Author: rike jokanan

Lend me ears, my love
To listen to the silence
That whispers your songs.

RC Gorman’s

earrings are to me not only accessories, they are an agreement that i am ready to hear some news 💕 earrings i wear amplify important messages to me

No Eagle Eye

Big picture, my love
Everything and every one
In one golden frame.
Let this one story emerge.
No eagle eye. Close that eye.

doing tribune tonight — everything looks small but that’s what big picture is about ♥️ amazing❣️

my current personal project is learning how to see the big picture of matters around me as i’ve been infected with a “disease” called “too much focused on details all my life” — being picky, the kacamata-kuda* type which is very nyebelin* ☺️

still love this self though – yosh!

kacamata kuda: horse blinders; nyebelin: irritating

Keubitbit, Aceh in ethnic jazz Nusantara — fabulously amazing 💕 unfortunately my video is a whole song so might have violated copyright when uploaded and so marked as private — please enjoy the photos (stage and lighting brought the music performance to the next level)

let’s go back to the stage after the Maghrib/dinner break

Elfa’s Singers! Oh goodness I am back to young heart and full of love!!!

Ring of Fire

Ring of Fire is a permanent performer in Jazz Gunung as this group was started by the Jazz Gunung founders. Ring of Fire will collaborate with some guests in Jazz Gunung playing the music arranged in many different ethnic music genre in Indonesia. Ring of Fire has shown to many that ethnic music genre in Indonesia is so rich by itself and enriching what’s played through it.

this year is the 16th year of Jazz Gunung Bromo; can’t wait to celebrate its sweet 17 next year 😍

Ndaru Ndarboy – jazzdut 😁

また明日❣️

Flowing River

Learning, love, Poetic, This Person

There's so much here
Wanting to burst
Colours and fragrances
That have been hiding
In a deep cave
For ages.
It is gemstones,
The petrified blood, tears and sweats
Traveling with time and space:
Flowing river
To the turquoise sea
Uniting with
You.

RC Gorman’s work of art

i kno it’s U

Rawat Rasa Ingin Tahu…. (YouTube)

I believe there are more youngsters at this quality ready to change their beloved country into a great one!

👍🏽

Jazzy Rendesvouz

Life is a jazz club
With so much space
To play through,
To listen to,
And to interpret--
Why not making room?

Jazz Gunung Bromo — this year i come with a pack of jazzy heads in the family, see you soon 💕

the stage is yearly (re)designed by the architect who designed and constructed my small house in Jogja 😘 i won’t be bored of saying this ☺️

Heavy

How heavy is jar?
As heavy as what is forced,
Light as what is poured--

RC Gorman’s work of art

today i learnt that one typical problem can be heavy or light for the same person in different situations; or for different people at the same situation — it is always about how we carry the life

dear self, do you force it or do you let it flow?

Heaven Reborn In Hell

Learning, life, Poetic

If heaven is waiting,
Let it be this land,
A home in 
A beautiful house between
Mountains and beaches at
The south edge.

If rebirth is scheduled,
Let me be reborn here,
A place where
Sun paints skin tones,
Rain showers naked hair,
Earth hugs stories.

If hell is a transit,
I wholeheartedly let
You call me everyday
Telling me to work hard
And cry gratitudes
For meeting
You again.

when you finally accept who you are, nothing is between you and yourself

thank you for making me me

my dzikr will be alhamdulillah

Ciptoning (batik)

Learning, life, Poetic

A hermit walks in
To a cave in a market.
His night's never dark,
Day's never noisy. He's still
When he moves or talks. Centered--

Today is about another batik prepared by Mbak Izzah for shipment from Jogjakarta to Singapore.

Batik Ciptoning

Ciptoning is a Javanese word composed of two: cipta or cipto and ning.

Cipta or cipto means thought, imagination, creativity.

Also….

It means to create or to manifest.

And….

The ning, ening, bening, wening means clear as of water, clear as of mind, quiet, serene.

So ciptoning can mean clarify the thought and imagination or creativity….

Or creating or manifesting in serenity or in clear mind or in quiet mind.

This batik pattern consists of ceplok (clusters) of geometry patterns formed by series of parang, wayang, gurdha (garuda) or wings pattern, bird and some isen-isen (repeated small dots or checks or lines to fill the space among all primary and secondary patterns).

I did talk about parang, gurdha and isen-isen in previous postings. Hope they still can be looked up, or else they should be googled. 😉

There are two wayang characters in the centers of the ceplok who are Begawan Abiyasa and Arjuna; one is the spiritual teacher, the other is the pupil. This is the scene when Begawan Abiyasa teaches Arjuna on how to complete a retreat. Once Begawan Abiyasa completes his task, he disappears and Arjuna has to start everything by himself. Yes, teacher will vanish when student is ready to jump alone — not needed anymore.

