Silence Day In Crowded Cheers

SILENCE DAY IN CROWDED CHEERS

By Ayu Sandiningtias (1006765324)

Silang Monas Jakarta, in the heat of the sun, in the middle of helter-skelter people, among the colourful flags, costumes, and accessories, around the noise of not only cheering people but also the traditional music, and the rowdy vehicles, it felt like ‘silence’ was not the suitable word to describe Silence Day.

The noise came from Ogoh-Ogoh Parade which was held at Silang Monas, Jakarta, on Monday, March 11 2012, one day before Silence Day. Actually, Ogoh-Ogoh Parade was one of the sequences of Silence Day’s celebration. Before this, there was Melasti. The Hindus prepared themselves for Silence Day by cleaning all of the prayer equipments. The cleaning of those equipments represented the cleansing of their soul, preparing themselves to be a more brand-new and better person. Then after that, The Ogoh-Ogoh Parade was held. Generally, this carnival was held in Bali, yet now, it was on Monas, Jakarta. According to Mr. Wayan, the elder of Pura Setia Loka, “Ogoh-Ogoh parade was usually called by Tawur Kesanga or Tawur Agung. It was held in order to clean the world from any disasters or catastrophes. The catastrophes were symbolized by the giant Ogoh-ogohs.” The Ogoh-ogohs were made in monster-look-like shapes. They were like having the long and extendable tongues out, the big, bulging, glaring eyes, and also the threatening expressions. Some of them held weapons on their hands.  Ogoh-ogohs were basically gigantic puppets, made from weaved bamboo. However, at Monas Ogoh-Ogoh Parade, most of the Ogoh-ogoh were made from styrofoam.  “It’s too heavy and expensive to build a bamboo-made Ogoh-ogoh,” a local Ogoh-Ogoh Parade visitor said.

The Ogoh-Ogoh, as the symbol of Bata Kala, the jeopardy of the world, was made in order to be burnt later. It emphasized that the Bata Kala had been vanished from the world and was unable to disturb the peaceful earth. There were about hundreds people there, living up the parade, walking, laughing, taking pictures, even dancing. Although the heat of the sun was inevitable, it felt like, smiles could not be evaporated away from people’s faces. As the Ogoh-ogohs were burnt, they were all cheering.  “We are happy to see the Ogoh-ogoh are burnt. We are so relieved. Even tough we know they are only the symbol of harm, we just believe that God will protect us from Bata Kala,” said Widya, a visitor of Ogoh-Ogoh Parade.

Not only the Ogoh-Ogoh burning which was there, but some of dances also were being the part of Tawur Kesanga. There were a lot of dances, like Pendet Dance, Cendrawasih Dance, and also Rejang Dance. The dances were dominated by colourful costumes, noisy sounds from the Gamelan, and also the applauses “Basically, all of the dances were the presents for God. This is how we say ‘thank you’ and delivers our gratefulness to the earth,” said Cinde, while watching the Rejang Dance, “This dance is dominated by young girls because they are considered as the symbol of gratefulness to God.” Cinde, who is also a Balinese dancer, had her own perspective about Silence Day.

”All people only know that we (the Hindus) are only staying at home, doing nothing while we are celebrating Silence Day. Actually, it is more than that. We go to Pure (the Hindus’ praying building) together with our family and relatives, do sembahyang, even there is the Ogoh-Ogoh Parade like this. And then, there is Ngembak Geni, a gathering activity after we did Catur Brata (which means no light, no noise, no activity, and no entertainment) on Silence Day. Although it is true that we do Catur Brata in Silence Day, actually we are having dialogue with God. Thus, interaction and dialog are always there, on the commemoration of Silence Day.”

Hence, what do usually people think about Silence Day? The feast of the Hindus? The day when the Hindus just remain in silence and do nothing? Even if it is true that they commemorate Silence Day in calm and tranquility, actually it has its own joy and cheers in what people see as the silence.

**This was an assignment of Journalistic Class in 2012. I miss this class a lot and also my super awsome lecturer.

 

Blah Blah Blah

Lately I feel like ive been drowning. I don’t feel like I am in the right place. It is silly because actually I am in the position that I used to crave for. Yeah it is because while I am in my place now, I have to do a lot of demanding things which I consider as not-my-passion things.  At first, I moan a lot and cry a lot and moan a lot and whine a lot and cry a lot. Pretty lame, eh? But it happened.  I hate it so much when I have to do something that I don’t like, something that make me feel like “ I don’t understand what I don’t understand”. It is so frustrating, and as the result, Ive got some bad marks for those excessively exhausting and frustrating efforts. And because of that, I feel terrible and start to cry and moan and cry and moan and cry and cry. This sorta thing makes me feel so dumb and stupid. And I hate being dumb and stupid.

