Old Portrait Of T i e n
Tien was a bit crazy, silly in the eyes of people. Just got Rp. 200.- (that was more than 50 years ago) as “Cinderella” for some days, of which Rp. 100.- was sacrificed to buy three apples and some oranges. Two apples and some oranges she gave wholeheartedly to her “colleagues”.
She had no one who cares for her except Mother Nature. She had no home but she always found a way to crawl somewhere in and had a lodging for the night.
She worked so hard that she sometimes nodded to the merriment of her co-housemaids. Every time she awoke with a start.
Yet, she had been a teacher before. But no one wanted her. The only one who wanted her, her “prince”, stole her money by borrowing and not return it.
Tien was as a weed, whom no one wanted. She’s “hell” a fury but also a blessing. She got poor, simple fare, but that cheap, worthless food was perhaps tastier and nutritious: The fish head, shrimps head, the chicken head and feet (ceker they say}, frogs spine, no coca cola’s, no white polished rice but brown rice. She slept on a bench without mattress and pillow, mosquito net, did rough, course work and without being pursued, these treatments had become a blessing in disguise.
She sleeps anywhere as sound as ever, has a keen appetite, is strong and healthy, has good teeth, though having no recourse to a dentist, forgets her worries almost immediately and harbors no hate, ill will. Those are her riches, her treasures.
Certainly, Mother Nature loves all her children. Every dark side has its sunny side.
May 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment