Words and I

I went to a book bazaar today and I couldn’t believe my eyes. People were flocking from everywhere that the security officers had to work extra harder. Even long queue had started already in the early hours of the opening.

Who says Indonesian people do not like to read?

Well, it was really a very cheap book sale. Books with normal prices around Rp 10.000 to even Rp 40.000 were sold with only Rp 2.000! The books were also brand new along with the plastic wrap! Who doesn’t want to buy?

So, Indonesian people love to read then, if the book price is considerably cheap?

Mmm… wait!

I just overheard someone when I was in the queue.

"When will there be another crazy book sale like this? It’s so rare. So, buy them all. Yes, you don’t have to read them all. I don’t. I will read them if I have time. Well, in all probability, I might not even read most of the books. The important thing right now is just buy them all!" Along with a chorus of ‘YES’ among the people.

WHAT???

I always buy books because I really want to read them so much… not because they are cheap! Even if they are cheap, I DON’T BUY THEM ALL! Like, who wants to read a book on a history of a sewing machine??? Not me….

Anyway, I think people love to decorate their houses with books  Does anyone care to send me one as a gift?

Where do Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge spend their holiday? Timbuktu. Where do they usually hide from their enemies? Timbuktu. Where do they go when they just want to get out from their everyday lives? Timbuktu. Timbuktu, a so far far away place, out of nowhere, a neverland, in the middle of nowhere. At least, that’s how my imagination would take me whenever I read Donald Duck when I was a kid. The word was so familiar and I always laughed when I read or said it.

I thought it was an imaginary place until I read in a magazine my Dad brought home, an article of an adventure to Timbuktu! Wow! This place really exists. It’s not what I thought the place would be but still it didn’t change what I thought about Timbuktu. A lovely getaway, a place to escape, so romantic.

So, where will I go someday? To my imaginary Timbuktu… wherever that is.

I took an express train from home again this morning, something I rarely do these days, so I guess I’m always looking forward to it. When you commute by trains everyday, you might choose to snooze along the way on a cozy seat with a thick sweater or jacket protecting your body from the cold compartment. Not me.

Indeed, it’s still the same railways, the same stations, the same view, but there is always something different if you look closely. Like today, for instance. From the window, on one of the stations, I saw a homeless family sitting on a piece of rag on the dirty floor. I bet they were sleeping there the night before. It used to be quite a deserted station with a few passengers and not many sellers staying. But today I saw quite a lot homeless people there. Such a sad scene.

Why does life get harder?    

My friend had quite a bad day the other day. She went to a beauty salon and a so called beautician trimmed her eyebrows too much without her knowing. She cried all night but nothing she could do. I understand so much how she must have felt (read my post in June, Er… Eyebrow Plucking, Everyone?)

This makes me think a lot. All our life, we depend so much on other people. When we are sick, we depend on doctors, while doctors sometimes depend on the medicine he prescribes for us, and the medicine are made in a factory, so we depend on the pharmacist and the workers to create the right medicine, and so on.  Or when we are on a plane, we depend on the pilot, while the pilot depends on the plane’s engine and the people who take care of air traffic and flight schedule, and so on.

See? If one person fails to accomplish what he’s responsible for, there’ll be a destruction. So that’s why everyone should be professional in their fields, whatever their professions are.