Have you ever listened to your inner voice? If yes, how does it affect your mind?. Have you ever spoken to your inner voice, and questioned whether your acts are right already?. People say that you've got to listen to your inner voice, but don't let it control you, what do you think?. I have ever heard "Your ego is your biggest enemy."

Not necessarily your own inner voice that you hear, yet others' ? Some important people in your heart.

And what about your past? How would you cope with your difficult paths of life? Will they haunt you and affect your acts now? People live; they meet new people- starting as just acquaintances, then go to the next level as friends, then you know what's the next level, I mean. After some years, a good-bye is something you have to try to endure. The questions are; "Will you recognize me when we pass by somewhere at a shop or some boutiques?", "Will you even remember my name?".

Which do you care the most ?

a. What people think about you?
b. What you feel is comfortable for you?

Are you the one who is concern about your custom; traditional values that you believe you have to hold in order to be accepted in a society.



Mr. Pane introduces mainly only three main characters;
1. "Dr. Soekartono" as a young intelligent doctor who regulary talks with his inner voice as a result of his dark-side-of-the-moon years. He is married to a popular and self-sufficient lady.

2. Tini as a self-sufficient young lady who is married to Dr. Soekartono, yet the marriage life is often filled by discord.

3. Yah. I'd say she is the "bridge" between Tini and Dr. Soekartono, yet her presence is also a threat. She embodies everything Dr. Soekartono admire in a woman ( at that time; 1932)

I know, there have been many questions going on around here. I mean, Mr. Pane really gives me a lot of complex questions about myself, people around me, and most of all about my life. It seems like you're having an acid test. Then when you pass, your lecturers will proudly say :

" Ah now, you go walk out that door of your childish room as you are now allowed to enter the room that has a label "Maturity." And please never look back."

I think we have been shackled. Now, it depends on you how to tear the shackles off!. This novel is highly recommended for those who like questioning so many things in life, just like all the questions I wrote above:D or perhaps you like a thought-provoking novel? This might be the choice.

Happy reading, friends!
Lu2Ar

Addendum:
1. "Shackles" written by Indonesian novelist. Armijn Pane, in 1932.
2. The book I just read is translated by a lecturer at a university in the USA.
3. "Dr", followed by a name as in "Dr. Soekartono", denotes a medical degree that someone holds. "Dr." is an abbreviation of "Dokter", which means "Doctor" in English.
4. Unike western part of the countries, Indonesia uses first name after an academic degree. Most of Indonesians, do not even have family names. Some of them even hold only one name; no middle name, or last name.
5.This novel has been used by foreign students as a referencee of Indonesian literature.

And finally, I found the English version of this novel as I had been searching for it years and years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_literature
http://cgi.ebay.com/Shackles-by-Armijn-Pane-Indonesian-Literature-Eng-Tran_W0QQitemZ350043432539QQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

Taken when I was in Jogja, the unforgetable city. It was taken in the very top temple of Borobudur. What is so special of this photo? Definitely, it was not taken by a profesional kind of camera, yet I sense a great feeling every time I look at the photo; I feel like being there in Jogja- Central Java. I always miss Jogja that is for sure. So, I dedicate this photo to Jogja, and those who have been there and fallen in love instantly with it and the people.

Dedicated to my country!

Have you ever watched shadow puppet? ( wayang kulit) rod puppets ? ( wayang Golek) or wayang wong (wayang performed by human being)? What do you think? boring? interesting?old-fashioned? or how?.

Wayang is an Indonesian term of theatre.UNESCO designated Wayang Kulit, a shadow puppet theater and the best known of the Indonesian wayang, as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on 7 November 2003.

Wayang kulit performances are usually accompanied by gamelan, a set of Javanese instruments. The puppets used in wayang kulit themselves are played by a person called "dalang". This "dalang" plays important role in the show. When "dalang" begins to perform the show, he has already arranged the puppets based on the stories drawn from the Ramayana and Mahabharata, so that the "dalang" does not need to bother himself choosing which puppet(s) come next on the cotton screen cast in oil lamp * note : nowadays, they do not use oil lamps for the lights, yet they use more modern colored lights and other innovations.* The way "dalang" tells stories in Wayang kulit  is actually not that serious nowadays, I happened to watch the show on TV even only a little bit, yet the show was funny sometimes. If the story tells about fighting between two characters, the "dalang" does some acrobatic things to the puppet(s) telling the audiences that the puppets were fighting.

