This is the second and final part of Prima Santika 's guest post. The first part, introducing his Austen-inspired novel in Indonesian, Three Weddings and Jane Austen, is HERE. Ready for a fascinating journey to Indonesia?
THE THREE DAUGHTERS
Ibu Sri has three daughters, Emma is 35 years
old, Meri is 30, and Lisa is 29. They live in Jakarta, the metropolitan capital
city of Indonesia. The three daughters are all not yet to be married anytime
soon, and that makes Ibu Sri a little bit worry. At the
begining of the story, takes place in Jakarta, each of them meets a man. Emma,
the wise and patient one, is single, meets Dian, introduced by Ibu Sri, a
doctor from her husband’s hospital. With the same mature age, both of them soon
finds comfort in one another. Meri, the lovable one, has a boyfriend named
Bimo, and they’ve gone steady for three years now. A bit bored with the
good-condition relationship, Meri meets Erik, introduced by Lisa, and both soon
find sparkles in their lives from the same interest in Jazz and romance. And
last but not least, Lisa, the stiff one, who doesn’t believe in marriage, who’s
always single and never been kissed, accidentally meets Deni, her first love in
high school who she once let go at that time, only because her best friend
named Amel wanted him as well. Amel is now married to other man with kids but
on her way to divorce. So Lisa who’s now falling in love again, has to keep her
meeting with Deni [who’s previously moved to USA with his family, and now is
back to Jakarta] secret from Amel.
The story then moves to Yogyakarta, the city of grand temples, where a
relative’s wedding is held. In this distance place from Jakarta, for about half
a week, the relationships grew between Meri and Erik, and for Lisa and Deni, as
both men pay a visit to Yogyakarta to meet the girls. As for Emma, she is now
introduced by her aunt to a widower, ten years older with two daughters, named
Krisna, purely for a business purpose of trading Batik, the traditional
decorated fabric of Indonesia. From that time on, Krisna periodically meets
Emma, goes back and forth between Yogyakarta to Jakarta for his business, and
eventually for his heart, because he then finds himself in love with her, and
asking her to marry. Emma who has developed a certain feeling to Dian, refuses
the marriage proposal, and accordingly it puts down the Batik business as well.
But unfortunately, not long after, Dian announces that he is moving to a very
far away island to pursue his career, and not inviting her along. Emma is
devistated, and convinces herself that maybe marriage is never destined for
her. As the story goes in Jakarta, both Meri and Lisa have also to face their
broken hearts. Meri’s affair with Erik is caught up by Bimo, so now she’s
single again because Bimo can’t forgive her but she doesn’t want to be with
Erik. In time of severe broken heart, Ibu Sri offers her to read Persuasion, hoping she can learn a
lesson of broken heart and forgiveness from Anne Eliott. Meri reads the book,
understands it, and even sends a copy to Bimo in order to seek forgiveness. But
it never gets replied. Meanwhile, Lisa has to let go of Deni again because Amel
knows that he’s around. But fortunately there’s Geri, both Amel and Lisa’s best
friend, who just came back from UK for his study. Geri then introduces Lisa on
how to enjoy Pride and Prejudice, a
book that Ibu Sri gives to her in order to get Deni’s attention because he once
mentioned that he liked the book while studying in USA. At this horrible moment
for all of them, a funeral of a relative is being held in Surabaya, another
distance city from Jakarta.
In Surabaya, all the girls are sad. Meri and Lisa then
decide to go to Bali, a nearby island from Surabaya, in order to refresh their
heart and mind. Emma stays in Surabaya with Ibu Sri to comfort her aunt who’s
just lost her husband. Krisna who is a close friend of her aunt, also comes to
Surabaya to pay his condolences. Ibu Sri, knowing that Emma is now single
again, tries to match-making Emma with Krisna. Emma refuses to do so, produces
a big conflict with her mother. Although the conflict can easily be overcome,
the fact that Emma is now without a man in her life takes a serious concern from
Ibu Sri. She then offers Emma to read Sense
and Sensibility, just because she sees a resemblance of Emma with Elinor
Dashwood. Emma has nothing else to do in Surabaya anyway, so she agrees to the
offer. Little does she expect, that reading the book can actually ease her mind
from her conflict with Ibu Sri, and open her heart again for any possibility of
love and marriage, let it be so little a chance to happen at her age. Knowing that,
Ibu Sri is now happy with a high hopes for Emma.
