• the real wonderfulness of the wonderful indonesia. •
traditional markets and bookstores are two things i must visit when i explore places. they, for me, are the window that helps me experiencing the sense of somewhere through real interactions. humans at the market and books are two things that always present authenticity and purity in different ‘colors’.
in the first few minutes of our encounter, this old lady introduced herself as ‘atun’, a name that reminds us of a role in the indonesian television play ‘si doel’ which features betawi culture as the background. ‘atun has a big body, mine is too small. atun is famous, i am not,’ she compared herself to atun on ‘si doel’. ‘if you take my photograph, will i be on television like atun?’ she continued her talk.
we both laughed. ‘sadly, i couldn’t make it, mbah.’ i responded and kept talking to her while my right hand clicked the shutter without even looking at the screen of my camera. i learned this method from daido moriyama, a legendary japanese photographer for streetphotography.
when @joshidaniel, a new friend and professional photographer from india who was invited by @indtravel to join #inatopbucketlist trip gave me a gesture to continue our journey exploring beringharjo market, i hurriedly showed this picture to her. she laughed out loud and revealed the truth, ‘you know, my name is not atun, she is atun.’ the fake atun pointed the real atun, a lady in the green tshirt who was sitting beside her. my eyes got wider, i didn’t believe she made fun of me during our interaction. ‘and what’s your real name, mbah?’
‘i am harto mulio. mbah harto.’ real atun and another flowers vendors at the street giggled together. for me that was the best; my precious moment while traveling.
on our way back to hotel, joshi told me, ‘you know what makes indonesia more wonderful? its people.’
i couldn’t agree more.
thank you @indtravel for inviting me. glad to be a part of #inatopbucketlist gang and had a chance to meet a bunch of wonderful souls from around the world in our homeland; #wonderfulindonesia. (at Pasar Beringharjo)
