Critical Eleven

Critical Eleven  adalah sebuah novel karya Ika Natassa, yang terkenal akan karyanya Antologi Rasa, yang-katanya-akan segera ditayangkan di layar lebar. Awalnya saya ragu saat mau membeli novel ini, saya kurang tertarik karena saya bukan penggemar chick-lit, tapi melihat reviewnya yang bagus di Good Reads dan desain sampul buku yang menarik saya akhirnya memutuskan membeli buku ini.

Novel ini mengisahkan romansa antara Tanya dan Ale, yang pertama kali bertemu di pesawat dan kemudian memutuskan menikah. Mereka pun mulai menghadapi permasalahan di pernikahan mereka. Novel ini menarik karena selain mengisahkan cerita dari sudut pandang Tanya dan Ale, membaca novel ini juga membuat kita bisa merasakan kehidupan sebagai kelas menengah atas Jakarta. Kesibukan di pekerjaan, hangout dengan teman-teman di cafe dan bar,  juga menceritakan tempat-tempat makan terkenal di Jakarta seperti ketoprak Ciragil, Ajo Ramon, sampai Mandala Chinese Restaurant. Di novel ini juga diceritakan tentang hubungan Ale dan Tanya dengan orang tua mereka, saudara mereka, juga peran sahabat di kehidupan mereka.
Di halaman terakhir novel ini, Ika Natassa melampirkan quotes tentang travel, yang membuat saya tidak sabar untuk memulai perjalanan saya berikutnya.
Membaca quotes tersebut membuat saya ingat salah satu pertanyaan teman saya, kenapa sih kamu suka sekali traveling?
Waktu itu jawaban saya:
Because travelling makes me realize that I have people whom I love and love me back. Travel is discovering, exploring, accepting, and sharing. 
Dan dengan pergi kita akan selalu punya alasan untuk pulang.

Share a Coke

In these few months, Coca-Cola is conducting a Share a Coke campaign strategy, worldwide, including in Indonesia. The Coke cans and bottles have a special packaging with your name written on it (if available). The coke company also provide the Share a Coke with BFF, Bro, etc. for (probably) them who could not find their name.

But how about some people have a really unique name and want to have the Coke packaging with their own name on it? The Coke company now (I don't know when exactly they start this), start a new Share a Coke campaign, where people can choose what's written on their personalized can (as long as they did not use it for their own promotional media). Last Saturday, I went to a supermarket in my town, and I found the Coca-Cola stand that offering this. And here is my personalized can with my own name.

I am not an expert in marketing, I never studied marketing nor working in marketing area. But, I think this is a great marketing idea. Now, in the Social Media era, having a personalized can with their own name, will encourage people to share it on their social media (including me). The company then will get free campaign from their customer who will voluntary ask other people to share a coke with them. The customer's friends on social media then (if interested) will try to find their name (or buy the personalized one) then also share it on social media, like a domino effect. How about you? have you find your name and share it on social media? 

Happy National Batik Day!

October 2, 2009,  Batik received Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity from UNESCO. Since then, October 2, was celebrated as Indonesia National Batik Day.

Batik is a combination of two javanese words, amba which means writing and titik which means dot.
Batik itself made by creating dot by dot on a sheet.

I remember back then in August this year, when I visited the Danar Hadi Museum in Solo. This museum got an award from TripAdvisor as the number 1 of top things to do in Solo. And no wonder why, visiting this museum was a really fun and educating experience. The ticket price was Rp 35000 for public (including foreigner) and Rp 15000 for student. Here are several things I learned from the 'Batik 101' class at Danar Hadi Museum:

Batik Keraton

This type of batik was popular in the 17th century. In the past, the batik maker only used natural coloring agents, example the brown color was from tree bark, while the dark blue (it is not black) was from indigo leaves. The three colors of batik (blue, brown, and white) are the symbol of Trimurti (Brahma, Wisnu, and Siwa), a symbol for the high class. While the other colors symbolize the lower class.

Because of the natural ingredients used for coloring, to keep the quality of the batik, this museum did not use camper but only use natural materials, such as white pepper, to prevent damage from the insects and to keep its color. The batik also should not be folded, because it will be easier to broken. The air freshener also using natural ingredients: such as kembang ranting, rose, jasmine, and pandan. The guest also not allowed to take any picture to prevent the light from the camera irradiate the batik collections.

Batik Patterns and The Meaning Behind

Kemben Tengahan, is a batik, that used as a kemben. But the unique side of this batik is there is a 'tengahan' or literally center that made from silk. This kemben only used by the empress, while the concubine kemben is not decorated with the silk.

Satrio Manah and Semen Rantai used for wedding proposal. Satrio Manah used by the groom to be while the Semen Rantai used by the bride to be. The Rantai (chain) pattern means that the bride to be already tied  to the groom to be.

