i’m in love…
2009.04.29 12:57
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she constantly intrigues me..continuously amazes me…
it was her, still is and will always be..jakarta…
…d city where i was born and had not until a decade ago got reacquainted..
i barely had memories of her during my childhood, perhaps only of d narrow alley i so often crossed as a toddler trying to buy her daily dose of coin-shaped chocolate…or d vague images of shrubs, bushes and trees along d way to my grandma’s house in the suburbs…
i was torn away from her…from d city where i was born…but as if we’re soul mates, the moment fate led me back to her for good…i was in love all over again…
of her every nooks and crannies…of her constantly changing expressions depending on which part of her your eyes get a glimpse of…
…of d places, of d faces…
during college, my infatuation with jakarta and all that she has to offer stopped at mere glances and flirts…satisfied only by being entertained by d sight of a house hidden inside her river, abang2 hopping from one bus to another offering cheap goods with a bonus of humorous lines, or how thousands of people managed to cramp in the decaying commuter train…
not long after i found a reason to believe that i was meant to love her and explore her every inch…(well, a job which allows me to do just that and pays me enough to make ends meet is strong enough, rite? ;p)
mostly it’s about d people i meet in jakarta and how they live their lives that make me fall deeper in love with d city each and every day…d people that hides themselves, d people that shows off…those labelled mediocre, those labelled top of d notch…
….child prostitutes, cigarette stall owners, sales promotion girls, corrupt officials, real thugs, thugs wearing a religious cloak, a simple housewife who teaches her neighbors to decompose waste, angkot and bus drivers, street artists cutting out perfect fonts of bus stickers, a family losing a fireman-father, street and park sweepers…
how each of them can say something…can teach something..about life…
but i do have to admit i had my share of affairs…let’s say that if jakarta is my soul mate, cities in general are my concubines…but it stopped there..concubines will never have your heart, they’ll only have your excess energy and curiosity..
no matter how much i enjoy spending an hour on d stadtbahn, i will always long to have an hour on an angkot, a bus or a “tarif lama” taxi…where stories are told not only by narrators…
no matter how much i crave to visit sartre-beauvoir’s grave in montparnasse, i will have to admit that the sight of kampung dwellers washing their laundry in Karet cemetery amazes me more…
people can curse on her…swear at her and swear to leave her…
but i’m in love with her still…with her order in chaos, with her formal informality and informal formality, with her genuine charm…unpretentious…honest…
and so i will return to her..everytime with renewed passion and recharged energy…to wander through her alleys, to gaze at her every corner, to understand her better…
she’s my passion…(not to worry schaat, jakarta is my passion, but u remain my reason for being ;p)
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4 comments on “i’m in love…”
Sori baru sempet reply buat yang ini. And I think it’s not from me, but from the bitchy one from out of my 99 lives er alter-egos… :p Anyway, here goes:
*dengan nada cemburu*
“Ih! Pokoknya awas ya kamu, Jakarta, kalo berani coba-coba! Pokoknya sebel, sebel, sebel! Ich syebel dech!”
*sambil melengos hmmmfh*
:))
wah..gw pikir si bitchy uda ngumpet selamanya dijitakin sm mbah cabul…;))
tenang, bitch…as i’ve said ke-slutty-an jakarta tak bisa mngalahkan ke-bitchy-an mu yg menggemaskan…
“towel niy..toweeelll…” ;p
alamaaaaaaaaakk………
“Iiih… Lagian situ kok usil, ikut2-an ajah…” :))
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