Back to nature in wrong way!
Back to nature in wrong way!
JAKARTA (JP): Everybody nowadays is getting back to something. Religious organizations are returning to their old philosophies. The military is getting back to basics. Music lovers are tuning in to the 1960s, bringing a fortune to recording companies reproducing oldies in the millions. Engelbert Humperdink and Julio Iglesias are back on track as their songs are on the Indonesian market again. Karaoke places are dominated by old songs such as Falling in Love, My Way and Teluk Bayur.
In the back-to-something phenomenon, the most popular phrase is back to nature. Indonesians are taken by anything claimed to be natural. They eat natural food, drink water advertised as natural spring water, and live in natural surroundings.
Natural is big business. Real estate companies sell expensive houses they allege have natural atmospheres. "Use our products and have natural beauty," screams a cosmetic company. A food- producing company asserts that their product contains natural fiber. A slimming center advertisers its ability to make you slimmer in a natural way.
What does natural mean, anyway?
Most dictionaries describe natural as free from artificiality and affectation; present in or made by nature. This denotes that natural beauty is beauty without the slightest touch of cosmetics. Natural water should be from the nearest spring without preservatives being added at a factory.
Now, take a look at these natural things. If you want a girl with real natural beauty, you'll have to search in a remote area not touched by the marketing people. That is almost impossible, what with the high mobility of people and the improvement in communications.
For natural surroundings, you will have to find a virgin jungle. The surroundings advertised by real estate agents turn out to be a concrete swimming pool, semi-paved roads, potted plants, and an artificial waterfall thrown in for good measure.
Try asking for natural vitamins at a dispensary. You'll receive factory made tablets. The advertised natural fiber is found in health drinks made in a factory by mixing various substances. Natural water is taken from one of Indonesia's grossly polluted rivers, treated at a water plant and then bottled in a factory.
When I asked an attendant at a slimming center that claims to "make you slimmer in natural way", if the diet food they suggested was made in a factory, she answered casually, "Yes, sir. Naturally."
-- Carl Chairul