Not so many days ago, I tried not to repeat the same pattern; moan and cry and cry and whine. I tried to be stronger and tougher—yeah that is somewhat they called motivation. I stopped crying and start doing my thing as best as I could. I managed my time; I finished my work one step at a time. and yes, I didn’t cry at all. Done it smoothly. I considered it as my accomplishment since I was not like what I used to be. However, when the result comes, its till not as good as I expected. It is still not even average score for me. I feel sad and once again, stupid. I hate it so much. I wonder sometimes, why is it always like this? I mean like, I have done my best yet why there is no any kind of improvement in terms of the score. I don’t know. Is that because I don’t like to do the thing so the result is just like what Ive got? I know it is not even an excuse to blame on the assignment which I don’t like, yet I don’t know. By the time I post this, I don’t know what I feel. Its all mixed up. The disappointment, the misery, the blah blah and blah.

Ive never felt this depressed before. It is frustrating to know the fact that you’ve already done your best yet still got nothing. I know, as Paulo Coelho said that I might have lost some major battles, yet im still here, and I survived. That’s the only thing I have now to make me not to cry. But yeah, I am still not sure what it will be whether to be still survive from today’s major battle or not.

Drawing Your Dream

It was Sunday and this young lady was still keen on her laptop and drawing tablet, in her 3mx3m room, green wall, covered with a lot of posters. They were not posters of rock stars or boys and girls bands. They were the masterpieces of the room’s master. It’s Ditra, the girl who is drawing her dream.

Ditra, the girl drawing dreams

Ditra has just graduated from Universitas Indonesia, majoring Japanese Literature. Nevertheless, her dream is not being an ambassador or anything else related to Japanese. She wants to continue her career on graphic design field. She wants to be a great world-wide illustrator.

By the way, what is graphic design actually?

Graphic design is a creative process which includes the combination of art and technology. It is used to convey a message from client to a particular audience. It is usually consisted of images and typography.

One of her typography

“I don’t mind working on Sunday,” she said with a pen tablet on her hand. She was drawing for her client. Her client was a teenage girl who wanted Ditra’s work of art as a gift for her boyfriend. “It is fun helping a young lover,” she added while she was smiling to her grayish laptop. “I’m not only drawing but also helping her to explain her feeling.”

For her, pictures means important. “Pictures can describe things words can’t do.”

She claimed that she was not good at explaining things with words. Thus, she chose to draw pictures to help her to communicate. Her mother was the one who introduced her to drawing.

“When I was little, my mom was used to tell me a lot of stories, but because I seemed confused, then my mom drew me some pictures to illustrate them. However, the more my mom drew me pictures, the more I liked the pictures, not the stories.”

She has drawn since she was about 3 years old, and she never stops drawing. “I’m in love with lines, dots, shapes, and colour,” she said. She has been serious in drawing and graphic design when she was in high school. “I was a freelancer on a graphic design company. It gave me such a great experience and encouraged me to explore my skill more.”

One of her works

Now, at her 21, she has had some achievements in illustration and visual design. In 2012, for instance, she was chosen as “Artist on Tumblr”. Also, her works has been reviewed on gantibaju.com as “Inspirational Illustrator”.

She has had collaboration with some of senior illustrators and communities. For instance, Abang Irenk Community, a graphic design community in Yogyakarta. Moreover, she has also has a collaboration work with Julian Zone, the cover illustrator of Pocong Juga Pocong novel.

However, her career on “drawing world” is not as easy as A B C.

“My parents don’t want me to continue my career on drawing. They think that it will not be prospective for my future.”

This design has been printed as tote bags,
and I HAVE IT! :3

She explained her disappointment about Indonesian people’s perspective on graphic or visual design.

“Most people usually underestimate this field. They think that you will not afford your life just from being an illustrator.”

“Also, the appreciation of graphic design’s work is so little,” she added, “They might think that what’s important of an image or a design. They forget that design is every where. From the humble simple thing like your t-shirts, until the big great thing like the billboard advertisement.”

She said it effected on the salary of illustrator in Indonesia. She explained that the salary of illustrator, for example in Australia, reached three or four times bigger than in Indonesia. 

When she was asked about the reason why she kept drawing even though people’s appreciation of design graphic was so low, she answered it boldly.