What does Begawan Abiyasa teach Arjuna to do?

A common retreat in Javanese tradition is a semedi or samadhi. The samadhi is usually conducted in a quiet, serene place and it is done by calming the mind, composing the body posture and focusing on nothing but the purpose of the retreat– can be anything including something, everything even nothing. That is what Begawan Abiyasa teaches him to do.

In wayang world a special retreat like this is normally done before a knight goes to a battle against raksasa or gandharwa that are representing evil energy of the world. Arjuna as a famous knight of his ability to survive a long retreat, his nature of complete human quality (including but not limited to naughtiness and ambition) and his high skills of warship; is assigned to spend from time to time for a retreat more often than his siblings; while Begawan Abiyasa is a maestro of spirituality in wayang world and so is trusted to guide a knight to face his impurity.

When doing a retreat, Arjuna uses a different name as he doesn’t want people to know that a royal family member is among the commoners doing a retreat. And that doing a retreat is a secret activity, he doesn’t want to be disturbed by commoners who want to take selfie with him. 😃

He is named Begawan Ciptoning.

Begawan can mean some: hermit, escatic, retreatant, recluse, solitaire, anchoret. In some way it can also mean maestro.

Ciptoning is to describe what Arjuna is doing during that period of hermitage. He is composing himself physically and mentally in serenity in order to achieve purity in his thought, imagination and creativity. He contemplates in silence among the crowd within himself, fighting against all distractions to survive the retreat and to finally get a clarity on how to manifest the everything or something or nothing that becomes his purpose of retreat.

Begawan Ciptoning will only end the retreat when The Undescribable blesses him with what is needed to go back to the “real world”, “to fight against the evil energy”.

When he is done with the retreat the begawan turns its meaning and value from hermit into maestro!

😳

Long story short please, Rike!

Batik Ciptoning is a special batik for those respected spiritually in Javanese early tradition. It was worn by those achieving certain levels of hermitage or having the quality of a spiritual maestro and so can provide guidance to others “lost” in the “search of meaning of life”. Those people shall go through repeated cycles like what Begawan Ciptoning has gone through with the guidance of Begawan Abiyasa.

It is now though worn by anyone who loves the pattern or one who prays that s/he is able to reach an enlightment in her/his own journey of life.

Gosh! My writing is broken pieces. Many to write but my thumbs need a retreat….

💕

my pieces of batik Ciptoning ready for delivery ♥️

A Knight Who Shoots

Learning, love, Poetic

Who's a knight who shoots?
Archer who knows the bull's eye
And bow and arrow--

Satria manah (satrio manah) is a Javanese phrase formed by two words:

1. Satria or satrio that means a knight,

2. Manah that is derived from the word panah (archery in Javanese). Panah (Noun) is changed to manah (Verb)

As name of batik pattern should be incorporated with wisdom, the interpretation can be built with some exaggeration or maybe slightly drammatical structure. And so, satria manah is not simply a knight who shoots anything but it is intrepreted as a knight who shoots accurately at the heart of a lady.

Life of a wise can be as light as shooting a heart; yet as hard as shooting at the right spot so that it won’t hurt the heart; it even will make the lady fall in love harder with the knight.

Is that even possible?

I don’t know. Not a knight, am not a wise knight. A lady, am the lady whose heart should be shot by a wise knight. 😁

Another fun fact this batik is usually worn by the groom-to-be’s parents when they are officially proposing the bride-to-be in front of her family. The groom-to-be may also wear this batik when he is with his parents during the marriage proposal. Unofficially? the man can propose the woman personally before introducing to each other’s family.

What batik should be worn by the bride-to-be in the marriage proposal? It is batik semen rante. What is that? I will talk about it next year when the semen rante is ready to ship to me by Mbak Izzah. ☺️

This batik has given me a light heart and a good laugh after a long day.

Have a good weekend!

the batik that is ready for delivery

close up of batik Satria Manah

Rest In Peace, Sweet Soul

Learning, life, Those People

Tears are footsteps
To friendship
Or
Away from it.

Tears of joy,
Tears of sadness,
Tears of letting go
Repeatedly
Until letting go
Becomes breathing.

female, young, kind, intelligent, high integrity, humorous , pretty! A loving wife, mother, friend 💕

Rest in peace, dear Laksmi 🌸

#utangrasa

Saraswati, My Dewi (lyrics corrected)

life, This Person

Saraswati is my dewi.

This goddess represents wisdom, knowledge, language and art especially music. She is also the one guarding the flowing river.

Dear, Saraswati
You are blessed as I am.

