A Mother Who Cook a Stone

Once upon a time, in the little and remote village near Madinah, lived a widow with her only one daughter who suffered for hunger. The Daughter keep crying and craving for food to her mother but she only replied by, “Just wait for a little longer, it hasn’t ripen yet” while the Mother sat beside the stove, stirring up the pan, again and again. Dawn till midnight.

That was a hard time for Madinah. There’s almost no rain for a year, failed harvest, many animals found death, the color of the land become grey like ashes. Many people desperate for food.

Umar bin Khattab leads Madinah to be strong. He commands his worker to slaughtered camels in order his citizen keeps alive. He distribute the meat to all the people in Madinah. For Umar himself, there’s only olive oil and milk to eat. He pronounced that he wouldn’t eat properly until his citizen live better.

One day, Umar bin Khattab and Aslam, walk around the village near Madinah. Soon, Umar heard someone sobbed and cried. He and Aslam came closer to the source of sound. It was a girl who cried for food to her Mother.

He came into the tent, approached the Mother.
“Assalamu alaikum, why did she cry?”
“Wa alaikum salam. She’s hungry”. the Mother still sitting near the stove, stirring up the pan.
Umar asked again.
“What did you cook? what took it so long to be ripen?”
“You see yourself”

Umar find himself in a confusion, he shocked. He looked out The Mother is cooking a stone!
“Why are you cooking a stone?”
“This is because the evil Umar Bin Khattab!” the Mother swearing. “Umar is our leader but he can’t see poor people who lived in this village, far from the city, like us. He only distribute the food to the wealth people, people who lived in city. Look at us, I am a widow and my daughter need food. I asked her to fasting since I’m hoping food will coming in the evening. But there is no food until night. I’m pretending to cook something until she tired and fall asleep. But she keeps awake because she’s hungry.”

Umar’s tears streaming down his face. Soon, he and Aslam get back to Madinah. Without any intermission, he carry a sack of wheat on his shoulder to that widow’s place.

“Wake your daughter up to eat” Umar said to the Mother.
“Thank you very much. May Allah blessed you”.
“Tomorrow, come visit Umar bin Khattab. He will give you compensation fund”
That widow nodded.

The next day, the widow shocked when she met Khalifah Umar Bin Khattab for herself. She didn’t expect that the man who helped her yesterday was Umar bin Khattab, her leader.

Sunshine
with all my respect to Rasulullah’s bestfriend: Khalifah Umar bin Khattab.

Longing for Cals

what is your strongest memory of us?
is it our togetherness, happiness or sadness?
what is your deepest thought of us?
could the pictures keep all things we’ve done?

I love you, Cals.
I owe you for the smile, laugh, pain and fun days.
when we were still hanging around,
when we were still together.

the events,
the weddings,
the birthday parties,
the futsal matches,

stupidity,
our trip anywhere,
our classes, homeworks and projects,
our narcism,
our talents,
all of them.

when you’re getting old and fatigue
I hope you will remember
the worst and
the best of us
in pictures or in your memory.

 

Sunshine

Beautiful Kodingareng Keke

Nothing can compare my amazement by looking down from window plane when the aircrafts took off to the sky, leaving Makassar to Jakarta 2 weeks ago. That was the first time I’ve seen all of the isle in Sulawesi with a blue sky and blue-greenish sea. It’s just so beautiful, everything just so broad, deep, green and unfold.

I whispered, “Subhanallah…” and expected the pane become bigger so I could have seen more and more.

I knew that Indonesia had more than 17,000 isle. 5 of them are the biggest: Sumatera, Jawa, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua. Maluku, in addition, is a island with a thousand isle and islet around it. Bali, Nusa Tenggara, Komodo are lies in the south of Maluku.

Suddenly, I remembered my trip to one of the island in Sulawesi Selatan, about 14 kilometres from Makassar city on September 2011. The island named Kodingareng Keke. I came together with my friends from Anging Mammiri and Astamedia Group; Kak Nani, Astrid, Umroh, Kak Iqko and his a lot friends. We had fun there!

Maybe pictures would describe more than I could write here. You should come to see its beauty by your eyes since seeing is believing. The clear air, white sand, bright sky, blue and deep water with various coral and reefs lied under the sea. It’s precious and priceless place to see!

You can reach Kodingareng Keke by boat from Kayu Bangkoa harbor, Makassar. You just paid about Rp.50.000,-. This island is slightly remote, you will find no population of people here. So, come with your friends and lover here and experience the beauty of this island!

Sunshine

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Author : Sophie Kinsella
Year : 2003
Publisher : PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama (Indonesia)

Okay, let’s start with the confession that I really love this book! I found this when I was cleaning up the bookshelf in the second floor, near my room. I try to remember have I ever read this book and the answer pop up in my head, “You always want to read it but you haven’t!”