“If we have something we are passionate for, fight for it. Explore more. There must be the way.”

She doesn’t care at all even though it is quite hard for her to continue her career in design graphic field since she doesn’t have a degree in design graphic major.

She said that the obstacles came not only from the society and her parents but also sometimes, her self.

“Sometimes, because of the pressure, I find my self tired and just want to give up, but every time I try to stop drawing, I feel twice more depressed than before. And it’s frustrating.”

She added, “As hard I’ve ever said or thought that ‘I have to quit drawing’, yet when I see even a pencil and a sheet of blank paper, I do really want to draw. It seems like they call me, urge me to draw.”

                                                                                                             

Ditra, who is now living with her family in Tangerang, Banten, has a big dream. She wants to go abroad, develop her career there.

“I want to go abroad, go from one country to other countries, experience all of drawing media I can use,” she said.

“I love drawing things, I want to live my dream, and trust me, I will never quit drawing.



*this writing was actually used as my journalistic, profile assignment, yet in this case, I posted it for my friend, Ditra, for her passion and urge to stand up tall for her dreams. 

It's Funny

It’s funny when you may think that you can get hurt because of something yet you just get over it, laughing.

It’s funny when you know that it wasn’t your business yet you start whining, then complaining.

It’s funny when you might believe that anything will be alright yet you end up, crying.

It’s funny when you are quite sure that it will be nothing painful while reading someone’s old pages which are none of your business but in fact they sting, then you feel hurt, you should’ve end up crying, yet you are now LAUGHING.

The Hours--A Thought of A Smarty-Pants (2)

This smarty-pants thought came out as I was reading The Hours by Michael Cunningham. There were three main characters there. If we take a look closer to the characters, most of them depict the illustration of “the problem that has no name”, a theory of Feminine Mystique from Betty Friedan. It is said that woman has a tendency to be insecure of her life when she can not express her self. It is a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that woman frequently suffers. It brings up the silent question of “is that all?” It is vividly appeared on Laura Brown who could not bear living as “only” a house wife, made bed, prepared for meal, cooked, gave goodbye kiss  as her husband went for work, laid beside her husband in the night. She wanted more than that. As for Virginia Woolf, although she had her peaceful and beautiful husband and family, she still didn’t fit in among them. She needed more. There was something wrong with that life and she just felt that she didn't belong in that common suburb life. The need of fulfilling existence as an equal human being mattered in this case. Currently speaking, there are still some women who have that kind of problem. They feel being limited by the title of “a wife” or “a mother” or even “a woman” that stereotypically are placed among those domestic chores and not the other else jobs. They are trapped on their own life. However, since the society fits the perception, then it is hard for them to share, to express the problem. They  think that if they do so, they would be considered a "misfit" in society. Hence, they ignore the voice of dissatisfaction, press it deeper, try so hard to diminish the feeling, then depression and frustration emerge. It is also believed "the problem that has no name" frequently makes woman becoming irrationally frustrated. They get easily bothered then they yell because of something unintelligible.

            Because of that novel, I wonder why some moms and wives so much easily get irritated. You know, the moment when you feel your mom is so super irritating. She is just like screaming out loud on everything she considers wrong or improper and it is usually because of you. She yells without reasons and all. Sometimes I wonder, is it true that even my mom experiences that problem? because she presses the feeling and doesn’t want to bring it up? Since it would be considered a misfit in a society when a woman, especially a mother, complaints about her life as a mother with domestic responsibilities?

            If it is so, then it is so much unfortunate. Depression comes as a result of your silent problems. Woman is somehow oppressed in this case. It is said that we, human beings, have the same rights to life, and so do to speak. However, it seems like it doesn’t apply in woman’s life. We barely have “the rights” to speak. Even, it’s only to share our stories and problems. According to Feminine Mystique theory, a woman will have a tendency to feel loss and depressed about her own self, ask about her own rule in her own life. She understands that there is something incomplete in her life but she doesn’t know what. That is terrible. She thinks that there is nothing wrong with the domestic chores and so on which are usually labeled as “woman’s job”. However, this perception could not be true. Society, which is ruled in a patriarchy way, constructs this discernment.

            The reason of dissatisfaction might be unrevealed until now. It could be anything. Nevertheless, there is a possibility that we need the freedom of being equal. We might want to have the same privilege as the man might have. Either it could be education or career, it depends. One thing for sure, it is actually heartbreaking knowing that we can speak yet in fact you can't.

