once we were back in Bali, we were brought back to the reality of a giant protected reserve for tourists with infinite stretches of neatly packed boxes of shops with glass facades, mannequins looking out of them with their contemptuous looks. After days with heart shaped toilet buckets and dim hotel lights, I was fumbling with toilet papers and getting blinded with night lights. Flores and Sumba were still deep in my mind, refusing to make way for a new world.
At both the Indonesian islands of Flores and Sumba, we came across unique traditional villages. Houses, characteristic with their husky towering roofs, are central to their culture. The villages vary in their house designs and the elaborate rituals involved in building them. and the pattern of arrangement of the houses is also unique to each village clan. However, invariably, the bottom layers of these houses are for keeping the animals, on top of which are the living areas, above which the layers are used for storage of food, preserved from insects and moisture by the smoke from the firewood stoves placed underneath. made of wood, bamboo, and dry grass, the houses last less than thirty years and are prone to fires. but the pull of tradition is too strong. Those who build modern houses are often excommunicated.
The Manggarai people in the eastern highlands of Flores divide their rice fields in a spider web pattern. The village head distributes land among the villagers in parcels of triangular patterns or Lodok, starting at the centre.
Traditional village of Wae Rebo in Flores
And only in Sumba and Flores, men’s fashion still gets some attention. the most expensive cloth (ikat) is given to the groom as a return gift for the bride-price. only women are involved in ikat making, a skill that adds to her potential as a worthy bride. Making ikat is laborious; the weaver has to wait for weeks for that perfect berry to blossom in that faraway vine to get the colour her man must wear. men are forbidden to be anywhere near the dye making process.
At Komodo and Rinca islands, we had seen Komodo Dragons begging tourists for food. There are many similarities between humans and Komodos. Their babies take nine months to come out. They also suffer from bad breath. and they are usually monogamous; almost a similarity with humans. but there are many stark differences too. There are four males for every female Komodo. and Komodo mothers can give birth asexually. imagine the life of a Komodo male, who after overcoming all these struggles, ends up with a partner with bad breath.
At Flores, we had visited the colored lakes of Kelimutu. These three volcanic lakes change color rather whimsically. The local Lio people believe that the spirits of those who die at an old age go to reside at one of the azure lakes, of those who die young go to the one next to it, and of those who had been evil are condemned to the Coca Cola colored lake.
And how can I forget the excitement of the annual mock fight in Sumba? during the fight, called the Pasola, two teams drawn from different villages confront each other. men dressed in traditional garb, riding horses, gallop towards opponents, throwing blunt wooden spears. The fights are usually stopped when blood spills for the first time, an event considered auspicious for the coming harvest.
Sumba is known as the Texas of Indonesia
The climax of our trip was on the day we attended a funeral in Sumba. Over two hundred people had been invited. We melted at their warm welcome. but we also witnessed the sacrifice of seven buffaloes and four pigs. The locals explained that the Sumbanese believe that blood spilled in front of the house of the deceased smoothens her passage to heaven with the slaughtered animals joining her in heaven.
Despite being largely Christians, the Sumbanese still widely practice rituals from their native religion, Marapu. and according to Marapu, death is the point of escape from the world of common insignificance to an elevated realm, a few steps closer to God. accordingly ancestors are revered a lot more than the living. Funerals are therefore extremely important occasions in Sumbanese culture involving elaborate ceremonies. Such occasions are also opportunities to send a message about the sponsor’s social standing. It is common in Sumba to build a tomb for oneself or someone else in the family who was still alive, again for the reason of sending a social signal.
The Sumbanese spend great fortunes to build tombs and organize large feasts to commemorate both tomb-building and burials. The grander the tomb and the feasts, the stronger the message sent about the sponsors social standing.