Dodot Ageng with Parang Barong Pattern is for the King and its family only, usually used on big events such as wedding ceremony. Common people should not use this kind of pattern if they wish to visit the palace, but they may use it outside the palace.

Dodot Alit is a batik with gold pattern, they put the gold by sticking it to the sheet using white eggs. This batik is for the prince and princess.

Tambalan is a batik with patchwork pattern. This batik is one of my favorite from the collection in the museum. This pattern actually intended for single man  who are looking for a woman to be his wife. There are 100 different patterns on this batik. While the batik for the single woman who are looking for a husband, named Parang Cantel, with cantel (hook) pattern.

Jogja vs Solo

Since the split between the Jogja empire and the Solo empire, they have some different rules for the etiquette of using batik. The use of jarik for example, Solo Jarik  is sloping from the upper right to the bottom left, while the Jogja Jarik  sloping from the upper left to the bottom right. From the color, the Solo Batik has a darker color than the Jogja Batik for the white color.
Kawu is a batik with sugar palm fruit pattern. This pattern means to remember they origin or 'eling'. This pattern used by the abdi dalem' or courtier in Solo, while in Jogja this pattern was used by the nobleman. The owner of this museum is a descendant of the courtier of the Solo empire.

How to Make Batik

Besides looking after the wide collections of batik, and listening to the friendly guide. You can also learn how to make batik in this museum. If you coming to this place in the weekdays, you may see the real process of making batik. But sadly, I came here on holiday, so I could not see the live demonstration. But, I still can learn a bit about how to make batik.

First, you need to provide the materials, such as mata kucing (cat's eyes) made from damar tree sap, animals fat, paraffin, wax, pine tree sap, and microwax (which was not used in the past).

There are about 7 (such as kelowongan, tembokan, and kerokan, sorry I forgot the rest) steps to make batik! I always think that creating a batik is simply use a canting and draw the pattern you like on to the sheet. If you think the same, then you are completely WRONG!!

First, we need to draw the pattern, then continue with Kelowongan, the process of  covering the part that need to be protected on the coloring process using a canting (I always think that all the cantings are no different, but AGAIN, I was WRONG, there are a lot of canting with different size used on the process of making batik), after that, we do the Tembokan, a process of soaking the-not-so-soon-to-be-batik sheet into the coloring agent. (Note: If we use the natural coloring agent, this process will took longer time, because we need to soak it several time before we got the desired color). After this, the uncovered side will then change colors while the covered-with-wax will stay white. The next step, the kerokan process using a thin-tin-plate, to remove the wax. But now, they no longer do the kerokan, instead they boiled the sheet to remove the wax.

I always being told that batik tulis can be identified by the pattern that can be seen on the both side of the sheet. And the secret is because they drew it on the both side. And how long the time to make a complete batik? It can took up to 1 year. Wow! No wonder the price is so high.

How about Batik Cap?

Batik Cap as its name, was made by using a cap (stamp), to draw the pattern on the sheet. This type of batik is easier to made, that's why it is cheaper and faster (than batik tulis) to made. Batik Cap was first invented in the 19th century. But at that time the tool was not made from copper.

Printed Batik

The mass-produced Printed Batik, which is so common nowadays is actually not a batik. Because it was made not by membatik process. This is actually only a textile with batik pattern.

Batik Indonesia

In the Indonesia independence era. The former Indonesia President, Soekarno asked to create batik design which named Batik Indonesia so there will be no gap between the below and upper class.

Batik Tiga Negeri

This batik was named Tiga Negeri, because  the coloring  steps of producing batik conducted in three places, Solo for brown, Lasem, which identical with Chinese ethnicity, for red, and Pekalongan for blue.

Batik with The Influence of Foreign Culture

Batik Belanda

Batik Belanda or Dutch Batik is a batik with western pattern such as flowers, animals, horseshoes, fairy-tales (there are Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, etc.). The color of the batiks also follow the western taste. Even tough these batik was designed buy the foreigner, but the one who doing the batik process is the Javanese, usually from the coastal area. These type of batik also have a signature of the pattern designer. Since this batik was 'made' by the dutch, the ones who wear this type of batik also the dutch. They used this batik sheet as sarong, because Indonesia weather is quite hot.

Chinese Batik

No. This is not that cheap textile with batik pattern produced in huge scale from china. Chinese batik is not quite different, from the dutch. The different is only this batik have Chinese pattern, such as dragon. And typical Chinese color such as red.

Batik with influence of Islam 

Since there were a lot of trader from Muslim countries came to Indonesia in the past. They also influenced the batik patterns. This type of batik patterns only consist of leaf and flower, if there is animal pattern they have no eyes.


That's a little information about batik I got from my an hour visit in Danar Hadi. If you ever visit Solo, I recommend you to visit this place. I even rate this place a 5 stars on TripAdvisor.

Happy National Batik Day!
 Proud to use batik (or at least textile with batik pattern) :)