The free movie theatre

...like no other arts in this world, I cannot master acting...it is the hardest arts I ever know.... (Koeaing!)

"OK, you koeaing, Nurul and Sinto, come here, in front of the class, and give us a short scene of Prince Diponegoro Pursuit drama...." asked my History teacher....
My sweat ran out from my skin just like the blood flood when Moses tried to proof Allah’s power to Pharaoh.
"Ca…ca…cann...can we just have one or two rehearsal first ma’m ?" I tried to buy sometimes...it was better than died before the class.
"Nope...do it RIGHT NOW...!"

...movies is sometimes becoming more important than real lifeitself...

My God !! I acted as The Blind Prince Diponegoro with my eyes closed , because I must blacked-out if my eyes opened. Acting, I admire it, as it is hard to master, the art that I cannot afford to master it up to now. Singing, dancing, playing the gamelan, guitaring, drawing, painting, martial arts, you name it, I master all easily, but not for Acting, I have given my last world SURRENDER !

I could imagine if I master this art, I would be a famous actor. All beautiful girls cried hysterically yelling my name while I crossed the red carpet of Hollywood. Maybe just like Clark gable, the classical film actor with one of his hits ever, Gone with the Wind. Maybe Raden Mokhtar as well, the ex-actor of Miss Tjitjih toniil theatre who became the most famous actor in Oost-Indie .

However, what can I say All what I did is just watched movies; nothing’s more, no acting at all. The worst scenario was, I was a poor kid, even to buy some food I could hardly afford, how could I go to the theatre ? Stealing, picking pocket ? The crowd would beat me to die after they got me ! So, how is the best way to see some movies ? The answer was watched it for FREE !

Karanganyar district had one theater, the big building right on the downtown, nearby my Junior High School. I passed that building everyday after my class hour, therefore I knew how peoples came in and out well. Peoples came with the 2.5 F ticket. That 2.5 F was as much as my two-days meals. I could not give my two-days meal away, not to mention they tore the ticket off anyway, what a moron !

The exit door was at the right wing, it was the pale-blue colored one, big size and stinky, no wonder, maybe the Dutch built it. Every time the movie was over, peoples got out without queuing anymore, and I could see the small path left among the crowd, that mean a free ticket for me tough ! Problem is solved !



Right on the 'D' day, I started to do my plan. The theatre opened on matinee time alias high noon so peoples got out by half to three afternoon, which was my BIG TIME, as my class was over. Now it is twenty-five past two, my heart was beating fast even I could hear it by my own ears. My breath was in hurry, just like a beginner thief, the longer I wait the more beats I heard.

Do it or do not…do it or do not...DO IT ! I have been thinking it sometimes, how could I cancel it ? If the theatre’s guards caught me up, the worst thing was they fined me, and I was ready for it...even I didn’t know how the money came from ! Krieeeeeeeeet....broll....!! As the peoples got out from that gigantic door, I slipped-in...After broke trough some men’s legs and of course the girls either :P finally I got to the center of the theatre, still you could smell the bad-smell aroma directly from Medan town....

I ran to the scene-behind room to hide for a while. Because if you directly went to the seats the guardians saw you easily. Behind that theatre scene, I saw so many movies stuffs like movies advertising papers, film brochures, paint, scene posters, large-size textiles....bamboo sticks, they just placed all that trash in my ‘temporary palace’, shit ! This was the price I had to buy, got along with the trash, and while the smell of mice shit was mixed with peoples’ urine...

In the next ten minutes, the theatre became very dark; it was the sign of the advertisement part. It was the right time for me to go out, so I stepped out to the viewer’s seats, pretended I just came out from the rest room ! Remember, the calmness and normal gesture is the success key or thief...

I went to the second floor, my favorite place in the theatre. I sat right nearby the projector, you just don’t know how happy I was, listened to the rolling film-celluloid. My breath was back to normal, so did my heartbeat and I still have my money in my pocket...what a life ! It was fun to watch the free movies !

Grand elder KRT Soerjomentaram said, "win without conquer, attack without armies" and I guess that grand daddy forgot some words "...watch without pay...”

Koeaing!
If we can do for free why pay ?

The art of marble games

...children addicted to this little round-shaped glass ball...

It is rounded-shaped, starting as little as nose shit to as big as baseball ball. The name is Nekker and nekkering is how you play it. It is called by marble in English spoken countries. Consisting of three colored-paintings just like a rainbow. Nevertheless, some of them are colorless, consist only bubbles in it, the colored ones usually green, silver, purple or blue.

...childhood is the best phase of my lifeindeed...

Gunungan is the simplest marble games. The ring is round-shaped and has a hole as its center. The hole is as big as a marble itself, whoever can go into this hole by one shot, voila; it’s a hole in one ! Starting the game is easy, at least there are two ways to draw the first player, ‘close’ and ‘far’ distance system. The line of outer circle lines is the border. ‘Close’ system took the first drawer by whoever can make the closest distance from the line, so did the 'far' system. The close system is the common one. The champion can use his mascot to his first shot, just shoot as hard as you can.

Shooting techniques may vary. It consists of two ways, one hand and two hands. For one hand fist, you can use your thumb and pointing finger for the easiest fist. Alternatively, you can use your middle finger with thumb also. The second fist is more complicated, as this is the mix between middle finger-thumb techniques with two hands. The left hand for handling the marble, and the right hand for shoot. I never make it ! However, you must aware, you cannot cheat this way by using your elbow. We used to call it by nggontlom ! It is dishonest way to play !

The next step is to get the bets. You have to crush the bets. The bets itself are marbles from each players. If you manage your shot without being trapped within the circle then you can have all bets outside the circle line. If you fail, you die in the first round, we call it by sekoek. What happened if the bets last ? Anarchy !

You start to kill each other’s. You can shoot your rivals mascots, so do they. Finally, only one person stays alive; he can take all the marbles from his defeated rivals. This way, who gets the first bet not always win, he could lose his bets if his mascot gets killed ! The smartest kid has this way. He did not want to get the bets first, the bets themselves are not his goals anyway, only kills the rival mascots is the easiest way to win.

marbles....

The second game is getting excited, Jirak. You only make a vertical line, it is like a fishbone-shaped diagram. You can place your bets in each fishbone tips. The idea is whoever shot the head; he can get all the rest. However, when you hit the neck, you can only take bets laid from neck below. The drawing system is the same as gunungan system, using close and far distance system also. This time we use the head part as center.

This game needs a straight and plain area. The wealthy children usually play this game because they have many marbles to bet. They often use the best jockeys to win the competitions. The best jockey is the one who has the highest hole-in-one record, shoot the head only ! Keliek was best in jirak game even he was the best jockey ever. Djendoel was the best in two-hand fist, while Nothol was the best player in gunungan game, and the last one was Nggobek “the longest dick” Sunarto. He was the trickiest marble player among us, played nggontlom techniques frequently but denied in the same time…what a boy…

And how about yourself koeaing ? Me ? I think I was not the best but not the loser either I tell you what, I often have had my experiences with marbles... I used to have marbles as bullets for my catapult. And you know what ? You don’t have any ideas about plunging the marbles in to kerosene don’t you ? It is cracked ! However, the cracked-line-patterns were so beautiful to see...

Koeaingdinekkeransiah!
Always find the beauty of destruction....