What is Your Favorite Place?

What is your favorite place?

Most people, including me, will say: "my hometown where I grew up". And I'll add: especially after the first rain in the end of dry season, in the afternoon, when the ray of light infiltrating the wet leaves and the sun somehow rising again, though the twilight is about to approach the horizon. On that moment, I felt that the day was prolonged. This kind of scenery always reminds me of my lovely childhood memories.

Years have passed since my first encounter of that sentimental reminiscence, until one day, when I experienced my first summer in the northern hemisphere. During my stay in Germany, I lived in Bochum, a small town on the riverbank of Ruhr. I can say, summer in Bochum was the best. Why? Because I saw my childhood in there. Even though, it was not identical, but the sceneries somehow revived the ancient paths of nervous system in my head, awaking the most wonderful time of my life. The days were prolonged and the sentimental memories were called back for sure.

When the afternoon sun in August swept the yellowish wheat leaves near Ruhr river waiting for their harvest time, I remembered the warmth of the afternoon sun that swept my face when I sat at my favorite branch in Guava tree in front of our home. When I heard the sound of children playing on the banks of Kemnadersee lake, I remembered my childhood friends.

So, when I am asked again: Where is your second favorite place?

I'll say: the European country side in summer, when the Earth surrenders itself dearly to the caress of the sun.

About the Famous Ayaat in the Qur'an: "inna ma'a al 'usri yusran"

Let me tell you something beautiful and amazing about a famous ayaat in the Qur'an: "inna ma'a al 'usri yusran."

It's simply translated: 

"Certainly, with hardship comes ease."

Let's take a deeper analysis about the grammar and the sentence structure. Please, bear with me. It might sounds complicated for you who don't know Arabic, but believe me it's just the very basic. Even though it is, we can see how the knowledge of Arabic can give us a certain nuance, the deeper one, to the meaning of the ayaats of the Qur'an.

 

First, we'll talk about the grammar (Nahw). 

In Arabic, an ism (person, place, thing, idea, adjective, adverb, and more) has 4 properties, i.e.,

1. Status: Raf', Nasb, Jarr

2. Number

3. Gender

4. Type:

a. Proper (specific). 

b. Common (not specific).

 

Back to the sentence:

"inna" means "certainly". It's called Harf of Nasb, and its victim is an ism in Nasb status.

In this sentence, its victim is the word (ism) "yusran", meaning "ease". So, "yusran" is in Nasb status. And, because it has tanween (or simply an "an" sound at its end), its status is common (unknown, not specific) and has magnification meaning. 

"ma'a" means "with". It's called special Mudaf. Let's just skip the detail about what it is. 

"al 'usri" means "the hardship". Its type is proper. So, "the hardship" is specific, known (because it has "al"), and not magnified (because it has no tanween). 

Then, we'll talk about sentence structure. 

In Arabic sentence structure (ism based), we have 3 components, i.e.:

1. Mubtada' (subject/topic),

2. Khabar (predicate/information)

3. Muta'alliq bil khabar (secondary predicate/MBK)

Back to the sentence:

Here, "inna" and its victim "yusran" is the Mubtada' (subject) 

And, "ma'a al usri" is MBK (secondary predicate). 

No khabar (predicate) in this sentence. 

Normally, the sentence starts with Mubtada' and then khabar, MBK, etc. But, here in this sentence, we have MBK first, and then a "delayed Mubtada". This flip/weird order gives a certain meaning, it creates the meaning of "only" to the sentence. 

So, with all the complicated things I just mentioned, here is the summary. 

"inna ma'a al usri yusran", in more complex translation will be:

"Certainly, with every known hardship there is (only comes) an ease that is unknown."

You don't even know what the ease gonna be, it's mysterious, but no doubt about it, for sure it's there. Just because you don't know, it doesn't mean that an ease doesn't exist. The hardship is not magnified. So, as big as you think a problem is, that's not big. And, the ease that is coming has been magnified. 

So, Allah is saying in this beautiful ayaat that hardship is limited and you can see the hardship but what you can't see is the ease. And the ease is so much bigger than the hardship. It's mysterious, unknown, and magnified. Allah is also saying some great mysterious ease is coming, but it would ONLY come with hardship. So, the ONLY reason you have hardship is so Allah can give you ease. 

More than that, Allah even says it twice, not just even once, in ayaat 5 and 6 of Surah Al Inshiraah (94th Surah, 30th juz).

A copy of the Qur'an opened for reading. (Wikipedia, https://www.flickr.com/photos/el7bara/45540389/)

Simon Admiraal and the Romantic History of Mazhab Bandung

After attending two consecutive scientific conferences in Bali and Yogya, my life apparently has to be switched back into its balance position. Fortunately, after coming back to Bandung, this month, Faculty of Fine Art and Design, Institut Teknologi Bandung (FSRD ITB) is celebrating its 70th anniversary. It's special of course and some interesting events are waiting for art lovers. 

