graphs of my Universe
There is a tall tree
Greeting the sky with its green,
The earth with its white.
—
There is only one choice left: grow! What’s grown within affects what’s grown without and the other way around — all in unison. Liking it or not, I grow as the sole way.
What’s right be left not,
Goes along with decent life.
What’s not right? Lesson.
—
Colours make a day
Worth celebrating. Live it.
Don’t regret a bit.
—
Terraced hilly fields
Build levels, reduce runoff.
Beautifully strong—
—
How good is friendship?
As good as age of a friend
Whose food transforms taste.
—
Good roots are strong roots
Supporting those on the soil.
They won’t be betrayed.
—
This trip is incredibly beautiful. Meeting best friends is more than anything. We talk. We laugh. We eat. We visit places. We engage with people.
One of my best friends who will be my neighbour in my humble abode is one of best human beings I’ve ever known. She lives to humbly serve humanity. She dedicates her life to help the underprivileged. She is so patient about what others do to her and always in understanding mode. She is so passionate in doing what she is doing to help others.
Among all her non profit projects that are my favourite is opening library in a small village that is functioning as youth center at the same time and supporting buruh gendong (traditional female labours who are paid to carry things either by sellers or buyers in Yogyakarta traditional markets, most of them are senior) in some traditional markets in Yogyakarta. If time allows me to live as long as I wish, our agreement is I will teach free classes of English, Japanese, leadership and management system in her youth center, while occasionally going with her from one market to another to greet the buruh gendong. Yet as an artist she is also teaching (mostly) women on how to make artistic products for sale to support themselves financially.
In this trip we discuss a lot about what we should do to ourselves and others but we can’t because of immovable blockages. We also talk about how we can feel good no matter bad a situation is. We talk about what will happen if the youth are not aware of what lies in their future at the same time we concern about how children around us get mature faster than we did before. And all always last long although with only a glass of tea, a cup of Javanese coffee and some pieces of local snack.
Life is too precious to focus on what doesn’t serve us good anymore. Life is too short to lament of any loss that is truly never loss. Life is too grand to just be sad of how that that we love disrespects us. Life is just too beautiful to consider what is not real.
So thankful for how real my best friends are in helping others. So thankful to be part of their spirit. So thankful that we are ordinary people in this grand life. So thankful that we are a grain of sand in the vast shore. So thankful that we accept who we are. So thankful that we are strong roots for each other.
Thank you, dear friend. It is good to always have a question “so what is our plan and action?” 💝
Alfatihah.
What will you do on one bright day? Anything but feel no good.
—
Always love this city
Where work is in moving cars,
Finished in toll gates.
—
What is Jakarta about? Heavy traffic? Better in some way. Flood? Better in some way. People? Always happy, optimistic and witty no matter what!
Nothing beats feel home. 💝
Ripples break the face
On the lake. Beauty remains
In the lover’s heart.
—
A teacher asked whether there could be two Layla for one Majnun.
Everyone in the class knew the answer. There is only one Layla for one Majnun. That Majnun and that Layla—
Salaam.
Leaves and flowers show
How root is living. They bloom
Through time, root stays.
—
What colour is soul?
When the call is here, listen.
Skin colour is off.
—
Watching “Soul” again and still finding it refreshing 😍
Cleaning up the yard
From dry leaves and broken twigs.
Summer is coming.
—
Deaccelerate,
Accelerate on the road.
Life is not a race.
—
Fasting is a very familiar way of life to Javanese. Called pasa or poso, fasting in Javanese culture is always related to the effort to self align. Many Javanese like doing fasting with or without meditation (tapa brata or topo broto) depending on their commitment.
While Javanese Muslim do at least one month of fasting per year in Ramadhan, fasting in Javanese culture itself came even much earlier before Islam was introduced. While in Islam fasting is between dawn to dusk and the same restriction is commonly applied to all kinds of fasting, Javanese fasting is more varied both in term of period and restriction.
Fasting helps Javanese slow down the pace in their mind, regulate the speed of their ambitious behaviour upon life goals, train themselves to be patient.
There are several kinds of fasting in Javanese culture that are still practiced by relatively many nowadays.
