Bakdi Soemanto: Expresses human ignorance

Lie Hua, Contributor, Jakarta

Bibir (Lips) and Doktor Plimin (Doctor Plimin), two collections of short stories; By Bakdi Soemanto; Gramedia Pustaka Utama; August and October 2002 (respectively)

In short stories, bits and pieces of daily life come alive, providing an opportunity for the reader to reflect upon his own life, often forcing him to laugh at his own folly.

In these two collections of short stories -- each containing 11 stories -- Bakdi Soemanto offers to the reader bitter Chekhovian humor. Bakdi himself is not a new name in Indonesia's literary arena as he has written previous stories in other collections.

We laugh at the ignorance exposed by the characters in the stories only to find out, in reflection, that we are laughing on our own ignorance and folly. Bakdi seems to sting each of us with his stories, causing us to smart and at the same time realize that, after all, as human beings, we are not infallible.

In some of the stories in these two collections, Bakdi lets his imagination run wild into absurdity only to make the readers realize that life is indeed absurd and that absurdity is actually part of his life.

Take, for example, the story titled Cuti (Leave). In this story from the collection titled Doctor Plimin, the god of death is on leave. It is told in the story that during the god's leave, people and animals cannot die. Even if you crush a cockroach, it will not die. In a war, heavy shooting will only wound the soldiers and none of them die. Then the protagonist in the story sends a letter to a friend informing him that he can commit suicide as the god of death on leave.

Unfortunately, some time later he learns from his colleagues that the god of death will soon be back at work. He wants to retract the letter but on the way he finds someone riding with him. He realizes it is the god of death.

Isn't it clear that human or living beings cannot avoid death however much they want to?

An absurd train of thought can also be found in the story called Feet from the same collection. We usually pay attention to our other parts of the body. We make up our faces, we cover our bodies and we allow these other parts of our bodies to savor all the good things in life. We never realize that our feet may feel envious.

Listen to their complaint: "... The tongue can enjoy bread with cheese. The eyes can enjoy the belly dance of a coquettish lady. The ears can enjoy music. But us? Only covered with socks and shoes, nothing else. Come on, let's take a leave." (p 23).

Listen again to their complaints: "Remember when our Master won first prize in the play writing contest?" "Yes," said the other one. "Well, we ran here and there, looking for data. When the prize was won, his girlfriend kissed the lips. Then it was the face that was photographed. Us ... What did we get?" (p. 23).

Now, can you imagine what will happen if our feet really take a holiday. It sounds absurd but we barely realize that the feet, that take us everywhere, do not get the proper attention they deserve.

In the title story, Lips, of the other collection, the main character makes lips as sculptures because he can no longer stand what the lips of his wife can do. The wife is a fussy lady and often finds fault with him. Now that he has his sculptures of lips, he can do whatever he wants to these lips. He can kiss the lips, he can fondle them and can take them anywhere. These lips will give him happiness.

Again, Bakdi has hit our own ignorance. We have our lips but little realize that with these lips we have caused trouble for other people.

Another story from Doctor Plimin -- called Piranha Bus -- tells a story about a bus accident and how the driver plays back the music loudly when he realizes that he can no longer control the wheel and an accident is inevitable. We learn later that the music is played loudly so that the passengers -- all elementary school children -- will not realize that their lives are in danger.

The more imminent the accident, the louder the music becomes. Try to put yourself in this tragic situation.

Bakdi seems to suggest that the only thing one can do in the face of looming and inevitable danger is to feel happy. This is the lot of human beings, isn't it?

When we have read all the stories in these two collections, we will learn much about our own lives. Bakdi touches on the little things in life that usually escape our attention and are taken for granted. Life is tragic but this tragedy is a source of bitter amusement.

This seems to be the underlying idea that runs through these two collections of short stories.