Monday, February 4, 2008

Konde, Oh Konde...

Culture is one of Indonesian assets. As an Indonesian, I am thankful for the rich culture we inherit from our forefathers. As a matter of fact, I like the diversity of Indonesian ethnic culture and proud of it.


However, as a remain of ancient days, some irrelevancies occur in the use and applications of culture, or in a more exact meaning, the traditions. On the other hand, our seniors (i.e. the ladies and gentlemen become the foremen in our colleges or offices, the deans, our bosses, the President, the Secretary of Education, etc., or perhaps our own parents?) enjoy maintaining the complexity of some traditions.


I’d like to share one night I spent chatting with Desita, reminiscing our college years which ended up talking about “konde.” Started with a topic of Joglosemar bus that Desita hasn’t ever seen since she left this city after we graduated, we ended up talking about the graduation day.


I just realized that a hairdo had made Desita so annoyed, and since, I just realized that many of us could have felt the same way too. I didn’t feel that way because I was pretty comfortable with the hair bun my hairdresser had made.


Konde is Javanese hair bun, included in a package of traditional Javanese outfit.


We ended up concluding we hate the outfit we were wearing. We concluded the outfit and the stuffs we had to do were annoying.


This is what I’ve discussed with Desita (with some editing of course, cuz you know how messed up a conversation on Yahoo Messenger or any chat room could be).


Desita : We graduated on the same day, didn’t we? :D


Me : I think so, didn't we? Yeah, you sat on the first seat on the right, cuz you had the highest GPA!


Desita : No way…it was Vilia! :P


Me : Oh, it was her!


Desita : I only had 3.2


Me : Oh, you sat next to me! Yeah…I just had 3.27. You had 3.29.


Desita : Slightly different. Like butter and margarine.


Me : Yeah


Desita : See? Hu uh.


Me : But we had to sit in order, so we did in order, though the difference was just 0.2. We can’t sit on each other’s lap! :D I forgot who sat on my left though.


Desita : You should have gained 3.30. So you would have sat on my right, the first seat.


Me : Why? So I would get the first cake?


Desita : So you would have been pictured first!


Me : Oh! Yeah… but thankfully I wasn’t! It wasn’t a perfect moment to be pictured. I hated to be pictured on graduation day.

Desita : I hated my konde. I really hated it.


Me : It was damn ugly.


Desita : I hate the ibu-ibu in salon who made it.


Me : I hate my toga (toga = academic gown, according to Desita). I wanted to take off my toga, it was damn a hot July afternoon


Desita : I don't really like my konde on my wedding either but I really love the make up :D. I love my muka (muka: face).


Me : Yeah, you always look good in Javanese make up anyway.


Desita : It depends on the make up artist too. Wish the mbak-mbak who did my make up on my wedding was the same person did my make up on graduation day. ;))))))))))))))))))))))


Me : I ordered a hair bun, but not really a konde. Maybe she just twisted my hair. That’s why I looked cute, didn’t I?


Desita : Ya yaaaaaaa. Wish i could turn back time. I also ordered a “cepol” (cepol: a small piece of hair bun), but the lady didn’t seem really understand.


(Duh! If I could turn back time, I would try to get a scholarship to Singapore's Nanyang University. Wondered why I didn't even think of it.)


Me : But I hated the toga and the hat, I think it made us look like clowns.


Desita : We were clowns!


Me : I mean, get real, toga is definitely not women's outfit! So why did we have to wear kebaya and konde?


Desita : Everywhere in Indonesia, you have to wear kebaya and konde on your graduation day. That’s why I decided to take a Master Degree abroad. Indonesians are so into culture, Jeng, eventhough sometimes it isn’t important at all.


Me : But it’s a paradox! (I meant toga, and kebaya and konde).


Desita : That, write that on your blog!


Me : A good idea. I must scan my graduation pictures though. They weren't digital. Or perhaps you’d like to contribute yours?


Desita : Not in this life!


Me : :-)))))


Desita : I hate it with all the konde and stuff la


Me : Ha ha!


What Desita said was true, Indonesians are so into culture, eventhough sometimes it isn’t important at all. Like I said, if we had to wear toga anyway, why should we have worn kebaya (the traditional Javanese women’s blouse) inside and konde (and then we had to cover it with hat?). It’s just so confusing. I think it’s a paradox. A stupid paradox.


And what I don’t understand is, why did I wanna do it anyway?


Vilia, that girl who had the highest GPA, she didn’t make a hair bun! She just loosened her hair and wore outfit as if she was a Chinese princess.


Perhaps you won’t understand what we felt—if you don’t experience it, that we finally admit it was one of the worst moments of our college years--to be in an uncomfortable traditional blouse, a tight batik skirt, and put on a heavy, thick academic gown outside and put on a stupid hat. I even wished I could skip the graduation if only I didn’t remember I needed the diploma and to be pictured with my classmates!


Anyway, a picture of me and my girl friends might help you figure out what kind of torture we were going through. If a picture paints a thousand words, this picture even tells you a million. It was as if we were punished for a crime we never committed.

I am on the left, and Desita is that girl on the right.
(Click the picture to see a larger image)


Somewhow I must apologize to Desita for finally revealing the secret we have been keeping for years (we never wanted to remind that stupid konde and toga), revealing the ugliest performance we ever made, the most sweating day of our college years.



6 comments:

DESITA said...

thx for finally revealing the 'aib'. i don't mind at all lah jeng, malahan biar orangs tau betapa i loathe that damn konde. well, i really fancy this blog entry loh, yah you know lah, ada gue-nya geto loh.

DESITA said...

but, jeng, i hate the pic, i can't help seeing it. it hurts my eyes. oh my gawd.

Ika said...

hahaha1 u think i should delete the pic, Des?

Unknown said...

Too late! Already copied! HAHAHA...!

Unknown said...

photo jadul ya .. :)
nice posting

Ika said...

Aan! Dammit! :P
Lovlyciuos Rain: Iya, foto jadul banget.