or "icrik icrik", a suitable music for all kind of song. Want a happy song? Shake it fast. Want a sad song? Shake it slow. Want a rhythm? Shake it with some combinations. "Aku tak mau kalau aku dimadu..."
Hands Clapper - you don't really anything to jazz up the tune, just use your hands as your instrument. The cheapest way to go. And if you can't sing, you can read poetry.

Musician is not the only "show" we have on the bus. You will also have a menu of traders, selling things from food, drinks, clothes, books, hair accessories, kitchen stuffs, even home alarm with live manual. Some of the traders advertise their goods while offering them to the customers and others gives the goods to customers first to be examined, then advertise the products. Either first kind or second, the price of the products are usually not more than ten thousand rupiahs. A reasonable price of common people like us.
Anyway, I always wonder about the spirit and the strength of those traders. They get in and get off the buses maybe more than seventy two times everyday (I assume they work 6 hours a day and five minutes for each bus) or even more, saying and offering the same thing, over and over again... Dude, that' tough for me (that's why I couldn't imagine myself as direct salesman/woman. I ever tried once - offering service to be English tutor for kids. Knocking every door in the neighborhood, with many kind of responses...most of them full of dissapointment... It killed me!).
Hey, you know, I kind of notice the way the traders/musicians talk. One specific word I hear lately is the using of -nya in the end of the sentence. "Assalamu 'alaikum, selamat pagi Bapak sopir-nya dan para penumpang-nya sekalian. Sebelum-nya, mohon perhatian-nya dan maaf bila mengganggu perjalan-nya. Perkenankan-nya kami memperkenalkan-nya sebuah produk-nya yang darimana-nya banyak guna-nya. Bapak ibu-nya, adik kakak-nya, silahkan-nya dilihat dulu, harga-nya cuma lima ribu-nya..."
What a grammar!

Baby Dayu's Out

On 9 August 2008, my niece was born. It was the same time I took IELTS test for applying DAAD scholarship. All that morning I felt my stomach felt horrible, combination of being nervous, digestion problem and weird feeling. Maybe my weird feeling was a soul-contact between sisters when she was laboring.

I was so happy when I received a photo of a very beautiful baby - Malfa Dahayuna, right after she was born. She's just so gorgeous, with prefect chubby cheeks as her family - Chubby Cheeks Clan (Suku Pipi Tembem). Here, I proudly share her pictures with you..

Took a bath - a week old

Dancing with grandpa - 40 days

Ready to rock - 40 days

Snow White - 4 months