Sometimes ago, I watched a show on TV, and it was about an Australian man who decided to become "dalang" and changed the name become "Ki Gaura Mancacaritadipura.". He has lived in Indonesia for 30 years, and has held an Indonesian citizenship for more than 30 years. Ki Gaura has performed Wayang Kulit shows many times. Having colaborated with Ki Manteb Sudharsono, a senior "dalang" of wayang kulit in Indonesia, Ki Gaura now becomes one of the most "dalang"s of wayang kulit in Indonesia. "note; "Ki" is the term used for "dalang" wayang kulit who has been perfoming wayang kulit for some times and has ever performed a 24-hour-non-stop show of Wayang Kulit. ( pertunjukan wayang semalam suntuk)". As it has been mentioned above, Javanese Gamelan accompanies the show of wayang kulit, and in the show there are also numbers of women singers called "sinden" who dress up in Javanese attire. Again, we should be proud and perhaps learn to be like Elizabeth Karen Sekararum, a woman born in the USA and now has been one of the most famous sinden. She speaks perfect Javanese and her Javanese accent is totally clear. Colaborating with Ki Gaura, Elizabeth Karen Sekararum has done many performances. " It is the sitting of "sila" that I like the most when becoming Sinden." she says.

In the show I watched, there was also the most famous person ( I am not sure how he is called in East Java). He is originally from West Java, where Wayang Golek - Rod puppets is a popular puppetry show. Asep Sunandar Sunarya has performed many rod puppets show. Rod puppets and Shadow puppets are easy to differentiate. I ever watched his performance and his performances are always funny. What happens if both rod puppets and shadow puppets perform together?? It becomes such a hillarious show ( to those who understand either Sundanese or Javanese or both of the tribal languages.) Of course, the colaboration does not exist in a real life which means that there has never been a real show of puppet that combines between two different kinds of puppets. This only is possible to happen in a talk show!.

Note for my Indonesian friends;

mereka saja mau lho bela-belain jadi dalang dan sinden.Melestarikan budaya kita, terkadang banyak dari kita yang lupa dan tidak tahu budaya sendiri. Nggak harus jadi sinden dan dalang sih, saya juga nggak bisa kalo jadi sinden, tapi yang penting setidaknya kita tahu tentang,misalnya wayang, kalau misal Anda dari Jawa (Barat, Timur, Tengah) Kalau dari daerah lain gimana? nggak ada wayang kan? jangan2 ada cuma kita yang di Jawa aja nggak tahu? hayo? ya monggo diperkenalkan budayanya ya,  yok silahkan introduce your tribes!! supaya yang lain kita semua bisa saling belajar. Ayo Rek!!!

Some snapshots!!!

 

Ki Gaura "colaborated" with Asep Sunarya.

 Ki Manteb and Asep

 

 

 

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayang

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamelan

http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/%7Edwa/WayangKulit.html

http://www.yogyes.com/en/yogyakarta-cultural-performance/wayang-kulit-show/

Lu2Ar

MERDEKA!!!!

(Indonesia! satu selamanya! )

Maaf saudara sebangsa setanah air and all my friends,

I just came back for a week journey to explore the beauty of Indonesia, and I even did not have any chances to access the internet cafe, so I just checked it now. For those who celebrated birhday in the previous dates, which I was "absent" from MP, I really wish you a happy birthday and many happiness on you. Oh, I have around 300 pictures to share ( but don't worry I am not that narcissism, so sorry if there won't be many pictures of me there!) and also would like to share you many great stories (well, at least in my opinion) and experiences, which I hope can help you see you as Indonesian or as a person should learn more and more (well, at least they helped me change in some ways and since "bad" experience happened to me....) hehe. .. okay sorry once again for my seven-day absence. Happy day for you and may you always be healthy!

Lu2Ar