Guess What? Riswandha Imawan

Political observer Riswandha Imawan of Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, is doing everything he can to escape the rat race and reside in a quiet place on the slope of the rumbling volcano, Mt. Merapi.

Is Riswanda giving up his profession and learning to become an ascetic? Or does he simply want to get away from his nagging wife and children?

"I purposely seek seclusion in order to gain the time and space to read," he said. "I find it difficult to make time to read at home because of disturbance from my wife and children."

The serene place that Riswanda stays at on Mt. Merapi is the house of Mbah Marijan, the gatekeeper of the 2,968 meter high volcano, in Kinahrejo hamlet, Sleman regency. There, he will spend the night reading in the cool house 900 meters above sea level.

"It's very quiet there. I only spend one night there on each trip so you can still see me on campus during the day," said Riswandha.

This new hobby has prompted him to change the wording of his cellular phone voice-mail. Formerly, his voice-mail said, "Hello, this is Riswanda. I'm not available at the moment. Please, leave a message." while now you hear: "Hello, this is Maheng ..."

Who is Maheng? "Maheng is my nickname as a mountain climber. It's a Madurese word meaning 'thief'," Riswandha, who hails from Madura of East Java, said laughing.

Riswanda is serious about finding time to read without being disturbed. So he has brought two suitcases of books and he does not set a deadline by which to finish reading them.

"There are more than 50 titles. All are about achieving democracy," he said.

On top of that, he needs extra time to read a 1,189-page dissertation written by one of his students from East Timor.

"This is the bulkiest dissertation I've ever read," he said. (swa)