It's 7.25 pm now. I can see the city almost 180 degrees wide from the 6th floor of the Spot, the Economics and Commerce's sophisticated, eco-friendly building which was just officially opened early this year. The lights from buidings and cars down in Royal Parade and Elizabeth St. look nice from up here. Some houses' lights are dimmed in far west. One that is quite obvious is the new Women's Hospital right 20 degrees from my point of view. It's a bird-eye perspective view, -one of the few lesson I can hardly recall from my architectural background. The traffic is quite fast in Grattan St seing from my right side of window glass, which is 2/3 opened now. I always like elevation since I was small. I don't know why. I tended to like to climb tree or wall, or roof sometimes when necessary. Mango trees, accacia trees, tamarind, banyan, -even papaya or coconut, just mention it. I always think, that by elevating myself from reality, I can sense the relativity of my realities and others. I can guess, create stories, and indulge my mind with some freedom of imagination.
I can clearly recall the moment when I sat at the branches of -I don't know the tree's name, -in the right corner of my front yard. I sat there for quite long, observing people on the street. A man passed by the street, he looked like walking without expression. I created the story about him in my own mind. Maybe he has no money, maybe his family and children are waiting for him to come with no results. Maybe he is thinking about what to say..etc. Minutes later, other people walked by the street. Some students, some young mothers with their children. My story developed an developed, until I've had enough, climbed down and looked for some food or water in the fridge or food shelves. It's not the sneaking part that I liked, it's the 'flying' part I guess. I like to imagine myself being down there, and somebody watches over me from an elevation, and wondering how small I must be in the other's view. I can imagine if even myself can look that small, my problem must be even smaller..
This 'amateur climbing career' if you like, ended quite unsuccesfully in Surabaya, unfortunately, when I was on the first grade in colleague. I and my room mate were so tempted by the look of our landlord's sweet red jambu air hanging, moving slowly when the wind flowed(yes, we felt like Eve who were tempted by the forbidden fruit in Eden), so we decided to climb the tree, quite acrobatic, through the house's asbestos roof, jumped on the branches, and only God knew how we managed to get through the top. The last images I've had in my mind was that both of us fell through the asbestos roof in one of the kost room in the ground floow, just beside the bed of one male anak kost, we were lucky enough though, that there was no sign of his presence in that room. Once the consciousness returned, we ran to our room in the 1st floor and kept silent until we heard the thunder voice of the bapak kost from the main house looking for the "perpetrators". I totally forgot how the story ended. I could not recall we confessed, I think we did though. There's no way that he would let us free just like that. He's stingy and very calculated in everything he's done, that's what I remember.
Nowadays I learned to choose more secure ways to enjoy elevation. Such as this time. in the tall building, or in the airplane. During take off of the plane (one of my favorite moment in the plane is the take off, before the sight right down the plane gets boring because the plane's elevation is too high). Moreover, I think the society considers it's quite abnormal for a woman in her thirties to climb trees at home anymore. I might not give a damn care, but to comply with one of my principle of life: avoid the avoidable problems and questions, I'd chose not to continue the 'career' anymore. And there, down there now, there are fewer cars in the street. They're going so very slow. The night is young I know, but the clock is ticking. These papers and chapters must be finished..
I choose to end my posting here tonight. For the sake of..I don't know. Efficiency? Sanity? Diploma? Grades? Certificate? Ah yes, a ticket back to equator, a land not far away from here.
No comments:
Post a Comment