            Speaking of the matter of expressing feeling, nowadays there are some women who are brave and bold enough to share what they think and desire. Frequently, they choose to struggle for their education and career more than raise a family and have kids. They are usually considered “independent”. However, this “independent” woman is still uncommon. People will give the strange looks for a career woman or education-minded woman after all. Some women will survive, mostly won’t. The pressure is somehow so unbearable, then it will make us to give in and try so hard to be accustomed in the society, get married, have kids, deal with domestic chores. Then the additional pressure will come as we don’t have any willingness to be that “constructed lady”. Living life in a doubled pressure and depression, that’s the upshot. 

            By this writing, it doesn’t mean that I persuade other woman to think that it is unfortunate and useless being a sweet obedient mother and wife. No. I, my self actually desire to be one of wonderful mothers. I want become a mother and a wife. I don’t mind. And I think that I will be that fulfilled. However, the point is that as a woman, we have to be able to express what we feel and hope and think and desire. If your passion is on your education or career or whatever it would be, then fight for it. As it is related to the relationship, it is better for you to negotiate your own thought and decision about your life plan to the man you will live together with. To speak is the most important thing as a human, so is for woman. The figure of femininity, like fragile, oppressed, and subordinated, does no longer represent women in general. When we are able to convey our own thoughts and feeling, then the depression might somehow be decreased. 

             

The Hours--A Thought of A Smarty-Pants (1)

The Hours

by Michael Cunningham

Demanding perfection brings depression. This is what was implied in The Hours, a novel written by Michael Cunningham. The characters, which were women, in this novel seemed to have inner problems which were related to their own life. They refused to live in their own life. Each of these women made a great effort to find their appropriate life as they desired to be; however, unfortunately, depression came out as the result. Sometimes, this is what will happen to all people who only concern about what is wrong in their live. Generally speaking, people nowadays are much alike that.

When people consider their life as something they don’t want, there is a tendency for them to feel uncomfortable and alienated from their own life. Worse, sometimes they force themselves to make the perfect life possible, as much similar as they imagine. They really want lo live the perfect world as in their perception. Nevertheless, when they think only about the perfection, they will have the unsatisfactory feeling, time by time. As in the novel, this condition appeared in Virgina Woolf, she always felt that she didn’t belong living in the suburb of London. She found out that living there was psychologically painful. It was stressful and could not make her condition better in any kinds of ways, considering that she had a mental illness. Clarissa Vaughn, a woman who dedicated her life to take care of Richard, the sick man. She couldn’t accept the reality that Richard could be died. Even tough, Richard him self had already accept the possibility. Laura Brown, a housewife who lived in Los Angeles, seemed to consider her life as a mother of two children wearisome.

Those representative cases can be found in reality as well. Unfortunately, the result of misleading mid set of life is, as it’s mentioned previously, depression. When people keep continuing to do so, it will intoxicate their mind about life. They will obsessively try to make it right as it should have been. They will assume that their life is worthless, mistaken, and meaningless. Worse, there is a possibility for them to find an instantaneous exit to be free from their problems. As in the novel, Virginia chose to suicide for she didn’t stand living her life in order to life in her imaginary peaceful world she desired. Laura Brown, she abandoned her family. However, only Clarissa picked the most logical option to solve her problems. She tried to understand the imperfection of life by listening to Laura Brown’s experience.

Incompleteness and comfortless are common in life. There is no such thing as a perfect world. Other wise, life is imperfectly beautiful. Life will always have two sides, the good and the bad. Synchronizing both sides is somehow essential. As written in the novel, “you can not find peace by avoiding life”. Appreciate life, then you are fulfilled. 

Have you ever felt that the space is getting smaller and you just don’t know what to do? All you know is just you just need to scream out loud with no one can hear it, for you know it is the sign of your flaw, then you tend not to show so. However, things would become so much more irritating if you just can “bare your soul”. Hence, you just hold your tongue, and breathe. Inhaling and exhaling. Hope that your body and your mind speak more than your emotion, and lead it to the edge then be cast away somehow. Holding your emotion is helpful at times. You feel calm, but occasionally since you’re just holding it, there is a possibility that it’d be gone. It could be back somehow, with a greater tense. Your head is just scrambled. You can barely breathe. You have no control of your body, especially your mouth and your hands, and your feet. That holding tongue? Well, we’d be better not to mention it. It’s gone. This is what we called The Roller-coaster Effect. In my case, it does happen a lot. Like it or not, when it comes, I have to do all of my efforts to enlarge, expand, and swell the space. The space in mind. Inhaling, exhaling, or crying if it’s necessary. If it still doesn’t help. I’d better go, or cry, or write, or go, or sing, or scream, or—actually I still haven’t got the way how. Screw my self, I’d better be off. 