The villages of Sumba have seen many battles, over slaves and land. As recently as 1998, there were bloody clashes between rival clans over the matter of disrespect shown to an important person. However, on more normal days, the Sumbanese are eXtremely værdig, høflig, blid og respektfuld. Der er for mange lag til en sumbanesere, et synligt lag, formet af fattigdom og hårdt vejr, en forkærlighed for visuelle udstillinger af vold, en historie med blodige kommunale kampe, stive og stive normer i samfundet, kodificeret i aldre, dræning af liv uden pause ; Og så var der de samme ansigter, der satte alle deres armering, bravado og stivhed med de ydmyge smil, som de nogensinde var klar til at vise, selvom de var farvet med en grumset blodrød, fra betelmøtrikken, de tyggede hele dagen.
Og selv i dag, længe efter at vi kom tilbage til vores hjem i Singapore, holder Mama Mena fra Bajawa, en grøntsagsælger med en muggen indkomst, besked om, at jeg spørger om vores helbred og fortæller os, at alle kvinder i hendes strækning af Pasar Bajawa (marked ) talte om os hver dag. Og den bart onkel fra Waingapu, der solgte kyllinger, beskeder os, der spurgte, om vi allerede havde sendt billederne, blev ængstelig, da mailen ikke viste sig på hans adresse, der lige sagde: “John Kumis at Pasar Ayam, Waikabubak.”
Waikabubak, Waingapu, Waikelele, Waitabula, Waitabar; Alle disse navne med Wai, der betød vand; Ligesom på andre polynesiske sprog som dem, der bruges af indfødte Hawaiian og Maori -folk; en bemærkelsesværdig forbindelse fra antikken; Så en by betød vand, der kogte; En anden betød vand, der var blå; Jeg glemte hurtigt, hvilket var hvilken.
Har turen noget for mig på nogen dybere måde end nogen anden ferie? Der var selvfølgelig fornøjelsen af ikke at være nåelige af mine overordnede i embedet, hvad med de uberegnelige mobile forbindelser på de fjerne steder, men en dvælende bekymring var, at de heller ikke gider at kontakte mig; blev jeg irrelevant? Og så regnede jeg og Lobo ud af, at vi kunne tolerere hinanden lige nok til at gifte os. Udover disse var det forfriskende at komme tæt på de træk af den menneskelige natur, der normalt undertrykkes i mere forstenede miljøer; Strangers, enkelheden og frygt for død. Jeg flød stadig på en pulje af ukendte samling af myter, hvad enten søerne fulde af døde sjæle eller Komodos, der faktisk var søskende af mennesker, for at skabe en fascinerende verden af ømme historier, der stod blidt på en kold base af ellers rationelle forklaringer.
Ikke desto mindre kæmpede jeg for at finde store metaforer til vores tur. Der var ingen begivenhed, som jeg kunne tænke på som livsændrende, dem, der er meget elsket af ansøgningsformularer af disse elite-forretningsskoler. Jeg vippede gennem de billeder, vi havde taget, i håb om en anelse, noget at prale af kort, uden at tjene et bekræftet omdømme for Opprobrium. Ud af de tusinder, vi havde taget, varm og strålende, lejlighedsvis med en blændning af blåt, var der en, ikke strålende indrammet, hvor parang millisekund. Da øjnene blev lukket, syntes Buffalo at forudse slaget. Det var i live i øjeblikket, men et blink af et øje væk fra irreversibel død. Jeg vidste, hvad der skete efter det. Men det var, hvad det var i det øjeblik. Det øjeblik havde begejstret mig, ligesom Daniel havde sagt, at sumbanesiske begravelser var spændende. but that moment had passed, the buffalo had died. The stars that we saw in numbers we had not heard of before, even they would go through their own individual moments from where they will fall into an irreversible decay. Komodos ville også give en dag, langsomt udslettet af en eller anden rovdyr eller økologisk forandring eller ved en pludselig strejke af meteoren eller skøre våben. even the lakes of Kelimutu, full of the spirits, good and bad, would disappear one day, swallowed in by tectonic forces or a sudden outward eruption. All along the roads we had taken, there was smell of death and rot, a flattened frog, long dry; a puppy that had been just run over, its mashed head a gooey red; a dead rat, thrown around by jumpy crows. In between all this transience, I was finding it tempting to be part of a myth, a realm where one can become an ancestor and stay as such for infinity, watching everything, feeling everything, remaining real, in memories and consciousness of everyone yet to be born, even if diluted in identity, but still not extinct till mankind itself became extinct.
