The Prestigious Call

BLINDNESS OF HEART M ahatma Gandhi said that Selfishness is blind, blind to what? Most people said it cause heart blindness. Thanks to Ali Akbar Navis for giving us the answer through his cosmic short story Robohnya surau kami . The story began from narrator`s memories about the faithful old man in the mosque. He was the mosque keeper until he died mysteriously there. Ali Akbar Navis carefully carved the quite complex conflict in the story, makes his theme about selfishness spread widely along the story. In the beginning, the conflict was come from people around kakek (the old man). Kakek gathered money from his Sharpening service, but sometimes people gave him cigarettes, sambal, or a stingy smile with thanks tone. “ Orang-orang perempuan yang minta tolong mengasahkan pisau atau gunting, memberinya sambal sebagai imbalan. Orang laki-laki yang minta tolong, memberinya imbalan rokok, kadang-kadang uang. Tapi yang paling sering diterimanya ialah ucapan terima kasih dan sedikit senyum”. ...

M annequin Manner   “Make it stop! Please, make it stop! I can`t hear that anymore. Her scream, her hair . . .” He woke up from his nightmare. He took a long breath and exhaled it slowly. Then he sat and bent his head down while the TV was babbling since his first delusion. “It was 14 years, 14 years ago,” he muttered. “I can`t forget how she was killed. Culprit! If I was brave enough to help her, she might have been saved from that tragedy,” Long in his tragic fantasy, suddenly he heard something. With a faithful face, he said, “Yes, you are right. Thank you for your useless advice,” he looked at the mannequin that stood next to door while he nodded his head. He nearly smiled while he was listening to the voice. With a small period of nod he said. “Just kidding, you are my friend. My best friend, stand by me and be my only friend,” Then he stood facing the mannequin tried to wipe his sadness out. He said. “let`s go to your birthplace,” He brought that pale creature with his sinew...