Last Friday, I had a chance to attend a talk show about Simon Admiraal, an important figure who initiated the art school (Universiteit Leergang voor Tekenleraren) in Bandung back in 1947, which is now FSRD ITB. Simon was born in Jakarta in 1903 and had an art education in Den Haag. Just 2 years after the opening of the school, he went to his father's homeland, The Netherlands, without ever coming back to his mother's homeland, Indonesia. That's why, people know very little about him as FSRD's founding father. Twenty five years after his death, the story has been eventually revealed and trace its roots. 

This event was held in Galeri Soemardja ITB, as a part of the exhibition about Simon Admiraal, opened two days earlier. That afternoon, Mrs. Marjon Berkenvelder (Simon's granddaughter), her husband and daughter told us about Simon's life, the humanistic side of the maestro. How they describe Simon as a serious and dedicated person. He never spent his days without working on any kind of arts. He always shared his view about art and its all possible forms to his family. Mrs. Marjon is also an artist and Simon was very proud of her. Simon worked in almost every kind of arts. He was a painter, a sculptor, a graphic designer, an interior designer, and also an architect. No wonder, FSRD ITB has grown gracefully with those genres until now. 

Simon had very complicated experience of life. In the end period of Dutch authorization in Indonesia, he had to spend his life in concentration camps in Pekanbaru and Cimahi. He even lost one of his children. But, even in those very tough time, he never lost his spirit. With a hope that one day he would be released from the jail, he designed his dream house in a very detail scale and order. That house was supposed to be built in Bogor. Though, it had never been materialized, I found it very romantic and emotional. 

With one of its visions in history, Galeri Soemardja team really did a really great job. They have researched this material from the scratch and coming with this wonderful history about their school and its roots. Back in 2016, they searched every possibilities to find any valuable information and eventually found a bright spot. They (my friend, Michael Binuko is one of them) even went to The Netherlands to meet Simon's family. This is just a beginning of their upcoming long project. I am really looking forward for other amazing works and stories. Like what your founding father did, a wonderful work never be done without dedication and perseverance.

*I wrote this note on August 2017 as a memento of the 70th anniversary of Faculty of Fine Art and Design, Institut Teknologi Bandung. I am not part of it, but this event has left a fond and special memory for me as an art enthusiast.

Art, Science, and Food

Why am I so passionate about art? 

I don't have any exact answer to this question. Just like the comparison between love and like. Some people said that like is because, but love is despite. Love doesn't have the so-called "reasons". Maybe it does, but I believe they can't be explained simply, they are imaginary. That's what I feel about art: love. 

How did I jump into the realm of the interconnection between art, science, and food, recently? 

Art? That's what I explained to you earlier, everything about it is love. Case's closed. 

Science? That's something else I passionate about. I have spent more that two thirds of my life to learn it formally in schools and colleges until Doctoral-level. Well, science and its derivative: engineering. 

But, what about food? This is the problem and the turning point. Since a long time ago, I have found that cooking is something pleasurable to me, but not the case for eating. Often, I have to struggle to adjust many things to increase my appetite. My most favorite month is Ramadan, but when I was a kid, the reason was something silly: during the month, I could skip the lunch without being in an argument with my parents.  

This problem have driven me to look for the things that can help me find the reasons to eat properly, things like science, art, psychology, environment, sustainability, or anything else behind the food. This quest have led me to the realm of the interconnection between art, science, and food. 

Nowadays, the sources of knowledge are abundant, especially online. We can learn many things from many valuable sources and many amazing people out there, way more easily than our previous generations could. Prof. Charles Spence and Charles Michel are currently my two favorite people as the main sources of knowledge to feed my hunger/quest about these fields. With their wonderful and beautiful minds, not to mention their bright personalities, dozen of books and scientific papers they recommend, accompanied by series of talks and lectures, can be digested more easily. 

You can check these links to learn more about their works:

Charles Spence:

https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/team/charles-spence

Charles Michel:

https://charlesxmichel.com/

List of books related to the fields recommended by Charles Michel:

1. Catching Fire, How Cooking Made Us Human, by Wrangham. 

2. Concerning the Spiritual in Art, by Kandinsky. 

3. Gastrophysics, the New Science of Eating, by Charles Spence. 

4. Human Evolution, by Dunbar. 

5. Hungry City, by Steel. 

6. Multisensory Flavor Perception from Fundamental Neuroscience through to the Marketplace, by Piqueras-Fiszman, and Charles Spence. 

