Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Visiting Pak Khing - 2




Did I mention that Pak Khing has a huge sense of humor? Well, he does have that, and he's still very playful as well. So that afternoon I came to his house with Dhanu, he could easily have a conversation with tha 4,5 yrs old Dhanu. By the way, Pak Khing has four grandchildren (each of Pak Khing's two son has two children), of whom two are about 4 yrs old and another two are younger than 2 yrs old. Dhanu looked around the living room, being curious as he is. Touching this and that, asking this and that. Dhanu was really observing Pak Khing. He said, "You have black teeth". Pak Khing said, "Do I? Where? Shall we check on a mirror?" then he went to a nearby mirror. "No I don't see any black tooth". "Yes there are some black ones there and there", Dhanu pointing his own mouth to demonstrate the spots. I said, perhaps he means the filling. "Oh!" Pak Khing said to Dhanu, "Yes the fillings are black! You shouldn't look into my mouth that deep, boy!". Dhanu went to play with other things for a while while I and Pak Khing talked, and then came back to observing Pak Khing. He said, "You have weird eyes". "My eyes? Weird?". "Yes, they're old eyes", Dhanu said. "You're really observing everything on me", Pak Khing chuckled.
Dhanu was also playing with toys he brought (airplanes, cars) and reading books (Pak Khing's collection) and playing with a sticker-book I brought him (at a point, he was working on his stickers together with Pak Khing). He also went around the house to look at drawings by Pak Khing's grandchildren and he wanted to draw his, as well. At the door that borders the entrance hallway and the living room, there's a small piece of paper attached (with an adhesive tape) at the livingroom-part of the door. A note on the paper is a reminder of a dentist appointment. Dhanu saw that note and asked if that's Pak Khing's work. Pak Khing said yes, it helps him remember his appointment. Dhanu went behind me where he saw some similar pieces of paper, borrowed my pen and 'wrote' on those piece of papers. He then gave the pieces of paper one by one to Pak Khing, saying, "Here, also to help you work and they should be attached to the door, too!". Pak Khing was game - he picked the first one, put a piece of adhesive tape on it and walked to the door. He asked Dhanu, "Where shall I put it? Above or below this piece?". Dhanu said, "Above. Yes, there. And now the next one". And so on, until Dhanu's three pieces of paper were up at the door with the same manner as Pak Khing's original one.

There's always goodies at Pak Khing's house. Even the very first day I met him, when I went to his place with Tanto, Pak Khing has prepared some Indonesian snacks for us. Also this afternoon with Dhanu, Pak Khing offerred lemper, pastel, risoles, kroket, dadar manis, and others that I don't remember now. Dhanu picked the kroket but when I cut it into pieces he ignored it. Well, he has been full from his late lunch (he ate in the train), so I didn't make him eat the kroket. Dhanu went to a tall & wide bookshelf that covers most part of the wall in the living room. There's a wooden staircase where Dhanu liked to stand and sit on. Pak Khing pointed the lowest part of the bookshelf at Dhanu, saying that he can have a look at books that are in there. Dhanu happily browsed and found books he liked, and then he went to sit on a couch, silently reading.

Done with reading, Dhanu observed around the room again. He was very curious of some artworks on the tables. Especially the ones with mirrors. And there's a very interesting cupboard, tall and white and has a cow pictured at the door. Dhanu kept pointing and talking about it so Pak Khing showed him the inside of the cupboard. Dhanu saw presents, and Pak Khing gave him one package. It is a blinking plastic star. Or, more likely a plastic/ soft silicon ball with spikes on it, with lamp inside that will blink once the
ball is shocked. Even clapping the ball inside your hands can already make it blink. So Dhanu was busy playing with this ball for a while.

Pak Khing lent me some old photographs that capture his days during his study time in Bandung. The photos are small, so he provided a magnifying glass to see the details. Well, of course Dhanu wanted to see things with the magnifying glass, too, so when it's time for us to go home, he didn't want to let go of it. Pak Khing saw how dissapointed Dhanu was, so he rummaged a shelf behind him from where he picked up a piece of magnifying plastic. He gave it to Dhanu, who became very happy. So we left the house with Dhanu bringing his new presents.

Oh, Dhanu and Pak Khing were shouting at each other on our way out. Dhanu called him "Opa Lamp", because, before, when Dhanu observed the ceiling in the living room he noticed something. He said to Pak Khing (while pointing at the ceiling), "Hey there should be a lamp there. Look, there are some loose cables. That's where the lamp should be". Therefore he called him "Opa Lamp", I think. Pak Khing shouted back, "Kindje Tas". Dhanu shouted back, "Opa Lamp!" and answered again by Pak Khing, "Kindje Jas". This went on during us walking in the hallway, out of the door (then Pak Khing stood at the threshold watching us leaving), walking down the street and until we could see Pak Khing no more at the intersection. Boy, did Dhanu (and Pak Khing!) have fun. The first drawing is from the "Vos en Haas" book, of which characters are well-known in Holland. And there's the cover of "Waar is de Taart?', Pak Khing's latest book that won the Woutertje Pieterse Award 2005. The other drawing is from "Het grote Avontuur van God en mens", a book that Pak Khing enjoyed illustrating so much. More works by Thé Tjong-Khing can be viewed here (in Dutch). A short biography can be viewed here.

ps. Before going to the station, we dropped by Sinar Cinta, a small Indonesian restaurant/ take-away center, at Kruisweg 58. Their food really taste special, like no other Indonesian restaurant I've been to in Holland. I especally like their ayam kuluyuk, ayam kecap and sate babi. And the place is really close to the station. So that was a nice busy day. Thanks to Pak Khing for the pleasant time! Dhanu had plenty to tell to his father and he spent the rest of the evening playing with the blinking star.

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