So, I read it finally, with a big curiosity and inquisitive, page by page and time flies without any notice. I kept reading, reading and I was so enjoying its story. When I reached the final page after read about 3 hours non stop, I realized, this book is not just about a girl who loved wasting her money on expensive clothes, branded shawl, zebra motive jeans or some of that. It’s not just about a girl who loved shopping too much. It’s more than that. It’s about what you have and haven’t done in your life, about responsibility, about believe in yourself.

Rebecca Bloomwood is a financial journalist. She’s writing an article about how to organize our finance while she wasted her money on shopping. Her credit compares with her salary is way too much. Her burdens are heightened when she found herself being nothing. She needs to find something that would come her passion up again. She never knew when she started to write an article about one case, her life begin to change.

There are no use to runaway from our problems. Rebecca learned that. We have to fight back, we have to face them- no matter how hard they are. Problem would keep unsolved if we fled.

Have a nice reading!
Sunshine

Rindu dan Cemburu

Dan saat langit pecah
lalu hujan tumpah ruah
aku berselimut rindu dan cemburu
tenggelam dalam haru biru

ini bukan puisi tentang kamu
ini juga bukan puisi rindu dan cemburu

Sunshine

Istoria da Paz

Saya tidak tahu siapa Okke ‘sepatumerah’ sebelum masuk ke dunia Twitter. Ada yang suka me-retweet tweetsnya yang menurut saya keren and deserve to be followed. Saat mulai mengikuti tweetsnya, saya pikir dia bukan penulis. Hingga saya mendapat Istoria da Paz * ini di rak buku Gramedia. Covernya eye-catching, judulnya unik, saat membaca siapa penulisnya dan harga bukunya cocok dengan kantong, saya lalu memboyong buku itu ke CASHIER.

Jadi, saya mulai membaca dan terus membaca. Di awal, saya mengira buku ini dangkal, hanya membicarakan kehidupan masyarakat perkotaan yang bebas. Ternyata saya salah. Buku ini lebih dari itu. Buku ini mengingatkan saya pada buku-buku Mitch Albom yang membicarakan soal kehidupan. Bagaimana memaafkan, apa itu bahagia dan konsep tentang garis kehidupan yang bersinggungan atau saling menyilang.

Damai Priscilla, seorang editor sebuah perusahaan penerbitan, mendapati diri dan hatinya hancur setelah tahu pacarnya selingkuh. Dia kemudian ditugaskan untuk menulis tentang ‘Sekolah Damai’, sebuah sekolah alternatif bagi anak-anak Timor Leste di camp pengungsian di Timor Barat. Disanalah dia mulai menata hati dan hidupnya kembali, membuatnya melihat hidup dari sudut pandang yang berbeda.

Well, have a nice reading, then.

*Buku ini diterbitkan oleh GagasMedia tahun 2008. Judul lengkapnya Istoria da Paz: Perempuan dalam Perjalanan.

Sunshine

Pertemuan

Hal pertama yang Wiwid katakan selama 2 tahun kami tidak bertemu adalah, “Ya ampun, Ki, kenapa kamu kurus begini?”

Aku menjawab dengan senyuman. I am really okay, Wid. Tanpa memberi isyarat apapun bahwa ada banyak hal yang terjadi selama 36 bulan itu. Jangka waktu yang amat panjang, saling merindukan. Aku bahkan masih belum bisa percaya orang di depanku saat itu adalah Wiwid, sahabat yang hanya ada dalam memori Tucson ku.

Kami saling menatap, kemudian tersenyum lagi. So silly. Lalu kami mulai membiasakan diri lagi. Wiwid nampak sangat berbeda. Dia lebih segar, cantik dan bahagia. Aku amat berbeda.

Kami bertemu di XXI Mall Metropolitan, Bekasi. Hari itu kami berencana menonton Snow White and the Huntsman– Wiwid fans berat Kristen Stewart. Berdua membeli tiket lalu kami langsung cari makan siang, perut minta diisi. Pemutaran masih sejam setengah.

Steak ayam, lemon tea, tiramisu cake untuk saya. Wiwid memesan nasi goreng, lemon tea dan cheese cake strawberry. Cerita lalu mengalir seperti air. Tawa berderai-derai setiap kali Wiwid cerita lucu. Aku dan dia berganti menjadi pendengar dan pembicara. Ceritanya lebih sering membuat saya kagum dan kaget.

“Kamu sekolah fashion sekarang? Di Esmod?”
Wiwid mengangguk. “Aku suka dan mau serius di dunia fashion, Ki. Suamiku mendukung.”
What are you, such a lucky girl.
“Jadi sekarang kamu sudah punya personal brand?”
“Iya, Double W namanya. Eleanor sudah bantu promosiin pakaian aku di mall di Sydney. Sebentar lagi aku mau produksi lagi”.