7. Sensation and Perception, by Goldstein. 

8. Silo, the Zero Waste Blueprint a Food System for the Future, by McMaster. 

9. Sitopia, by Steel. 

10. The Perfect Meal the Multisensory Science of Food and Dining, by Charles Spence, and Piqueras-Fiszman. 

11. Umami, Unlocking the Secrets of the Fifth Taste, by Mouritsen, et al. 

Something else just popped up in my mind. I dream about what I can do to help solving the problem related to food, its sustainability, and its impact to the environment by applying my knowledge about ultrasound engineering. Some keywords started to fly before my eyes: power ultrasound, high intensity-low frequency ultrasound, cavitation effect, shockwave, food engineering, food preservation, etc. But, I just have to be patient, may Allah gives me sincere intention, ability, and opportunity to realize this dream.

However, above everything else inside the scope of these topics, I must not forget the problem I wanted to solve in the first place: fixing my appetite about food, not my appetite about knowledge that sometimes exceeds a normal rate. 

Bandung, 10 March 2021, precisely a year after my last visit to the campus. 

*What lessons can the pandemic give you within the period of one year? 

Home

If there is any vivid loving memory of my past, my childhood home is definitely one of them. Often in my dream, I just live my life as beautifully as I did at that time. As if it was never a past nor a bitterness of longing for the things that will never come back.

I never forget the moment I stepped my feet out of its door for the last time to find out later that we never came back to that home again for the noble reasons my parents made that I actually never regret. That home will still be the same in my dream with all the memories of my childhood. Our family homes after that have never been crafted more deeply in my heart. 

Wherever and whenever I go to find a nest, one after another, from the sunny day at my boarding school in Bangka to the cruel winter in Bochum, from the bustling morning of my neighborhood in Pangkalpinang to the chilly morning in Bandung, bittersweet memories of my childhood home is my very own definition of homesick. It always has been and always will be.

Bandung, 9 February 2021.

Life is a Grand Affair

The year of 2020 has given me many experiences. No matter what, all of them have been crafted deeply in my heart, Alhamdulillah. This year marks the end and the beginning of many things in my life. As long as the soul is still in the body, during that time all endings and beginnings will alternate in recorded rotation.

"I am marching into my own pace in my own path and will always be."

Normal standards that apply to the average person do not always have to be a reference. After all, I have been through my life for more than 3 decades without much heeding to these standards, and it's okay. For me, life is more exciting to be lived like this, run through the adventures in my own definition, not from the definitions set by others. If other people want to join me, that's great, otherwise that's great too. Because at the end of the day, we are all alone and will be responsible for our deeds only, not others'. 

Someone once asked me: "Have you ever want to have a permanent job, a permanent house, or a family of your own?" 

I don't know how to answer these questions properly. All I know, I never intend to dedicate my life just to pursue those "permanent-permanent club". I try to pursue something more essential than that: "How do I hold the responsibility for my life later after the death?" Again, if those "permanent-permanent club" ever pass by my life, it's great, otherwise it's great too. Because, this worldly life is basically not permanent either. Yes, "back to the basic" often works to answer those questions.

I have challenged myself in what I consider big: breaking boundaries. The first: breaking the limit of my intellectuality by challenging myself to complete my Ph.D journey. The second: breaking the limit of my independence by challenging myself to travel alone to foreign places. The first and the second one turn out to be addicting, it's not easy to brake them either. And the third one: breaking through the limit of my courage by challenging myself to be true to my own feelings. The third one sounds cliché, but it was one of the boldest moves in my life and I never regret it. So far, I've only ever loved 2 men besides my father and my brother. (Thank you for passing by my life, by the way). And I told them, if time has the limit and it is the death and/or the Judgment Day, I love them until the end of time, truly. Because after that, I can't help anyone and can't be helped by anyone other than Allah. 

After completing those three challenges during this year, it's already more than enough for myself, and I shall continue on the next journeys to be more useful to others, hopefully inshaa Allah.

People around me often consider me as a "free spirit". And I am always looking forward to meet many more "kindred spirits" during my lifetime. Even though, I don't care much about those terminologies. 

Someone else also once asked me: "Have you ever felt lonely being yourself that's often considered unconventional by others?"

Maybe yes sometimes, but most of the time, no. I feel completely complete. I am not saying that I am always happy. Happiness is just a bonus and I believe it's the state of mind, not the state of others' presences. I don't pursue it because this world is not the place of the true happines. This world is not the resting place, it's the testing place. My life has been also in many ups and downs, but I never have a reason to not love it. Yes, I love my life unconditionally until the day I meet My Rabb inshaa Allah. Hopefully, you too.

PS. I am in the process of writing my third book, I don't know when it will be finished, but I am excited to introduce it to the world someday inshaa Allah. Again, first thing first, need to arrange the priorities.

Bandung, 13 November 2020.

Photo courtesy: Michael Binuko. He once told me, "It's you, an anomaly".