Childhood In The Thirties 7
Epilogue
With the Japan invasion, the country house was left unguarded, plundered and destroyed. Years, after the war was over, I, my wife and three little children, visited the place. We sat the whole day beneath the row of Manggiston trees on the side of the Cikaniki river, in the front garden of the vanished country house. The children enjoyed playing in the river. The Dutchman, van Motman, the first landlord had lived here with his family, my mother as a girl had lived here, we, my granddad’s grandchildren had played here and now my little children. There still was the old Nam-nam tree and the little ditch that was now running through the wild overgrown ruins.
Far away I saw the so well-known iron bridge, the same rice fields, the brook with the Atap palms along the roadside and a sado – not the deleman - was riding along a bend towards the bridge. That was the village horse cart who had an elegant bow from behind where you sat back to back with the driver (dos a dos, French) half dreaming carried leisurely, slowly from village to village.
But to day, there are almost no boulders in the river, its water is muddied, waste hanging, floating. The rustic charm along the road to Sadeng Jambu is no more. It’s barren, cramped with shops and houses, noisy, dusty, traffic jams. Anywhere, grand, old Waringin, Karet, Kanari, Rain, … trees which Nature needed more than a century to create them to such circumference, height and magnificence were cut down within one or two days with no regret, remorse or sorrow for such a tremendous, irreparable loss. Wild waterfowls along the Ancol road were sold very cheap to be slaughtered. Lotus and Water Lilies growing wild in the lakes were and are weeded out.
What are rivers without boulders, sand? Lakes without water plants, what are mountains without forests, animals, cities without flowers, birds, trees? Beautiful butterflies that were clipped its wings off, wriggling, naked butterfly-bodies.
We certainly are better educated, earn more money, live in a bigger house of brick, have electricity, tap water, gas, cars, motor cycles, toll roads, high ways, giant buildings, skyscrapers, trains, aero planes, better medical service, telephone, radio, TV, computer, internet, … but not wiser. It’s flooding, threatening to drown our beautiful country and culture.
At that time the roads were small but there was never a traffic jam. The stars were visible but today I hardly can see a star in Jakarta. We woke hearing the cocks crow, the birds twitter, now the noise of motor cycles and cars. Many well known birds as the Jalak, Kutilang, Glatik, Manyar aren’t seen anymore in Jakarta and in the neighborhood except at the bird market. You almost don’t see hawks circling or a Gabus with it’s brood swimming in a ditch. Rice fields, streamlets have no more fish. Many kinds of weeds, fresh water plants I see no more.
But the authorities, our world leaders who should be most concerned, responsible with this don’t think it alarming. Why can’t we have progress without the huge increase of our world population? Why ruin our paradise?
Stressed, vexed, we could house a world population of a trillion by building, just imagine: space cities, floating sea cities, deep sea cities and underground cities or escape to other planets. But what’s the sense of it if we could solve it by keeping the numbers of population down, low. Except this is impossible. Forbid people to have children, within a century the numbers of our population will drop, decline and the human race will be extinct. But we don’t have to. We can persuade, recommend couples to have just one child, to live happily, peacefully with all the living on our dear earth.
Epilogue
With the Japan invasion, the country house was left unguarded, plundered and destroyed. Years, after the war was over, I, my wife and three little children, visited the place. We sat the whole day beneath the row of Manggiston trees on the side of the Cikaniki river, in the front garden of the vanished country house. The children enjoyed playing in the river. The Dutchman, van Motman, the first landlord had lived here with his family, my mother as a girl had lived here, we, my granddad’s grandchildren had played here and now my little children. There still was the old Nam-nam tree and the little ditch that was now running through the wild overgrown ruins.
Far away I saw the so well-known iron bridge, the same rice fields, the brook with the Atap palms along the roadside and a sado – not the deleman - was riding along a bend towards the bridge. That was the village horse cart who had an elegant bow from behind where you sat back to back with the driver (dos a dos, French) half dreaming carried leisurely, slowly from village to village.
But to day, there are almost no boulders in the river, its water is muddied, waste hanging, floating. The rustic charm along the road to Sadeng Jambu is no more. It’s barren, cramped with shops and houses, noisy, dusty, traffic jams. Anywhere, grand, old Waringin, Karet, Kanari, Rain, … trees which Nature needed more than a century to create them to such circumference, height and magnificence were cut down within one or two days with no regret, remorse or sorrow for such a tremendous, irreparable loss. Wild waterfowls along the Ancol road were sold very cheap to be slaughtered. Lotus and Water Lilies growing wild in the lakes were and are weeded out.
What are rivers without boulders, sand? Lakes without water plants, what are mountains without forests, animals, cities without flowers, birds, trees? Beautiful butterflies that were clipped its wings off, wriggling, naked butterfly-bodies.
We certainly are better educated, earn more money, live in a bigger house of brick, have electricity, tap water, gas, cars, motor cycles, toll roads, high ways, giant buildings, skyscrapers, trains, aero planes, better medical service, telephone, radio, TV, computer, internet, … but not wiser. It’s flooding, threatening to drown our beautiful country and culture.
At that time the roads were small but there was never a traffic jam. The stars were visible but today I hardly can see a star in Jakarta. We woke hearing the cocks crow, the birds twitter, now the noise of motor cycles and cars. Many well known birds as the Jalak, Kutilang, Glatik, Manyar aren’t seen anymore in Jakarta and in the neighborhood except at the bird market. You almost don’t see hawks circling or a Gabus with it’s brood swimming in a ditch. Rice fields, streamlets have no more fish. Many kinds of weeds, fresh water plants I see no more.
But the authorities, our world leaders who should be most concerned, responsible with this don’t think it alarming. Why can’t we have progress without the huge increase of our world population? Why ruin our paradise?
Stressed, vexed, we could house a world population of a trillion by building, just imagine: space cities, floating sea cities, deep sea cities and underground cities or escape to other planets. But what’s the sense of it if we could solve it by keeping the numbers of population down, low. Except this is impossible. Forbid people to have children, within a century the numbers of our population will drop, decline and the human race will be extinct. But we don’t have to. We can persuade, recommend couples to have just one child, to live happily, peacefully with all the living on our dear earth.
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