I’m not trying to be melodramatic, but i really feel sorry for this old chap. He has nothing to do with all the natural disasters in Indonesia that just happened recently, though.
This is the story.
Last week, I went out with a friend of mine looking for an old creepy empty building for a photoshoot. My sister told me that there was one somewhere near the Dutch Grave in Gajah Mungkur, Semarang. So we went. And she was right.
This house looks like it was built from 1940s or something. And there are boards saying it’s for sale. “Contact Budi …. ” it says. I can give you his number if you’re interested. 
Anyway, this house is surrounded by 5-6 feet tall fence. We had an idea to trespass it by jumping over the fence. But we didn’t. We didn’t jump over it. We found an unlocked gate and got in.
As we walked through the front yard, we saw smoke coming out the veranda. Someone was cooking. That poor old chap was cooking breakfast for himself.
Not wanting to be accused for trespassing, I asked him for a permission to look around and inside the house. But that didn’t come easy. I had to listen to him complaining about his life. He told me that he lived there by himself. The owner of the building employed him to guard the house from thieves and things like that for less than Rp. 300,000.00/ $ 30 for a month. And the worst thing for me is that the owner didn’t even give him the key to get inside. So he had to live in a small room at the front side of the house. And of course, we couldn’t get inside the house.
You know what crossed my mind after that? I thought that this old chap just wanted me to give him some money. “His intention is clear..” I remember i said that to my friend. It was okay for me. So I asked him if I could take some pictures of him cooking and eating. Because, I was going to give him money anyway.
After taking some pictures of him cooking, I asked him if I could take pictures of him eating. And after 2 spoons of rice and sambal, a chili based condiment, he said “I’m full”. And I asked him “Aren’t you going to finish the whole plate?”. He replied, “I’m saving it for lunch.”. He also had this chicken cage with maybe 5 chickens in it. I asked him if he ate these chickens. He said ” No, i don’t eat them. They are my saving. I’ll sell them if I get sick or need money for something.”. I was struck. Couldn’t think of anything.
I felt so terrible about what I thought. I’m not really sure now if he wanted me to give him money. Maybe he was only telling me not to treat anybody the way his boss treated him. I’m so sorry Mbah. I learned a lot. And I hope I can still see you again.
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thrill me, almost crying maaas
( can’t type any words again… thank you for posting this, I learned a lot too :’)
Thank you, DIva. I learned a lot too about not to misjudge people.
Su’udzon terus nih.
ji,,percaya gaa,,
aku pernah tinggal di bangunan tua itu,,
hahaha,,
dan aku masih inget gimana seremnya bangunan itu di malam hari,,
hhehehe,,
tadinya itu bangunan punyanya Jati Margo,,
Jati Margo itu nama panti asuhan yang dulu letaknya di gajahmungkur juga,
letaknya persis stelah belokan yang turun ke arah PLN itu,,
tapi skrg uda ga kliatan bangunannya krn uda ketutup sama rumput yang uda tinggi2 gila,,
dulu papa mamaku kerja sebagai karyawan gitu di situ,,
dan pnh disuruh nempatin bangunan tua itu,,
serius Des??tanamannya juga tinggi2 dan serem ya..masih mau ga kalo di minta tinggal di situ??hahahaha
nyamuknya juga buanyak bgt. orang tuanya kasian bgt tuh tinggal di sana sendirian..
:’(
bnran jii,,
cm dulu itu ada tukang kebonnya,,
jadi tamannya tu terawat,,
rumputnya slalu dipotongin,,
dulu waktu kecil kan aku maen2nya ya di tamannya itu,,
hehehe,,
sekarang mah,,emang uda ga terawat bgt,,
dan kesannya malah tambah serem,,
Iya Des..sekarang tanaman di depannya tinggi-tinggi banget.
keliatannya dijadiin kebun sih sama bapaknya. tapi ga beraturan.
besok rabu ak mau ke sana lagi.. mau kasih sesuatu ke bapaknya.
ternyata papaku masih kenal ma bapak tua ini ji,,
namanya pak matsiar,,
kata papaku emang kasian bgt tuh bapaknya,,
dari jaman dulu emang uda dia yang jaga bangunan itu,,
Pak Matsiar..
Oke deh..ak mau kasi hasil print foto ini ke dia krn dulu dia pernah minta waktu ak foto ke sana.
buat kenang-kenangan katanya.
and I’m a man of my word.
mau ikut kesana??
km uda ke sana ya ji?
hehhee,,
tadi siang mama papaku juga jengukin bapaknya,,
kata papaku dulu dia juga sering dipanggil pak joli,,
soalnya dulu dia sempet jadi penjual es joli,,
aku aja ga tau tuh es joli yang kaya gimana,,
hhahaha,,
udah des..tadi siang baru kesana loh..
mbah joli aka pak matsiar juga cerita kalo papah mamahmu kesana.
hehehe all the best for him:D