Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, a Complementary to The Harry Potter Series

I first read Harry Potter when I was still in the elementary school in the late 1990s. And I think Rowling has bewitched me since then. I had read all the books and watched all the movies. I even bought Harry Potter related things from stationery, stickers, etc. with my savings. You can say I grew up with Harry and his friends. I even decorated my bedroom with Harry Potter pin-up and posters. When the 7th series came out, I beg my mom to buy one for me, that day she was in India, and lucky me the price was way cheaper there, because Indian government did not taxed books! Not too much for a potterhead isn't it?

Then years after the 7th novel and movie, here come the good news, there is an 8th book of Harry Potter! It is actually a script of Harry Potter play: Harry Potter and The Cursed  Child. Since it is a script, I did not expect much from it, besides there are lot of bad reviews on this. But it turns out to be a beautiful story.

I order this from bookdepository.com the price is cheaper then other book store in Jakarta

The story  is about Albus Severus Potter who is a Slytherin and become a best friend with Scorpius Malfoy. The story takes 19 years after the battle of Hogwarts, when Harry, Hermione, and Ron are all grown up. In this story, Albus and Scorpius traveled to the past to save Cedric Diggory. Albus insistly wanted to save Cedric to show  that he is great enough to be Harry Potter's son. After turned back time, he did save Cedric but it turns out that the present changes and that just not what he want. He turned back time again, but things became more complicated.

I love the friendship bond between Scorpius and Albus, it is just as beautiful as Harry's with Ron and Hermione. This story also tells us that we cannot achieve everything we want, everything needs a sacrifice, and if we did not have a courage to sacrifice, things could be different and may not as beautiful as the present.

In this story we also saw how Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Draco are all become adults, but they still make mistakes, and they are still themselves and they are still loved by their families and friends.

A true potterhead surely need to read this.

Menikmati Sejarah melalui Tetralogi Pulau Buru

Tetralogi Pulau Buru merupakan salah satu novel Indonesia paling terkenal. Penulisnya, Pramoedya Ananta Toer bahkan hampir mendapatkan nobel dari karyanya yang kaya isi ini. Tetralogi ini terdiri dari Bumi Manusia, Anak Semua Bangsa, Jejak Langkah, dan Rumah Kaca. Tiga buku pertama ditulis dari sudut pandang Raden Mas Minke, seorang anak dari Bupati Bojonegoro, sedangkan buku keempat ditulis dari sudut Pangemanann dengan dua huruf n.

Raden Mas Minke memiliki nama asli T.A.S (alias Tirto Adi Suryo yang didaulat sebagai bapak pers nasional). Minke sendiri merupakan pelesetan dari kata Monkey. Roman ini menceritakan bagaimana Minke bertemu dan belajar dari banyak orang, ia belajar dari Nyai Ontosoroh, yang merupakan gundiknya Tuan Millema. Nyai Ontosoroh yang dipicu oleh amarah karena 'dijual' oleh ayahnya di masa sangat belia berhasil menunjukkan bahwa wanita jawa bukan hanya sekedar hiasan dan pemuas nafsu pria belaka. Minke pun jatuh cinta dengan anak Nyai Ontosoroh, Annalies Millema, si bunga akhir zaman. Kisah romansa yang berakhir dengan kepedihan, karena Annalies 'dipaksa' pergi ke Belanda dan akhirnya menutup ajalnya di sana.

Berpisah dengan Annalies Minke pindah ke Betawi untuk sekolah kedokteran, saat mulai bersekolah ia diminta untuk melepas sepatu yang katanya adalah pakaian Eropa! Dokter Jawa tidak diperkenankan memakai sepatu. Saat bersekolah itu pula Minke bertemu dengan seorang keturunan tionghoa bernama Ang San Mei, yang kurus kering dan merupakan seorang imigran gelap. Minke sendiri tidak yakin bahwa Ang San Mei adalah nama aslinya, tapi ia tetap menikahinya. Lagi-lagi Minke harus berpisah dengan wanita kekasihnya. Ang San Mei meninggal dalam sakit dan berpesan agar Minke menjadi dokter. Namun, pada akhirnya Minke berhenti dari sekolah kedokteran dan mulai menerbitkan koran Medan.

Medan menjadi terkenal karena Medan merupakan koran pertama yang ditulis dalam bahasa Melayu. Keputusan Minke memilih melayu banyak dipertanyakan. Tapi Minke tetap yakin, karena Hindia bukan hanya Jawa katanya. Medan yang semakin berkembang diiringi pula dengan perkembangan organisasi, Minke pun turut mendirikan Syarikat, dan menikah lagi dengan Prinses Kasiruta. Seorang wanita yang ternyata berani menarik pelatuk ke arah musuh-musuh Minke.