A Year Reflection

Well well well, 2012 is almost over and the 2013’s gate is going to open in no time. It is quite interesting to look back, and realize what I have been trough so far in this what-so-called water dragon for Chinese people or the doomsday year for the Mayans—hey, look Mayans, this is the end of this year, and we’re still alive!! Eat that! ha! Bottom line, this year has been challenging for me. It was the most roller-coaster-like year I’ve ever been trough. The moan, the whine, the panic, the hectic, the grin, the smile, the laugh, all together, mixed up, yet to be honest, this year made me bigger.

If I may say, this year was like final test to upgrade my life level. It was just like when you “meet the king” on video game, just like Mario Bros tried to kill the big great monsterous creature at the end of the stage. The emotions and the tense were all up together. Well yeah, just take a look at my postings this year, you will understand. The most challenging moment in this year was for sure, the break-up. Hahaha it might be so lame that I mention that thing first, but I’ve gotta be honest that it took the most emotion I had. The sob, the moan, the whine, I had them much back then. It’s true. Even after that the most miserable moment I’ve had so far, I was lost, and did so many stupidity regarding my love life hahaha, but yeah, we will never be grown-up and wise without being reckless and stupid, eh?

That moaning period led me to be such a workaholic person. I mean, I tried to do as many activities as I could. And yeah, I did. I took part at one of the biggest event in my campus, and I took a fairly big part on it. It was quite hard and difficult, so much challenging. For that job, I’ve got to push my self to my limit. That was the most challenging job I’ve ever had. I’ve got to do all of the craziest deadline during my mid-term test week, finish all of them simultaneously, maintain the priority, solve the problems, blablablablabla, it was incredibly hectic. Moreover, not only maintain the job and the class assignments, but also I’ve got to maintain my health which I failed at. Yeah, I’ve got hospitalized back then for my irresponsibility towards my own self. Sometimes it’s not that good to be that damn workaholic, force your self over and over again, and never pay attention to your own self. Trust me, it’s just such a disadvantage.

Some first-month of this year might be ghastly, yet even storm has its end, eh? And so my year does. Although it was nasty at the beginning, yet in the middle of the year to the end of the year, I felt steadier, firmer, more poise, and sound. I felt like the sunshine began to rise again on me—oh God, stop this terrible metaphor, yuck. In short, good thing started to come to me after all that wretched period. I was sorta flirted on someone, and finally, I fell for someone new, someone who is now my boyfriend. Haha yep, I moved on. Not only that, my campus life was getting better, I mean, I felt more comfortable with my campus friends, my campus was just like my second home in Depok, I met some new people, making friends with them, I had an annual project together with my Sasing Inggris 2010 pals to success our junior in Petang Kreatif. It was fun! All of the works and efforts we’ve had back the, and as the result, we won the third place!! Quoted from my friend, Ruth Vania, we are so proud like a proud mom haha. Not only that kind of winning which amused me, but I also got a exquisitely exotic and remarkable Lombok holiday with my family which was a rare thing to do!! Even at the end of the year was the final test week which was nastily exhausting yet I’m still contented as my friends and boyfriend are around. Living the moment is the most proper phrase to describe such moment haha.

Like I said, this year was the roller-coaster. This year was like Mario Bros faced the Boss of the stage. Fortunately, I am the Mario Bros who jump into the big green pipe after knocking down the boss of the stage. I am level-upgraded. Well yeah at least, that is what I feel so about my self in this year. I overcame the obstacles, maintained the emotion, got over the moan and sob, learnt from the past, forgave people and my self, continued life, until now live the moment. I am so glad that I could be on this phase, sitting in my bed, typing this sorta dramatic story of this year so far. I am so grateful that God still gives me opportunity to learn my life from my sob and tear, yet still gives me the laughter eventually. I feel much complete, wiser, and bigger, I suppose haha.

Well, thank God for the super-Mario-Bros-and-roller-coaster-like 360 days.

