To Write and To Read

To write, is a very sensitive thing I've ever realized. Menulis itu penuh sama pikiran-pikiran yang--mostly--enggak tau datang darimana, kepingin aja gitu nulis. The sensitivity, the appeals, the challenges to write gak ada matinya di dunia ini. Banyak banget hal yang bisa ditulis, banget. I always adore people who write, those authors.., those novelists, pembuat artikel di majalah-majalah, aren't they very experienced in so many things? Dan orang-orang yang punya banyak kisah / pengalaman / beribu-ribu kata di otaknya yang bisa mereka tuang ke dalam sebuah tulisan itu menurut aku..incredible, menarik banget. Mereka punya banyak kisah yang bisa mereka interpretasikan ke layar ataupun kertas kosong. I simply adore them. Too many things about their words to appraise, and people who write are forever alive.

And here comes to it. My all time favorite author, Ika Natassa. There's this kinda short story she's newly written, "Critical Eleven", and its best quote.

This is about two people, a man and a woman, who happened to accidentally meet in an airplane. One time this girl named Tanya spoke up about her hatred of Jakarta. And the man answered, "Aku nggak benci Jakarta, aku suka. Macetnya, padatnya, polusinya, berjam-jam di jalan..." with an unpredictable elaboration, he smartly continued, 

"Serius, Nya. Karena di Jakarta semua orang berada in the state of trying. Trying to get home, trying to get to work, trying to make money, trying to find a better sale, trying to stay, trying to leave, trying to work things out. Karena itu, buatku, Jakarta is a labyrinth of discontent. Dan semua orang, termasuk aku dan kamu, setiap hair berusaha untuk keluar dari labirin itu. The funny thing is ketika kita hampir berhasil menemukan pintu keluarnya malah ketemu hambatan lagi, pulling us back into the labyrinth. Kita justru senang karen a enggak perlu tiba di titik nyaman. It's the hustle and bustle of this city that we live for."

Alright, this is not about all this Jaaaaakartaaaa things I'm telling, not about the traffic, the pollution, the busyness, the kind of people dan semuanya, this is all about what Ika Natassa personally wrote. You see--the picture of Jakarta we imagine right as we read what the man was telling? That's exactly the thing I like soooo much about her, how she manages to write it all so the readers, us, can easily picture Jakarta in our heads. Emang, gak cuma Ika Natassa satu-satunya penulis yang bisa buat para pembacanya 'mengkhayal', tapi menurut aku she's the most surprising one. Penulis lain yang juga tulisannya 'gampang sampai' ke pembaca, contohnya Sitta Karina, kind of surprising too.

Aku sempat bercita-cita jadi penulis, but once I remember that it was my dream, aku selalu ngeyakinin diri aku bahwa jadi penulis itu bukan sesuatu yang harus aku paksain. Menurut aku, jadi penulis itu dilihat dari seberapa banyak diri kita suka menulis, sejauh mana kita bisa nuangin semuanya into structured beautiful words. At least, people who write--I wish--could be considered writers :"p ...but who am I to say? :D

See? To write, and to read, are simply amazing.. spontaneous. We will never know where our heads bring us to, and what thoughts they indirectly force us to think.