1. Regular fasting
This fasting is done only from dawn to dusk like the Islamic fasting. This is a common practice, many Javanese parents use this kind of fasting to train their children about how to manage their immediate excessive desires and concentration in under pressure situation. I remember when we were elementary and high schoolers, we were instructed by parents to do fasting on Monday and Thursday during yearly school testing weeks. Yes, I felt more focused on my study as I had to prioritise tasks to save energy. Brilliant!
2. Mutih
Mutih is derived from the word putih (white in Javanese, Indonesian, Malay). During this fasting, a person is restricted to eat other than white rice and fresh water for 24 hours started either at dawn or dusk. Ordinary Javanese can do it for one day, three or seven. Yet more advanced (usually senior) Javanese would extend the period as per commitment.
3. Ngasrep or nganyep
Ngasrep is derived from the word asrep that means cool or cold; while nganyep from the word anyep means tasteless. In this kind of fasting the food and drink should be all cool and tasteless. The person is suggested to eat only boiled vegetable without adding taste (salt, sugar, oil, sauces, etc) and drink fresh water. It is mostly done in three days.
3. Ngrowot
Ngrowot is a word derived from the word krowot that means Javanese common carbo source except rice. The person who does this fasting will only eat carbo non rice like sweet potato, suwek (konjac), gembili, gembolo (English please….), taro, cassava and other tubers.
4. Ngebleng
Ngebleng means staying in; so doing this, a person will do regular fasting but very limited food intake allowed without leaving room or house, not meeting anyone, just doing meditation or doing household chores without distraction from anyone. Someone can do it three and seven days and forty days. Not many are doing this as this is a challenging one: not easy to find a place. This fasting is quite heavy because it does not allow sufficient food intake for a long time.
5. Pati geni (pati: turned off, geni: fire)
It literally means “fire turned off”. This is the highest level of Javanese fasting as the restriction applied really tests the person’s very high commitment: s/he is not allowed to eat, drink, sleep including fall asleep and see any light both artificial and natural. How long? The shortest is 24 hours, maximum unlimited. Note: if s/he sleeps or falls asleep, s/he has to restart the fasting.
There are other kinds of fasting in Javanese culture which were done by very limited people and have been left by many due to the impracticality such as pasa ngidang (from the word kidang or deer) in which a person is only allowed to eat raw foliage like a deer, pasa ngalong (from the word kalong or bat) only eating ripe fruit from the tree, pasa kungkum (bathing up to chin level either in the pool, river or shallow sea) without eating or drinking, etc. There are probably other kinds of fasting as Javanese used to be very creative in “fasting engineering” hahaha….
Javanese believe that with fasting they will connect better to themselves and inevitably with the ultimate power of the universe. They will usually become confident people without showing off. Those fasting committed people —if doing it right and without evil intension— will be a highly spiritual people and voluntarily dedicated to environment and people.
Javanese believe that this type of people bring blessings to the surroundings although blessings are not always tangibly seen. The blessings can be as simple as peaceful daily life with little conflict,
Do we still have many of them? In very silent villages around Java island we might still find a few. They are traditional farmers who feel the need to connect with the ultimate power as only that can help them manage their humble farming that is now severely industrialised and exploited.
Hope we still have them in silence. Amen.
Alfatihah.
River is flowing.
Stuck, it is lack of clean air,
Home of mosquitoes.
—
Keep flowing and feeling good no matter what. Some people think that is a suggestion to someone weak. Nope! That is a sentence to someone who knows that life is so abundant and doesn’t offer thing except feel-good. Kindly know. 😊
Yet those who don’t know interpret most things only from what the senses capture in the surface.
May all beings be happy.
See you, dear neighbour.
The old prays, the new welcomes.
Good memories stay.
—
One of my neighbours move to a new place as they need an apartment with 3 bedrooms after having a new baby. We met at the basement carpark when they were stuffing cartons and stuffs to the Lalamove lorry.
The wife gave me their new address that is near my office so it can be easy to visit them someday.
We pray for your nice warm new home. We bless our 4-year neighbourhood. Thank you.
Salam…. 🙏🏼
A dream is shadow
Who is loyal to the light,
Acting as the dark.
—
Weekend is always the second best after everything even when it is cloudy and full of rain everyday. 💝
Let’s meet
Under a tree that we climbed when we were children.