Buffaloes play a critical role in Flores and Sumba societies. Buffaloes are gifted or sacrificed during key events in life: birth, wedding, and funeral. Buffalo horns are used to decorate houses to denote their status
But even being a part of this myth was under threat, from secular rationality, from collective wisdom of organized big religions, from the stigma attached by the media, and simple economics which made ancestor veneration seem too expensive for its value. I hoped this world might linger around just a bit longer, only for me, to feel a little more permanent. I was being selfish for I had moved on, and these people of Sumba and Flores would also move on. who was I to ask them to not put a mall aroundKelimutu -søerne eller ikke at opgive deres detaljerede traditionelle hjem til Bahaus -murstenblokke med franske navne? Men indtil videre ville jeg bare drømme lidt mere, gennemvædet i denne våde, vilde verden, hvor fremmede gik omkring mig i tavshed, opmærksom på, at intet forstyrrer mig, fra denne magiske fred.
Sådan når Flores og Sumba: I Flores er Labuan Bajo, Ende og Maumere de vigtigste porte til indgang og udgang. Der er fly og skibe fra større byer i Indonesien til alle disse lokationer.
Waikabubak og Waingapu er de største byer i Sumba. For at nå Waikabubak er den lette måde at flyve fra Bali til Tambaloka i Sumba og derefter tage en to timers kørsel til Waikabubak. En anden måde at nå Sumba, rigere på erfaring, men fattigere med hensyn til komfort, er at tage et skib fra Pelni, det nationale indonesiske rederi.
Om forfatteren: forfatter, rejsende og fotograf; Shivaji Das er forfatteren af Journeys med Caterpillar: Rejser gennem øerne Flores og Sumba, Indonesien. Han blev født og opdrættet i den nordøstlige provins Assam i Indien. Han er uddannet fra Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, efter hvilken han afsluttede sin postgraduation fra Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta.
Han arbejder i øjeblikket som managementkonsulent i Singapore. Shivajis skrifter er blevet offentliggjort i forskellige magasiner såsom tid, asiatisk geografisk, venture mag, Jakarta Post, Hack Writers, Gonomad osv. Han har også holdt foredrag om kulturen af Flores og Sumba i Singapore, Marokko, Kina, Indonesien og Brasilien . Hans fotografier i samarbejde med sin kone, Yoland Yu, er blevet udstillet i Darkroom Gallery, Vermont (USA), Kuala Lumpur International Photography Festival (Malaysia), Arts House (Singapore) og Nationalbiblioteket (Singapore).
Udover at rejse tager Shivaji også en aktiv interesse i vandrende spørgsmål og udryddelse af mindreårig fattigdom og er forbundet med Singapore -baserede organisation, som forbigående arbejdere også tæller (TWC2).
Følg ham på: Officielt websted, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+
Om bogen:
De detaljerede begravelsesritualer med ofre, vulkanske søer, der skifter farve hvert par år, animistiske samfund, der bor i isolerede landsbyer, gigantiske Komodo -drager, der lurer bag køkkener.
“Rejser med Caterpillar” er et ydmygt og humoristisk forsøg på at fange den dramatiske enkelhed af Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) i Indonesien, der dækker øerne Flores, Komodo, Rinca og Sumba.
Alle royalties fra denne bog er doneret til Ayo Indonesien og Yayasan Harapan Sumba (YHS), to non-profit-organisationer i henholdsvis Flores og Sumba. Få det på Amazon!
Flere tip til YouTube ⬇
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