Lyrics (major correction)

Om Jai Saraswati Mata,
Jai Jai Saraswati Mata
Sadgun Vaibhav Shalini,
Sadgun Vaibhav Shalini
Tribhuvan Vikhyata,
Jai Jai Saraswati Mata
Jai Jai Saraswati Mata

Chandravadani Padmasini,
Dyuti Mangalakare
Sohe Shub Hansa Savare,
Sohe Shub Hansa Savare
Atul Tejdhari....
Jai Jai Saraswati Mata
Jai Jai Saraswati Mata

Bayen Kar Men Vina,
Maiyaa Daye Kar Mala,
Shish Mukut Mani Sohe, 
Shish Mukut Mani Sohe
Gal Motiyan Mala,
Jai Jai Saraswati Mata

Devi Sharan Jo Aye,
Unka Uddhar Kiya,
Paithi Manthra Dasi,
Paithi Manthra Dasi,
Ravan Sanhar Kiya,
Jai Jai Saraswati Mata
Jai Jai Saraswati Mata

Vidhya Gyan Pradayini,
Gyan Prakash Bharo,
Moh Aur Agyan Timir Ka,
Moh Aur Agyan Timir Ka,
Jay Se Nash Karo,
Jai Jai Saraswati Mata
Jai Jai Saraswati Mata

Dhup Deep Phal Meva,
Man Svikar Karo,
Man Svikar Karo,
Jag Nistar Karo,
Jai Jai Saraswati Mata
Jai Jai Saraswati Mata

Maa Sarasvati Ki Arti,
Jo Koi Jan Gave,
Hitkari Sukhkari,
Hitkari Sukhkari,
Gyan Bhakti Pave,
Jai Jai Saraswati Mata
Jai Jai Saraswati Mata

Loss of Hearing (ranting)

My second time of “losing my hearing” 😁

I lost my Airpod (1st generation, my 1st Airpod) in 2017, someone robbed it from my backpack pocket when I was asleep. Bloody hell!

I lost another Airpod (Pro 3rd generation – the pod and the right earphone) left it in an aeroplane. Contacting Lost and Found of the airline was proven to be not a good option. It is not only that they failed to find my left item in the seat pocket; it is also that the way they handled the issue was not professional.

The plane landed at 12:15am Singapore time. I arrived home at around 2:00am and checked Find My immediately realising I left my Airpod in the seat pocket. Find My informed me that the Airpod was in Changi Airport at exact gate where I got off the plane. The next day checking, I found the the Airpod was not connected anymore.

So and so…. Long story short after checking and rechecking, it was not found!

Whoever found my Airpod with one earphone, she or he is blessed. Hope she or he enjoys using it and can find a left one to listen from both ears.

Next time I will wear it as a pendant in my necklace.

And one more thing: Find My is more honest than I thought it is. Thanks for being accurate although I can’t get my stuff back.

😁

new Airpod Pro with my name engraved (previously engraved with ♥️) + the left one from the old Airpod

Today’s Victory

Don't overestimate me, Beloved.
My victory won't be like yours.

You win a business tender.
You build a business empire.
You rob the hearts of the best men.
You steal all eyes with your body.

No, I don't.
I win a big basket of laundry
And make them stacks of folded clothes
Wrapping me in daily commute to office or
To fields where I squeeze my wisdom out of best standards or
Just at home wander around digging what I can boil.

I love today's victory.
I live a best life.

best victory of my weekend, today!!!

Dilemma?

There's no dilemma.
There's only heart
Rocking in a sea of abundance
Misunderstood as distraction.

Sit still, Beloved
When world is noisy and busy
With laughters and cries.

i thank god that my dilemma is only between whether to read some books or to iron my clothes — not so complicated and i it only happens at the weekend; the rest is just to work and to enjoy after work 😘

it is what it is as weekend is a list of household chores in silence

enjoy your weekend!

いただきます

This lunch is coming from
That evening noisy kitchen.
This calm evening is coming from
That afternoon hard work.
This glorious afternoon is coming from
That morning humble smile.

That that passed
Has left
What is blessed.

full set – いただきます❣️

tempe, beancurd and duck — all fried; btw, i thought it was chicken until i chewed the flesh 🫢 i’m such a bad chef who didn’t check the label, just took it from the fridge and threw it to the boiling water and tadaaa!!! 😁

Chinese cabbage is sweet when boiled

the best sambal on earth ☺️ sambal terasi

all boiled together in harmony 😀

Daur Hidup (song)

For those who think of giving up!

Lyrics

Hai perkenalkan aku jiwa yang bertahan
Sudah ditempa keras oleh banyak cerita
Mati berkali-kali tapi bisa hidup lagi
Konon jika selamat aku semakin hebat

Daur hidup akan selalu berputar
Tugasku hanya bertahan
Terus jalan dan mengalirlah seperti air
Dari lahir sampai kujadi debu di akhir

Bohong jika aku bilang selalu kuat
Lemah datang di saat-saat tak tepat
Beruntung aku dijaga Kawan erat
Ayat buat ku dan dia semakin dekat

Daur hidup akan selalu berputar
Tugasku hanya bertahan
Terus jalan dan mengalirlah seperti air
Dari lahir sampai kujadi debu di akhir

Daur hidup akan selalu berputar
Tugasku hanya bertahan
Terus jalan dan mengalirlah seperti air
Dari lahir sampai kujadi debu di akhir                                                                            Hai semua tangis dan tawa di depan mata.                                                                    Aku tak pilih kasih 'kan kupeluk semua

Hi, Pretty!