It was ROCK AND ROLL!!! J

Hand Sanitizer: The New Precious Jewels

Well, this time, I would like to be such a smarty-pants. I am going to discuss about something which sorta makes me pay attention to. I want to apologize in advance if this writing is kinda too subjective or else, but for sure, I mean no harm. I am just slobbering around. So, now the topic is about a small stuff, literally. Have you ever noticed these days people like to hang something eye-catchy at their backpacks or handbags? Do you notice that little eye-catchy bottle hanging there? Those little colorfully eye-burning items are hand sanitizers! Can you believe it? I bet you do since you must have seen them everywhere nowadays, at campus, malls, restaurants, café, office, or even you have one of them. Those fancy hand sanitizer are sorta popular these days. So actually, what is interesting on them until they become such must-have item?

Those fancy little hand sanitizer is named “Bath and Body Works Pocketbac” hand sanitizers. They are quite fancy since they have so many various unique scents, for instance Japanese Cherry Blossoms, Lemon Sugar Frizz, Warm Vanilla, Dancing Water, Creamy Pumpkin, Golden Dust, even they have Rain Scented, how startling, eh? This unintelligibly various fragrance makes people curious enough to buy and try it even though the price is not that affordable. I mean, you have to spend around 60.000 until 150.000 rupiahs to get one of those fancy hand sanitizers. It is quite expensive for a hand sanitizer, I suppose. Nevertheless, this kind of cute little sweet-scented item becomes celebrity. It is like people are fancing them. It is becoming the item people fond of. I wonder why people still eager to buy them although, in my own perspective, the price is not reasonable for a hand sanitizer since we know that there are still a lot of hand sanitizers out there which you can get even only by spending less than 10.000 rupiahs. Is that necessary to do? Is true that they do that for the sake of their sanitary needs? Or is there any hidden motivation behind that consuming product?

            Nowadays, buying and consuming something has more expanded meaning for people. The purpose is not only for fulfilling needs but also for particular aims, for instance prestige. According to Jean Baudrillard, at this postmodern society, consuming products is similar to consuming symbol and image. For this case, I don’t think that buying a 150.000 rupiah hand sanitizer is a needs, it is more than that. It could be for prestige. You “buy” and “consume” the prestige and pride due to your capability of buying so rather than really “consuming” the sanitary and cleanliness which are the main purposes of a hand sanitizer. The logic becomes like this, if you really need a hand sanitizer for the sake of your sanitary, why do you have to buy such an expensive one while there are still a lot of them which are more affordable and more bacteria-disinfectant? Therefore, it cannot be blamed if we predict that there is concealed reason of purchasing those expensive hand sanitizers, and prestige might be the one.

            Talking about prestige, I suppose it has to be shown off, something visible, something that people will aware and notice about. Since we are talking about the hand sanitizer, I wonder, are they noticeable enough for people? The answer is “yes, absolutely.” Do you remember where the owner put them? Inside the bag? Of course no. They hang them at the zipper hold or at the outside part of the bag. As I have mentioned before, even it has its own holder. And the holders are so much colourful and eye-catchy. Not only the eye-catchy colours, but the shapes are also so cute and funny. This kind of thing has to have purpose. In my humble opinion, it is made for getting people’s attention. This hand sanitizer turns to be jewelry, something that you can show to your friends and be proud of it. That you can afford a 150.000 rupiah hand sanitizer could be a sensible reason to label your self as “classy” or something I’m not really sure about, yet generally it surely have a relation to pride. In addition, the brand of the product itself, “Bath and Bodyworks” might be already considered as the brand for upper middle class people, not many people can afford all of their product. Related to the consumers, most of the buyers of this product are no longer those who are considered the upper middle class people. They are expanding. Nowadays, working class or middle class people attempt to afford them. It might be because they want to be considered equal to the upper class. They want that kind of label. This evidence quite supports the assumption that prestige and pride are the purpose of this fancy hand sanitizer phenomenon.

            Consumerism is all around us. People nowadays compulsively buy something that they should have not to. People tend to buy a lot of stuffs not for their needs, but to other else reasons. It might be prestige, image, self-branding, identity, self-recognition, or anything. It is not always clear who is to blame, yet for sure, nowadays, consuming is labelling.

The Talkative People

People communicate everyday. Mostly by speaking, creating words, sounding voices. Some of them are so much talkative, so much bold, so much vocal. They talk everyday, everytime, every minute, every second. They platter without stuttering. Their lips move fluently. It’s just that flowing. It’s just so flawless. They tell everything they feel, they see, they hear, they smell. Everything. Until everyone around thinks they’re just blabbering without pull stop. Most of them, who are keen on talking, seem cheerful and lively everyday. They seem so open to everybody. Knowing them is just like reading a manual book. So easy to read, so readable.