Gerakan Minke yang kelewat berani membuat Gubermen memerintahkan Pangemanan (yang setelah belajar di Prancis menambahkan satu huruf n di belakang namanya, agar dapat diucapkan dengan mudah oleh orang-orang Prancis) untuk menangkap Minke. Pangemanann terkejut dengan perintah itu, ia sendiri adalah penganggum Minke, tapi ia lebih takut kehilangan kedudukan. Jadi lah ia si pengkhianat hati nuraninya sendiri.

Namun, setelah ditangkapnya Minke, Pangemanann terus dihadapi orang-orang yang menimbulkan gejolak pada gubermen, seperti Siti Soendari. Seorang wanita yang dibesarkan oleh ayahandanya seorang, berjuang dengan caranya sendiri, dan hampir-hampir berakhir nasibnya seperti si gadis Jepara.

Setelah Minke kembali dari tempat pembuangannya di Ambon, Pangemanann tetap bertugas mengawasinya bahkan sampai akhir hayatnya. Pangemanann menjadi saksi bagaimana sang guru tetap terpenjara dalam kemerdekaannya. Tapi Minke juga lah yang menyadarkannya kalau batinnya sendiri yang terpenjara karena ia lebih memilih menyelamatkan jabatannya daripada tanah airnya.

Tetralogi ini merupakan salah satu roman sejarah yang paling menggugah. Roman ini juga mengajarkan banyak hal, dari sini kita belajar bahwa pada akhir-akhir zaman penjajahan kompeni, bukan tombak beracun dan peluru yang banyak berperan melawan kompeni, tapi pena dan kertas lah yang membuat kompeni kehilangan nyali.

"Ia pernah mengatakan pada salah seorang temannya: orang boleh pandai setinggi langit, tapi selama ia tidak menulis, ia akan hilang di dalam masyarakat dan sejarah"

"menulis adalah bekerja untuk keabadian" kata si gadis Jepara seperti dikutip oleh Tuan Pangemanann

Celebrating My May Birthday at Malaysia

During  May long holiday I went to Kuala Lumpur, to handle some sort of businesses while also celebrating my birthday!

The last time I went to Kuala Lumpur I did not get to visit lot of places since I went there with high school kid from UK and she only want to watch movie and sip a coffee in a coffee shop. And she always asked me to go with her. But it's okay, because at that time the movie theater in Indonesia blocked all foreign movies.

Then, because I did not get to visit a lot places, on my May trip this year, I tried to visit as much as possible, (tough there are lot places that I could not visit because my main purpose to visit Malaysia was not travelling). Here are some of my favorites:

Kuala Lumpur Bird Park

The Kuala Lumpur Bird Park is located in Kuala Lumpur, I went there with uber to save time and money. Uber is a cheap alternative if you travel in a group of two or three. The price was a bit cheaper compared to travel with monorail.

There are various types of birds in this park, some were caged, and there were also some birds we can interact with. We can also give food to the ostrich and take picture with parrots. 

After saw this picture my friend said, "look even the bird has lover, how about you?"

Bird Park ticket with my date of birth :p

These birds ready to take a pose with you

                                                                          Art Exhibition of Young Malaysian Artists 

I always a big fan of art, and I love to visit art exhibition whenever I have a chance. I like to learn how artists turn their ideas into great art and sometimes unusual form of art. So when I was passing by and saw that there is Young Malaysian Artists Art Exhibition right in front of my eyes, I just cannot left it out. And here are some of my most favorite:

The Human Zoo. With this art, the artist, Khairul Ehsani Sapari, want to questioned his audience whether they realized that they are living in a caged life, a human zoo, where we exchange freedom  for food and welfare.

The Crowded City, the artist tried portrayed the crowded city of Kuala Lumpur. 

Emotion by Muhammad Hafiz Abdul Gapor, the artist used color as a representation of human emotion. I really love the idea that he used both thread and acrylic on canvas.

Shadow by Hafawati Abadin, if you take a closer look it will look amazing.

Indian Wedding Ceremony 

One of my bestie live in KL, so when I got a chance to visit KL, I immediately contacted her so we can hang out together. We decided to meet up at Dataran Merdeka, to watch International Jazz Concert held in that place. Dataran Merdeka or Merdeka Square is located in front of Sultan Abdul Samad building. This is the place where Malaysia first declared their independence from UK. Nowadays, Dataran Merdeka often used to held various kind of events. 

On our way to Dataran Merdeka we found  lot of parade with full of lighting, and people dancing. Yes, I think it was an Indian wedding ceremony held in the street. That was my second time seeing wedding ceremony on the street (the first one was in Edinburgh).

International Jazz Festival

The International Jazz Festival at Dataran Merdeka was fun, and it was free of charge!