Mudrika, the genie trader
Mudrika, the genie trader
By Johannes Simbolon
JAKARTA (JP): Remember Aladdin, the man who owns an all- powerful genie in the ever-popular 1001 Nights from Arabia? The chance to have a genie like him is now yours.
If you're interested, call Mudrika the genie entrepreneur who has enjoyed lots of attention from the local media since late last year.
However, don't expect a magic lamp from him, which, rubbed like Aladdin's will discharge smoke which magically turns into a giant genie who is ready to do anything you order.
Mudrika's genies are different from Aladdin's.
They are no giants, but look like normal human beings, except for the feline ears, and the head which is rather swollen at the top.
"The nose is like a Filipino's and the eyebrows are Japanese," Mudrika, 29, tells The Jakarta Post with conviction.
Like human beings, he adds, there are males and females.
"Believe it or not, we can have sex with the genie. Orgasms are much better with genies than with real human beings. They last longer. Of course, we're going to be exhausted afterwards," says this graduate of the economics school of a university in Malang.
Aside from his earthly wife, Richo Sicillia, a Eurasian, Mudrika claims to have a genie wife, named Ali, and even has children with her.
"I already have genie children," he confirms, laughing.
Mudrika's genies do not live in a lamp like Aladdin's. Rather, they live, walk, travel, and play like humans. They even follow religions: Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, and others.
Buying a genie is like buying a slave. After the transaction, the genie will do any job assigned to them by their owners.
What Mudrika does is sell the genies which have become his slaves. Since genies are supernatural beings, their delivery to the buyers is also conducted the "supernatural" way.
Mudrika, who comes from Semendo, an area between South Sumatra and Lampung, showed the Post how to deliver a genie to a client.
He held the client's hand, concentrating what he calls his inner power, and transferred the ownership of the genie to the client. It took less than five minutes, but the work seemed to use lots of energy since Mudrika looked very tired and sweaty afterwards.
"Actually, the genie can also be transferred through the phone. I concentrate my energy, then the genie goes to the client through the phone cable," he says.
The clients can check if the genie has been delivered to them by eating glass from a lamp. If the glass does not wound their mouth, that means they have received the genie.
Mudrika, who is also chairman of the Golkar-affiliated Pemuda Pancasila youth organization's branch in Kelapa Gading, says he has sold around 50 genies with clients coming from the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, Australia and Indonesia.
But, before going to Mudrika, you must first check your wallet, because his genies are really rather expensive.
Mudrika, categorizes his genies into Super, Mega and Multi, like the martabak (folded crepe) street traders do to their merchandise.
The Super costs Rp 3 million, the Mega Rp 6 million, the Multi between Rp 9 million to 12 million.
"The more powerful a genie is, the more expensive it will be," he says.
Before selling them, Mudrika programs his genies so that they do jobs commensurate with their respective prices.
The Super does only one job on the owners command, the Mega can do its job without waiting for orders, and the most expensive genie, Multi, can do all kinds of jobs without orders. An added bonus is that if necessary, it will call its friends for assistance.
The jobs include protecting business, health, and suchlike.
"The program is protected so that the genie won't do anything outside the program," Mudrika says.
The high price seems justifiable, because Mudrika brings his genies from Aladdin's hometown of Baghdad, Iraq.
"There are genies in every country, including Indonesia. I don't like the local genies because they are too lazy. The local people always give them offerings, so they are not willing to work unless they are given something," he says.
"The Baghdad genies, contrariwise, only feed on oxygen," he adds.
To bring the genies over from Baghdad, Mudrika, who first learned to "enslave" genies in childhood, employs a smart consultant, also a genie, who has lots of connections among Baghdad's genies.
We can't judge which genie is the real thing: Aladdin's turbanned lamp-dwelling giant, or Mudrika's service-industry humanoid. Perhaps we should ask some children, to see which type makes for a better story.