We took some pictures. We had photobox, too. Aku menemaninya belanja baju di Gaudi, mengajarinya main Twitter di Dunkin Donuts dan dia menemaniku membeli lipstick di gerai Wardah, di Matahari.

“Aku akan ke Sydney bulan Juli, Ki. Aku menetap disana sama Sam. Jadi sebelum aku kesana, kita ketemu lagi ya. Aku mau kasih kado sebelum aku pergi.”
“Iya, Wid.”
“Oia, kamu nanti aku sms ya. Temanku ada yang cari Public Relations. Nanti kamu aku rekomendasiin ke dia. Stay alert ya…”

Jam sudah menunjukkan pukul 7 malam. Setelah berpelukan agak lama, dia menemaniku sampai di pangkalan angkot.
“Keep in touch ya, Ki. Makan banyak-banyak. Kalau kita ketemu lagi, kamu sudah gemuk lagi, ya.”
Aku tertawa, mengangguk. “Iya, Wiwid”

Setelah itu malam, jarak dan tempat memisahkan kami lagi, berdua. Tinggal tunggu kapan pertemuan itu kembali terjadi lagi.

Sunshine

Fight is Good

Aku selalu punya alasan untuk memulai pertengkaran denganmu. Kau tidak suka bertengkar, kau lebih suka hidup damai, tak ada rong-rongan dari sisi manapun. Aku yang selalu punya keluhan tentangmu, tak pernah bisa tidak mengajakmu ribut. Aku tahu kau lelah, aku tahu kau bosan. Aku mengerti seutuhnya.

Until our relationship is hanging by a thread.

Cece said “Fight is good. It’s how you know it’s working…”. Aku juga pernah bilang begitu padamu. Tak ada salahnya bertengkar, kalau itu memang harus dilakukan. Tapi setelah itu kita harus cepat berbaikan. Lucunya, kita hanya sering sekali bertengkar lewat telepon.

Menjalin hubungan dengan seseorang itu tidak semudah melihat, tertarik, suka sama suka, klop, jadi. Menjaganya tetap mesra dan berada on track itulah yang sulit. Bertahan dengan orang yang kau pilih. Entah dengan atau tanpa alasan. Ada kewajiban, ada hak.

Aku sayang padamu.

Aku menerimamu apa adanya dirimu.

Semoga itu cukup bagimu.

Kisah Langit

Langit itu atap dunia, Ri. Beberapa orang percaya disanalah tempat tinggal Tuhan, seperti setiap kali mereka berkata sambil menunjuk ke atas langit, “Itu sudah kehendak Yang Di Atas…”

“Lihat, Sayang! Awannya mirip badut!” kau menunjuk ke langit saat berada di boncengan belakang motorku.
“Ah, masa? Menurutku lebih mirip eskrim”
“Mana ada? Awannya lebih mirip badut nah!”
“Tidak, lebih mirip eskrim…”
“Badut..”
“Eskrim…”
Rasanya ada lima belas menit kita beradu pendapat tentang bentuk awan di langit sampai kau sadar aku hanya berniat mengganggumu.

Langit tersiksa dan menderita karena polusi udara dari bumi. Ia pasti sudah seringkali meminta pada Yang Maha Kuasa untuk menguatkan dirinya agar bisa menanggung segala beban bumi. Maka semakin cerah ia, semakin kecil tanggungannya. Semakin gelap ia, semakin berat pula tanggungannya. Ia melindungi bumi tapi manusia malah tidak peduli padanya. Ia memang sudah pantas marah. Langit memang sudah pantas meledak. Tinggal tunggu waktu saja.

“Bu Guru, kenapa langit berwarna biru?” Suatu hari Gita bertanya padaku pertanyaan sederhana itu. Aku tersenyum. Bagaimana aku harus menjelaskan fenomena alam pada anak berumur enam tahun?
“Itu karena warna biru adalah warna kesukaan Tuhan, Gita…”
“Oooh…” Gita mengangguk. “Kenapa Tuhan suka warna biru, Bu?”
Aku sadar takkan bisa lepas dari pertanyaan berputarnya ini hingga sejam ke depan. Dan kelak suatu saat, Gita akan tahu sendiri betapa jawabanku ini tidak bisa dipertanggungjawabkan.

Low Angle Me

Belakangan ini entah karena badan dan muka mengurus day by day, saya jadi suka ambil foto dari low angle. Dulu waktu gendut, mukanya keliatan gendut klo diambil low angle. Pas, liat foto PPnya Muthe dipasang di Facebook, saya juga kepikiran mau publish beberapa foto saya di sini. 😀

Dalam waktu dekat ini kemungkinan saya belum bisa update tulisan baru lagi. Entah inspirasi hilang kemana.

Sunshine