Meanwhile in
Bali, in the peaceful
state of mind and place, Meri contemplates a lot and determines herself to get married soon, although she doesn’t know with who. She then tries to find new love in Bali by
hanging out in Hard Rock Cafe. But instead of meeting new man, she finds
herself a marriage proposal from a man she knows best. As for Lisa, while in Bali, Lisa accidentally knows about Deni going out with Amel from Geri over the phone although he tries to hide it, since Lisa has
told him about her feelings to Deni. Lisa is upset thinking that Amel and Deni
must be officially going steady. She then puts the phone off the next day,
hoping she can find peace in her heart and mind while surrounded by the
magnificently beautiful scenery of Bali. Accompanied by the book Pride and Prejudice, she finds herself calming down and
realizes that love should be acknowledged and happiness in a marriage is only a
matter of chance. She’s then no longer hating marriage.
But just when she’s able to appreciate love, Deni comes to Bali
to meet her especially. He wants to say goodbye, for he’s leaving the country
and will live in USA
again, for good this time. And then he adds one thing that he’s kept secret all
along since high school and always wanted to be free of. That he’s in love with
her, and he needs to know that his feeling is mutual. With a little bit of
conflict between them related to Amel, Lisa finally reveals her true feelings.
She realizes that she needs this closure just as much as he does in order to
live her future life without ever questioning what if. It’s indeed a bitter sweet of love for Lisa. And she’s now
officially been kissed.
In the last chapter before the Epilogue,
the wedding is described by Ibu Sri. Having all her three daughters being
married in the same time and place, produces an utmost happiness into her
feelings. Set in the majestic view of Prambanan temple in Yogyakarta, the
wedding needs to be appropriately explained. While the name of the grooms can
easily be predicted as the story goes, the reason behind it will reveal a soft
yet meaningful surprise. It completes all the learning process in every
character in this story.
THE LOCATIONS
The story takes place in several locations in Indonesia,
and a bit in London. I deliberately take the whole family going places because
that’s what families do in Indonesia, especially when an important event
occurs. From Jakarta where they live, the capital city of Indonesia, to
Yogyakarta and Surabaya, two of the big cities with their richness in Javanesse
culture, historical places, as well as food and scenery. And last but certainly
not the least, the romantic island of Bali. In Indonesia we call it “The Island
of Gods” for its beauty that’s certainly second to none. In Julia Robert’s
movie “Eat Pray Love”, whether you like the movie or not, you will not forget
the beautiful beaches and rice fields of Bali exposed along the movie. Accompanied
with the book Pride and Prejudice to
empower the maturity process of a character, it would be a dreamy story to
tell.
THE AUTHOR
Hi, everyone!
I’m Prima Santika from Indonesia. I live in Jakarta, the capital – as well as
the biggest cosmopolitan – city in Indonesia. I studied Economics, and I’m
currently working in a telco company. I was born in 1974, a husband to a
beautiful wife, and a father of a handsome 4 years old son. I have just
published my first book, entitled THREE WEDDINGS AND JANE AUSTEN. It’s a novel
in Indonesian language,
I hope this writing of mine can give you a glimpse of what
I have done to introduce Jane Austen to Indonesian audience. And for this
opportunity, I should thank Maria Grazia, the owner of this blog, who
appreciates my book although she hasn’t read it. I believe she only reads my
guest post in the blog of MVBClub. If only this book were translated in English, I would be more than happy
to provide giveaway books for this blog’s readers.
Prima Santika
Contact points:
Twitter: @primasantika
.jpg)
.jpg)