However, have you ever noticed that people like them are just disguising?

Disguising from their own feeling. Hiding their emotions. Covering all bad side of their own selves?

Because, believe it or not. Those people who talk much are not actually “talking” after all. They are not the people of happiness. They are not the joker. They are not the books. They hold back. They are not mouth-slippering, but actually mouth-zippering. Mouth-zippering from their own feeling. They just keep wondering if it’d be appropriate to be told. They just keep hold it, cover it with smile, giggle, laugh, or even stupid jokes.

They just hold it. In slobbering, blabbering, chattering, mumbling mode.

Hijabers: Potrait of Consumerist Moslem Women

“Duh, itu apa sih kepala kok dililit-lilit?”

”Ini di-gimana-in pake nya? kok bisa gini?”

”Itu jilbab ya mbo yang rapi-rapi aja, pake jilbab sampe dua tiga lapis sekaligus gitu...”

Have you ever said those statements when you saw a young moslem girl using such an extraordinary model of veil? Or unintentionally have heard someone said so? I guess, realize it or not, we have ever experienced it. It is because the usage of hijab is now in trend. It is phenomenal. Not only in particular formal occasion, the “out of the box” and eccentric way of hijab use is also worn in campus and even in hangout places, such as malls and cafes.  Hijaber Moslem girls, whom most of them are youngster, are extremely creative on hijab and modification of headscarf. The models of the hijab are also incredibly various from the simplest one until the most complicated and surprising one which can be so much astonishing, and make you frowning then ask or say previous statements above.

HIJABS

JILBABS

Actually, what is exactly the difference between hijab and jilbab? Many people which I have already asked about did not notice the difference. However, some of my friends who are the members of Hijabers Community, a community which is keen on fashion for Moslem women, could answer it short, simple, yet clear. For them, there is a distinct difference between hijab and jilbab. Jilbab is usually considered as “jilbab segitiga” which is ordinarily used by most of Moslem women. Meanwhile, hijab is a headscarf of veil which has been modified and added with some accessories.  “It is sorta winding headscarf,” one of them said boldly.

What makes hijab being so much fond of? This hijab phenomenon is triggered by technology and information. Hana Tajima, a English fashion designer, popularized it. She liked to upload the trendy and uniquely fashionable hijab tutorial on YouTube. From there, a lot of Moslem girls started to follow the new way of using hijab. Not only international designers or public figures, in Indonesia, local designers and celebrities began to show their existence in using hijab, for instance Dian Pelangi, Puput Melati, and so on. The new use of hijab was also expanding when Ramadhan tv serial or sinetron ramadhan was just like competing each other to show the use of hijab on their female casts. Sinetron made hijab which was considered unfamiliar and global, became much more familiar and local. This made hijabers not only comes from upper middle class people who can easily update hijab style development trough internet, but it is expanded to larger scale of class.

Everyone wants recognition or affirmation within ourselves or from other people, and do the Moslem women. We can not deny that each of women wants to be considered beautiful and gorgeous. As for postmodern, beauty is a diverse product, and the most eccentric, dysfunctional, outrageous is the most beautiful one, as long it is the disparity of something that has not been existed before. Before this hijabers phenomenon, the use of hijab or headscarf for Moslem women seemed boring and dull since there wasn’t any kind of variation in the way they wore it. Then, these extraordinary various hijab styles were appeared, giving the new energy and inspirations for those who wore hijabs. Those styles were ingeniously different yet eye-catching. They were considered more fashionable than the ordinary hijab or headscarf for Moslem women. Those eye-catching colour and out-of-box style of hijab can be put together with other up-to-date and trendy fashion items and dresses, not only Moslem wear like gamis, but the fashion items which we can usually see on the fashion magazines. That makes the new definition of “beauty” for Moslem women. According to Baudrillard, consuming product is similar to consuming symbols and image. This point is also related to the usage of hijab nowadays for Moslem women. Obviously, hijab will give them a higher value in term of beauty than other ordinary Moslem women who don’t wear that extraordinary hijab styles. Self branding as “up-to-date” “sophisticated”, and “chic” will be stitched on them. Those labels, clearly, give them prestige and pride on their society due to their capability of being fashionable and standing boldly different among other ordinary Moslem girls.

Desire to be differently fashionable is also depicted on the differences between hijab and jilbab.  Literally, hijab is the border cloth between man and woman in Moslem society. Hijab is actually a cloth to cover some forbidden body area in Islam (it is usually called Aurat). Hence, there is no difference between hijab and jilbab.  However, nowadays, there is a shifting on the definition. Frequently, hijab  is the term of veil of headscarf with extraordinary shapes. Hijab is differed for sake of identity and self-branding of the hijabers. They want to be considered and seen as “unique” and “different”.  

