Catatan Acak | Random Notes

Jan 7th 2009

His phone rang, its a woman who called him. First I thought it was his wife. But soon the way they had the conversation clearly proven that I had the wrong assumption. When he finished with the phone, he told me with a litle grin on his face.
“Adooo, taokne jak seninente lalo jeri tkw, selekene demen-demen njorak ite” (translation: “she knows that my wife is working abroad, so she tries to take the chance (to flirt) with me”).
I forced myself to smile while silently cursing his habit and then we have a nice 75 mins long chit chat about his life, from Selaparang airport to Selong.
The stereotype
He told me about his education background. A common picture of many sasak people that live in his era (he is about 40s now). Drop off from junior high school due to lack of money from his parent to support him back in the days. Became a construction labour after quitting school and then get married. His wife was turned out to be sterile and then he decided to take a second wife. Got one son and one daughter from his second wife and then divorced due to her request (he said that her second wife cant live as a second wife, implying that she expected him to divorce his first, hmm…. ironic). Now, his  oldest kid is in junior high while his second is still in elementary school.
His job
Just been a taxi driver for four days. He told me that his previous job was a “solar” (diesel fuel) tank truck driver, a decent job with a good pay (he emphasised that). Then he got fired couple months ago due to striking with his friends as they tried to demand more ransom for his laid-off fellow driver. Instead of meeting their demands, they got fired, all of them. Unemployed, he went back to work as a construction labour. It was not an adequate source of living for his family, a situation that soon forced his wife to go working abroad since 4 months ago. His son was ashamed of his job and ask him to find a job as a driver, and there he is, a taxi driver at the airport.
How much money can he earn a day? He got 20% from the total money paid by his customers throughout the day. So if I paid the taxi services 210K for a journey from Selaparang to Selong, he’ll got 42 K just for delivering me. But a customer that is travelling that far using taxi (Selong-Selaparang is about 60 km, 75 mins driving) is  like a jackpot for him. Most of the time, throughout the day, he’ll only get 4 customers and all heading to Mataram which costs only 20K, means by the end of the day he’ll only got 16K.
His hopes
His life is sure tough, but quitting or even whining is not an option. Life can be harder, he proved and lived that. His simple hope was to make sure that all his kids is able to finish high school, and find a simple decent job like shopkeeper or such.

“So, which is it, of the favors of your lord that you deny?” (QS:55)

Ninik mertua saya meninggal tadi pagi. Sudah sejak kamis malam ia dibawa ke rumah sakit. Mulai Jum’at malam keluarga telah bersiap dan berjaga-jaga, bila memang akhirnya beliau dipanggil olehNya. Dan benarlah, ia akhirnya dipanggil oleh Sang Pemilik Kehidupan selasa dini hari tadi.

Tidak banyak yang saya ketahui tentang Ninik. Dan dari yang tidak banyak itu, kehebatan daya hidupnyalah yang paling memukau. Saat terakhir saya menjumpai beliau pada kamis siang, ia masih bisa berkomunikasi dengan sadar, bahkan berusaha mengambil air wudhu hingga sempat terjatuh. Hal yang sangat luar biasa pada usianya yang melebihi satu abad. Ya, umurnya melebihi 100 tahun. Perhitungan kasar kami bahkan memperkirakan usianya mencapai 114 tahun. Konon, ia telah memiliki anak saat Tuan Guru Pancor kembali dari Makkah, dan dari keduabelas anaknya, hanya tiga orang yang masih hidup saat ini.

Tidak hanya berumur panjang, secara fisik ia sangat sehat di masatuanya. Pernah ia membuat kami tercengang dengan tekanan darah yang menyaingi kami yang masih muda, 120/80 mmhg saat diperiksa oleh dokter. Ingatannya masih sangat kuat, dan ia mampu berkomunikasi dengan sangat baik. Saya mengingat ketika pertama kali dikenalkan oleh istri (3 tahun lalu). Saat itu, kami menanyakan apakah beliau sudah makan, dan sambil tersenyum ia menjawab, bahwa saat itu masih terlalu pagi untuk makan. Wajahnya masih bersih, dan garis-garis ketampanan itu masih terlihat dengan jelas, hal pertama yang dikomentari oleh Mama saat pertama kali dikenalkan. Yang paling luarbiasa dari seluruh hal tersebut, ia masih sanggup membaca mushaf al Qur’an tanpa menggunakan kacamata.

Dalam keluarga besar, mereka yang berumur diatas 70 tahun (bahkan 80) cukup banyak. Hal yang menarik dari mereka adalah, adanya beberapa orang yang tidak terserang pikun. Orangtua saya berhipotesa, bahwa salah satu aktivitas yang membantu mereka untuk tetap menjaga memori mereka tidak terdegradasi dengan cepat adalah hafalan qur’an mereka. Secara empiris pada keluarga saya, hal itu memang terbukti. Mereka yang tidak pikun memang mereka yang masih secara baik dan kuat mampu melaksanakan shalat, bahkan mengaji dengan rutin. Almarhum Papuq Mame dulu senantiasa mendendangkan surat-surat pada juz 30 baik ketika berbaring maupun berjalan-jalan di halaman rumah. Saat mampir ke rumah Baloq Nine, saya melihat beliau baru selesai menunaikan shalat dan sedang berdo’a. Papuq Jamaq bahkan sering menghabiskan maghrib hingga isya di masjid.
Well konon kepala memang harus bekerja, untuk menjaga agar ia tidak “rusak” dengan cepat saat umur mulai tua.

Hmmm… seketika saya menjadi rindu kembali melihat-lihat mushaf lama saya, menyingkirkan debu yang mulai melapisi covernya. Saya hadiahkan surat Yasin untukmu Ninik, semoga Allah mengampuni segala kesalahan dan menyediakan tempat menunggu yang nyaman untukmu. Sekarang kami yang masih hidup ini akan mencoba meneladanimu, insya Allah.

Glosarium:
Ninik, Papuq = Kakek/Nenek
Baloq = Buyut
Mame = Laki

Rabu 31 Desember 08, pagi
Klien : Bisa beres kapan Pak?
Penjahit : Nanti sore juga beres, memang butuhnya kapan?
Klien : Santai aja Pak, besok juga ga apa-apa.
Penjahit : OK
Klien : Besok ya Pak?
Penjahit : Iya

4 hari kemudian
Klien : Loh ini belum dikecilin Pak?
Penjahit : Maaf, kemarin pulang kampung, ada urusan mendadak….
Klien : Heheh, ya sudah besok beres ya pak (nada datar, malas berdebat, masih ada sisa pundung dari event sebelumnya, ke barber langganan terus dikasi barber baru yang salah menerjemahkan instruksi dan belum bisa mijet pasca cukur padahal bahu lagi pegel banget)

The good stuffs :
- lose some weight and get fairly in shape (yeahhh dude)
- work and college was not a disturbance to each other
- relatively no serious health issues
- got some new fresh team members (with nice qualities)
- business was slightly better than 2007
Carried to 2009 :
- the WMS
- the SD
- still dont have a driver license
Slightly suck stuffs :
- Didnt go home at eid
- Lose two good employees
- Even less contributions than 2007 in Id Wikipedia

(hmm, I’ll update this post if i remember more items)