"Old soldiers never die, they simply fade away." Gen. McArthur
I found myself in a very unlikely event last Saturday, a charity visit to the elderly home in bandengan area Jakarta. Unlikely I said do to my "anti-social" and "egoistic" mixture that has run through my blood for many years. Charity is not what I do best, especially when it is being done under the knowledge of the people around me. But, a certain chain of event (that happened outside my knowledge, and surely, without my consent) led to this "incident" that I assure you, do not happened very often in my life.
It was kinda hard to accept the fact that an elderly home was located in such a densely populated area. Bandengan is the kind of area that I always categorize as "the other face of Jakarta". It's about 1,5 hours ride from Kuningan (my office) in a busy normal day rush hour time. The area was heavily populated, with a very high number of Chinese descendent living there. The road was very crowded (but that's old news in Jakarta) with "potentially flooded" area along the way and small rivers that connect to the sea. If you're a big fan of pork gourmet, this area might be alligible to be classified as heaven. But what amazed me the most is the number of "Kelenteng" or shrine that I found along the road to the elderly home. It was almost as easy as finding a Mosque in majority part of Jakarta. The Chinese people here are very much accustomed to the way of life back in the Mainland. Most of the youngsters were 2nd or 3rd generation in Indonesia, thus the cultural bond (that includes language, ceremonies, and even up to movie preference) with Chinese tradition is quite strong. I was actually hoping to see some lion dance, but none occured at that time. But the left over of a celebration was clearly seen, fire crackers and all the lot. I my self is a Chinese descendent from my mom, but God knows how many generations have my family lived in Indonesia. None of my Chinese relatives speak chinese, or visiting shrine on Chinese New Year day. It's like we are Chinese on our faces only and nothing more. No emotional attachment, no known blood relation with the mainland people, and our only knowledge about the Chinese culture is as much as what the CCTV9 and Metro TV broadcasted.
I've always thought that our good Grandpa and Grandma would prefer a life in the country away from all the hazard and hassle of a metropolitan city like Jakarta. Bandengan is not really an accountable example of a peacefull neighbourhood. Like what I wrote previously, it's another side of Jakarta that is different, and sometimes darker, compare to a more familiar areas that I know in the west and southern side of Jakarta. The location of the elderly home is next to a river that is filled with garbage. The garbage was so dense that I didn't see the water running at all! What's ironic about it is te fact the this area is always flooded during the raining season due to the same problem year after year, garbage pile up in the river. But everyone seems to be Ok with that fact, they might even consider it as nothing more than an annual regularity that alway come in January - March. It's an amazing example of human stupidity mixed with ignorance and seeded with a bit of comfort zone. The elderly home was easily reachable, and quite comfortable to park the cars. Of course there was schedule that has to be followed, and I don't want to bother those of you who are reading withh all the details. But, when I saw their eyes, I wondered, what made them ended up in that house? Was it their own free will? Their children? Relatives? What is actully their motives? When I saw them I could see they all bare their own stories to tell. Most of them were borned in the 30s and they have seen all the 5 presidents of Indonesia rose to power, not to mention the Japs and Dutch. One grandpa sit with me and we talked for quite some time about his life, his wife, his children, his job, and most importantly his view of the world. In the end, the old grandpa told me, all he cared about is his roommate, an 83 years old man that used to servve together with him in the army. But that's not all, he said to me about a phrase that I have not heard for a long time... "Old soldiers never die, they simply fade away."
It made me thinking about how I'm going to spend the rest of my life and how, life in the end, is a simple matter of standing by for the people next to you for those are the ones that will support you.
In the end of the day, the Saturday social trip was worth the effort. I saw ther other sides of life that I rarely accountered.
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