A Fragment of Peace Found in Batavia
Interpreting peace on the busiest city of the country
Jakarta.
That’s where I was from. At least before I came to Bali.
I was tired. Contaminated with toxic consumerism and idealist urban life. Losing essential meaning of being to fashionables. Giving up myself to the superficiality of vogue appearance — just to be acknowledged.
Everything were nosy and empty all at once.
In Jakarta, I was deeply longing for a little peace.
Everyone was busy talking. Lamps of the skyscrapers were endlessly blinking. Cars and motorcycles never stop crossing the roads.And I was busy looking for a place to put my mind into rest.
The truth is, peace might not always meant a place far from noises. Peace grows within. We were so absorbed to look for a quiet place. Creating peacefulness. Yet in this sleepless city, it’s a hard work. People constantly talk 24/7 — even without saying a word. On their silence, the mind chippers. Quietude is almost an unaffordable luxury. In this sleepless city, we need to constantly moving. Take a little time to sit back and the last thing you know, you are left behind.
Move, move, and move.
Without knowing what we are looking for. As if moving translates living into meaning; while actually, we are just circling the same cycle. Over and over again.
But tonight, I found a little peace in Jakarta.
In the hum and hubbub of working bees, commuting back to their asylums, Jakarta is calm tonight. In the aftertaste of night rain, I feel tranquility lingers in the air. I find peace on the hanging hands inside the commuter’s hand rail. I find peace in the blinking light.
I find peace while the city’s keep moving forward.
Jakarta is crude and hard to the dwellers. But the universe exists in its every gaps.
