One of my idols, whose name is almost cited every day at Pondok Pesantren Gontor is Imam Syafii. He wrote a famous poem. In Indonesia, after being translated, it is called Merantau.
Imam Syafii, whose thoughts are followed by the majority of Indonesian moslems, and is famous by the name of Mahzab (ideology) Syafii, has always become inspiration for the students. All his saying is measured, carefully thought of, just like everything he said in the poem. The essence of the poem, which is included in Diwan Asy Syafii book, is always remembered by the students who admires Imam Syafii down to their veins.
Below is the free translation of the poem by a Gontor graduate, Ahmad Fuadi in his monumental novel, Negeri Lima Menara:
Wander
A scholar and civilized person will not stay in his hometown
Go away and wander through new lands
²Ի
Youre gonna find new families and friends
Exhaust yourself, the fruit of life comes after being beaten down.
I saw water rot from not flowing
When it flows it becomes clear, if not, it blackens
A lion wont find a prey if it stays in its den
An arrow wont hit its target if it doesnt leave its bow
If the sun in its orbit motionless and stays still,
Human will get bored and uninterested to look
Gold ore is just a usual rock before it is dug from the mine
Agarwood is just another wood if its left in the jungle
Different
The same poem came into my mind when I saw Rio F. Rachmans short story collection entitled Merantau. Rio, his nickname, is a Mahzab Syafii follower. In his poem collection published last year,Balada Pencatat Kitab, he even cited one of many famous stories about Imam Syafii. He squeezed the story into a poem called Guru.
In Balada Pencatat Kitab, only Guru took two pages to finish the others only took one. Meaning there was something special about the poem. Its about Imam Syafii who was told by his teacher to go to other places to learn. Why? Because the teacher had no more to teach his student whose childs name was Idris.
Yet, short story collection ѱԳٲis of course different. In it, there are more stories, not only about travelling. In fact, in a short story entitled Merantau, the reason behind the main characters action is not to learn like Imam Syafiis. He does it more because of food, job. Complicated family problems force the main character to leave his country. He goes to Arab to collect riyal.
Problematic
There are many stories with intricate problems in the collection. As far as I can remember, there is no happy endings. In fact Membunuh Anjing which ends in a win-win solutionbetween the main character and his mother was preceded with sad stories. The ending is not completely joyful. The main character has his mother back, but his dog was dead.
Even in romantic stories, the plot is sad. The themes range from polygamy, hopeless love, to unrequited love. One story entitled Kunang di Atas Lautan is quite cheerful. Yet, there is not joy either.
Overall, the stories in the book remind me of a novel entitles Oby Eka Kurniawan. It is full of tragic and irony. Well, there is one story where two lovers met again after a long time. But the meeting happens when the man has become blind and the woman has lost her sanity. The writer doesnt tell whether the woman reinvents her sanity when meeting her lover. The point is, they reunite after being separated for a long time.
ѱԳٲconsists of 19 short stories. On LPDP EduFair eventat Airlangga Convention Center last Tuesday (2/2), one of the book copywas given to the audience as an introduction to the work published by Penerbit Suroboyo and contains 130 pages. Rio became the speaker on Awardee Story session because he once won the scholarship.
Author: Dilan Salsabila
