Bandung Chronicle – Part 3 of 6

And the chronicle continues, onto its third installment, with 500 words per piece.

… and form a city beautification initiative.  I am not sure what natural resources Bandung has, but I would put tourism and perhaps a regional business hub as a top priority.  In my Bandung, trash would be cleared out before the dawn breaks, water would be gushing into the households of my beloved citizens, streets would be nicely paved, a new monorail transport system would be built, the entire road grid would be revamped, the sky would be blue, and the air would smell clean.  New conventional centers would be built near to the new International airport, and there would be a new stadium for International stars such as Taylor Swift and Ayumi Hamasaki, sport events such as ice hockey.  On top of the Bandung hill (in which a new cable car network would be built), I shall have my new residency as a visionary celebrity mayor.  On the ground floor, a Olympic size swimming pool, and on the second floor supported by marble pillars over the pool, a living hall large enough to hold a little rock concert of my own.

Dust, so much dust stirs up on the streets.  I wonder if others would share the same dream as I do.

“This is the garden of my mother-in-law’s house. Quite definitely the best maintained garden in the neighborhood.”

6. Melinjo

To eat a melinjo, often cooked in a soup, you first peel away the softer exterior that is mostly red in color.  At times orange, and at times green.  The second layer is a hard shell that is slightly trickier to remove.  The reward is a white flesh no larger than a typical antibiotic pill that is slightly chewy and upon consumed, leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste.  In Sundanese, it is called tangkil.  Melinjo or tangkil is a key ingredient in making a special type of cracker called emping, which is one of Indonesian’s favorite snacks.  It should come as no surprise that emping, like the melinjo, too leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste.  Mom likes to cook soup with melinjo.  It always takes me a long time to consume them.  Because I prefer using my teeth to my hands.  Cynthia and mom would look at me, amused.  Like I look at my Indian friends eating noodle not using chopsticks, amused.

When asked if she is a Chinese, a Sundanese, or a Javanese, Cynthia would pick Sundanese.  I can understand the dilemma.  Most Indonesian Chinese after generations of (forcefully) abandoning their Chinese names and leaving behind their Chinese tradition find it hard to associate themselves as Chinese.  Whoever born in Java is, I suppose, a Javanese.  But in Bandung, people speak Sundanese.  It is like the people in Barcelona prefer to speak Catalan to Spanish.   No doubt, Cynthia may feel closer to Sundanese than to Javanese, closer to Javanese than to, say, Chinese.

7. Humming of the Bees

One night, I was sleeping.  It was pitch dark when I started hearing the humming of the bees.  I thought I was dreaming as …

• Continue to Part 4