Example of Tausiah and Bazaar Event

Desire to be always fashionable has to be backed up with some brand-new and fresh fashion items. It gives a tendency for hijabes to buy the fashion items compulsively. As it has been said by Faurschou that postmodern people is the people who is triggered to create the endless desire of consuming.  Not only the hijab or the headscarfs, hijabes, frequently, buy some accessories as the complement of the hijab, for instance rings, bracelets, brooches, necklaces, headbands, and so on and so forth. They buy that not for the needs of covering their body parts as it is commanded in Moslem belief, yet it is only for their pleasure. A great number of online shops which sell some hijab and accessories become the indicator of this phenomenon.

Not only in shopping centre and online shops, the quran reading gathering (or pengajian in Indonesia) is also completed with bazaar section in it. the quran reading which is usually held by the hijaber community,  is not the way to listen on preach and the tausi’ah  anymore, but it is also the place for shopping! Ironic is the girls recurrently looking forward to the bazaar which provides them with promos and discounts much more than the tausi’ah  itself.    

This phenomenon shows there is a shifting of consuming meaning. Clothes, or hijab and accessories in this case, they are no longer functioned as the body (aurat) cover, but they are for identity matters and self-branding issue. Moslem women attempt to stick some particular labels on themselves through the use of hijab. The beautiful fashionable and up-to-date Moslem woman is the identity which might appear as the same time of the title of hijabers comes to them.

References:

Banard, Malcomn. 2011. Fashion Sebagai Komunikasi: Cara Mengomunikasikan Identitas Sosial, Seksual, Kelas dan Gender. Jalasutra: Yogyakarta

Soedjatmiko, Haryanto. 2008. Saya Berbelanja, Maka Saya Ada: Ketika Konsumsi dan Desain Menjadi Gaya HIdup Konsumeris. Jalasutra: Yogyakarta

Consumption, Needs Or Prestige?

Consumption is something closely related to our life. We sleep, eat, watch, travel to somewhere, and soon, and those all stimulate us to consume almost everything in our life, for instance foods, beverages, dresses, suits, gadgets, and so on. Consuming is sort of our life style today. Believe it or not, realize it or not, we’ve been doing it all over the day. Even sometimes, we just buy—or let’s say “consume”—anything that it might be unnecessary. The number of city malls could be the indicator how big the existence of consumption life style among us. Malls, with their own glamour, serve people fancy stuffs which are so appealing to be bought. Malls also have their own ways to persuade people to buy their products. For example, the annual discounts, the member discounts, the night sale, and several pleading ways could be used to attract them buying compulsively.

            The factor of consuming behaviour around people nowadays might be because of three reasons. First, the imperialism and colonialism. Those things give impacts to the colonized country, since the colonizer’s lifestyle somehow becomes the role model for them, or at least it is adopted or internalized. Hence, they might consume anything the colonizer did. Second, the economic growth. Since the economy is developing, the production of some products is gaining, too. It might be because there is an expanding in social classes which is followed by the raise of needs and living materials. People tend to have more demands, and more demands mean more consumption. Third, the development of technology. We acknowledge each others that technology becomes the major factors of all persuasions. People can easily get information about these and those by clicking here and there in internet, listening to radio, watching massively the tv, and so on and so forth. The social media? It is enormously connected to us. Facebook, twitter, line, path, and so on, make us effortlessly knowing the trends and any kinds of “what-so-happening” things and stuffs nowadays. It is intense and major fast. More over, technology makes people easier to buy things. We all know online shop, it is the matter of clicking-here-and-there shopping. You even don’t move your body to get the products.

            Consuming nowadays is not about fulfilling your needs. It is more than that. There is a shift in consuming behaviour in our society. It is occasionally the matter of image branding, how you build your self and in what way you want people judge you and see your self. People will consider you as an upper-class person when you have your brand new i-phone in your hand. The better products mean the better self image. Do you remember the remarkable events which people lined up in Senayan City only for buying the discount Crocs? That showed how much Indonesian people got too much attached in consuming behaviour.

            All and all, we do consume in every day in our life. We sometimes “shop till drop”. We even don’t know what we shop for. However, the sense of gaining prestige is somehow reflected in our consuming behaviour. It is not about fulfilling needs, yet it is constructing self branding.