Hi
Pretty!
Your timing is mine.
You greet me when I've lost hope
That you're still excited to bloom.
Life is mysteriously turning
Hopelessness to light steps
To what's called
Keep going.

she paused her blossom after some time moving to the balcony — the shower area didn’t offer enough sun by then

just this afternoon when checking the leaves, i found her flowers❣️ you never give up, dear orchid

thank you!

blessing is for those not quitting

❣️

Morning

Morning brings me heart
Newly dipped in coloured hopes
To welcome new days.

maroon heliconia

yellow heliconia

the sun showing his radiance

Written

Learning, life, This Person

This life is written
Along a ribbon coiling
Around a live book.

weekend is to read what’s written as weekdays is to write what’s read

i’m a book with cover, title, table of content, chapters, and an end; and i’m craving to know about its precious author among all readers

The Wings

Learning, life, This Person

These wings bring me everywhere
And also home.
These wings bring me adventure
And also joy.
What have your wings brought you?

finally home

it’s amazing to fly home

the peak of a mountain under my wings

the sky full of cotton under my wings

turning right with spreading wings

the sun under left wing

Lovers

Learning, love

There's no place for you
But when I dream. Where are you
When I'm up, my love?

Yellow

Learning, life

Uud, our friendship is all yellow — thank you

innalillaahi wa innaa ilaihi rajiun

good bye….. no discussion will be as lively as ours from now on

Friendship (to Fauzia Fatchan)

Learning, life, love, Poetic, Those People

Friendship
Is one fragment of life
That keeps me alive.
It hits me so warmly
With friends' openness.
It hits me so sadly
With their secret battles.

There is a way and
There is the other way
To meet again
Always one day.

Fauzia Fatchan or Fau or Uud is a great friend of mine. She was one supporting badass in uni time; she was an objective wall between those cheating and those with integrity. Her critical thinking would make those cheating to know their “no worth” and at the same time make those with integrity to humbly stay composed.

She’d been my best discussion buddy in all topics! Politics, social, economy, culture, religion, spirituality, education, poverty, conflict free mineral, business, sex, romance, etc. She would tell me I was misled when I had insufficient data to say my analysis. She would tell me excellent when my opinion outsmarted hers.

She yet would laugh her shits out when I broke my heart romantically.

“You are more valuable than those underestimating you or ignoring you!” That was a voice echoing until now.

She is the one I name a perfect friend!

I haven’t talked with her for the past 4 months as we both had been tremendously busy. She’d been managing her rare earth mine in one of big islands in Indonesia.

She is now battling against a rare disease, leaving no chance for me to hear her voice anymore.

I called her through video call by her brother’s help. I believed she could hear, she didn’t say anything but she moved her mouth everytime I called her name like saying something.

I love you so much, dear best friend.

I love you as an honest friend.

I love you as a proud Indonesian.

I love you as an extraordinary human being.

I love you as you!

Dear, Fauzia Fatchan. Even if I can not meet you again, I am honored to have lived as a human being knowing you.

See you again in eternity, my dear…

❣️

If we both have time, we will meet again, that was what you said in our last conversation.

I am sorry that I told you all my battles while you’d been in the same one, my dear. Please forgive me.

From a broken hearted friend because of your condition….

Rike

Before & After

Learning, life, love, Map It!, Poetic, This Person

Is there anyone
Before
&
After
Me
Leaving
Without permission?

None--

It is a consent that forms
Life,
A period where
You
&
I
Meet at a dot on a ring.

salam, dear shrine where heart and soul escort body to whisper all secrets

Kameyama Shrine

before cleaning – looked like birds loved to bathe and leave some feathers as token of gratitude

after cleaning – no one asked me to clean this, i just felt that i needed to give Japan a small token of gratitude and Kameyama Shrine be the one to receive it

always praying someday I can come back to that shrine. I will tell her that she did give me amazing vibe in my whole visit in Kameyama. Shrines, mosques, temples, churches and other places where human beings whisper their heart and soul out have always been a charm to me.

enso – there’s a dot where two extremes meet and form balance to ensure life flows

Your Face

Your face that I keep
Won't grow old. This heart preserves
Everything that's loved.

my face has been all over my iPhone’s face for the past 4 years – can’t get over my COVID era face ❣️

Feels Like I’m Falling In Love (Coldplay)