The tree will say
“Here are the children who perched like birds the whole day to eat my fruit.”
Let’s meet
At the river whose bank we used to build sand figures.
The sand will say
“Here are the children who tap and slap me to look stunning.”
Let’s meet
At the crossroad where we departed to where our bikes agreed to go.
The road will say
“Here are the children who noisily negotiated which place to visit”.
Let’s meet
Once again before the next once-again.
The rendezvous will say
“Here are the children who have refused to lose excitement in life and continued to be young in heart,
Even when age has taken some muscles away.”
—
Weather is changing,
Sky isn’t. Furniture does,
Space sits still smiling.
—
No condition changes space. It’s there, might look temporarily conditioned sometimes but simply because some furniture is busy “stirring the air”. And sky is just there being the canvas of weathers which come and go.
It’s fun to observe and silently enjoy each moment of truth.
Salaam.
My mother said
You were a cute baby
Even when crying.
My mother said
You were a beautiful toddler
Running around,
Bubbling all words.
My mother said
You were a cheerful girl
Cycling around
Climbing up trees
Playing drowning in the river.
My mother said
You were a beautiful woman
Arguing every ideas from me
Showing me your strong desires
Moving to where life brought us.
My mother said
You are an adult woman
Enjoying life differently from me
Giving me what you’ve promised to be
Loving what you love with no doubt
Living life with smiles and warm heart.
My mother said
I love you
I bless you
Wherever you are.
You’re loved
You’re blessed
However you are.
—
My mother called, we laughed a lot today. She said I laughed as I did when I was a baby. How happy I have been to be her daughter. Lots of hugs and kisses, Ibu.
Alfatihah.
💝
Follow the cycles
As driven by wind through path.
Move with heart and soul.
—
The earth is loyal
To the sun, and vice versa.
A very good fact—
—
Note: A fact is a fact. It is neutral in its nature. Good or bad is a label given by human beings in their favour. The best option is to responsibly respond to the fact to stay in good mood.
Eyes see colour hue
Splattering on a palette
Ready to draw taste.
—
Excited for my kitchen will be! 😘😘😘
Is the one flowing
River? Can be flow of notes
Infusing good air—
—
Never forget that music is an inseparable part of life. Put some in every part of the day. If all those in the playlist become boring, drop a pencil on to the floor and that’s music. 😊Or, drop a pan on to the floor… No no no, that is music (and louder) but too extreme to listen to. 😁
Salaam.
Blooming orchids show
Vibrant hues waited a while
Without counting time.
—
I think so much surprise comes to us because we just do without craving for the expected result. Not 100% correct, but that is most what has happened to me. ☺️
Welcome, blooming flowers. You have been as stubborn as the gardener. God bless you! 😍
Sunday is full of cleaning, laundry and sweet surprises!
Salaam.
Bright Eyes are blinking
Lazily greeting the dusk
Hiding mister sun.
—
A path to a place
Is walked through trees and uphills.
A meadow is waiting
Opening another path
To a warm home filled with love.
—
My friend sent me three photos of our beloved “simbah” (those senior people who are considered wise or those who have grandchildren) – Javanese). Most people call these simbah “batik maker” because they make batik to earn a living. We both call them “batik artist”. More than that through what we’ve seen and heard about them, we’ve considered they are artists of their life. How they embrace their humble life gracefully and consciously has always amazed both of us. They live like calm river flowing to the sea. They don’t struggle against what others think about or do to them. They live as if there is no hindrance and disturbance in life.
When my friend told me some things about those three honourable ladies, I secretly harvested some lessons. It is very critical reminder for me who is still very much attached to a feeling of (accidentally) underestimated and (slightly) humiliated because of one petty case. These three artists of life have silently told me to let go.
What a loud shot in a quiet weekend!
No apology is needed. All is gradually let go through my own wish and willingness. This is my life and I only want to be the artist of my own life. 💝
Thank you, artists of life. You’re blessed. 💝
Salaam.
The biggest secrets
Are sitting on the eyelids
Without disguising.
—
Where is peace on earth?
In deep sea, blue sky, green land,
Kind heart and here now.
—
Day and night take turn
Defining wrinkles on skin,
Brilliance on soul.
—
rike jokanan 
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