Title : Ziarah
Author : Iwan Simatupang
Year : 2004, 10th edition
Page :
142 + iv pages
Publisher : PT. Kresna Prima Persada
Resume :
Novel written by Iwan Simatupang 2004
titled “Ziarah” tells about the sorrow life of great painter’s story. In this
novel the author acts as the third person who tells the story of the main
character, the painter.
Everything was fine before his wife
left him. He was life happily through the day. Then his wife left him, his
world turn 180 degree into total confusion, he aware or not, he become
desperate about his life without knowing the purpose of his own life. His wife
was died. He was shocked and can’t believe that his wife was died. Shocked, he
though his wife only traveling and he believes that his wife will come soon. He
kept waiting for his wife, searching her in the corner of the road in the
morning and look at the sun while waiting his wife come with her beautiful
sound. He kept waiting till dawn come, then gone to the bar laughing and
drinking, yelling his god, his wife’s name. Everybody was not shocked because
they always see him like that, so it is not weird anymore. He through day by
day just like another day he passed, nothing different. His lives as a painter
is just another world that keep make him life by the salary he got from working
as a painter. Every people in the town knew that he was a painter, greatest
painter. His paint was different from other paint, he is the greatest, his
paint looks amazing, and that what people say about his paint.
As the day left before now, he is
waiting his wife in the corner of the road with confusion why he was standing
there, looking at the sun and waiting, think where he would go next. In this
corner he met an old man who works in Kota Praja grave yard, the opseter. He
hates all about grave yard because his wife was buried there. Suddenly, the old
man offering a job to him as grave yard painter in Kota Praja grave yard. He
was afraid and confuse, but there was something different about his feeling
about this job. He feels energetic, then
he ran and yelling around. Weird, the old man also did the same thing. What
happen to him? Ask the old man in his mind, but the old man know all about the
painter weird attitudes, he do knew it. Surprise answer, He took the job and
work as grave yard painter. He took the job hope to see what he will be next,
about what he will there. He is energetic to work soon, not because he was pay
double than usual but because the feeling of confusion in his own mind.
The painter starts to paint not more
than 5 hour a day, because that what he do. He enjoys painting the grave yard.
Day by day he passed by painting. Then the changes happen, he never yelling
around again and other such crazy thing he usually did. This is weird; people
are asking what happen to him. They were
sink in their own mind, led them to confusion. Make something weird become normal
for the painter become weird for them. The major also getting crazy about this,
this phenomenon has led his family to confusion, his wife run away from him go
to her mother house. Because of this phenomenon the major try to stop the
normalization of the painter who make this confusion around people in this city
by having emergency meeting to hire the opseter and the painter too. But no
ones were care about it, the set his plan and did it by himself.
Major died. Suddenly after hire the
opseter and the painter, after raising his popularity among his people, he died
because something unknown. Soon the job vacancy was open to recruit the new opseter,
but no ones were interested to apply till one person a university student come
to apply and become the new opseter. But the new opseter family was unhappy
about this because opseter position was inappropriate for him and his family. Working
as opseter, he tried to ask the painter to work again in the grave yard. For
opseter there was a rule that every burial plot age 50th should be
replaced and renewed. Accidently he was broke painter’s wife grave yard, he
feels sorry about that but the painter was shocked and stop working there.
Opseter died. He killed himself for
his regret to broke painter’s wife grave yard. Painter was shocked. Later, the
job vacancy for new opseter was open and the painter tried to fill that
position because only by close to the grave yard he feels closer to his lovely wife.
Iwan Simatupang. Ziarah sebuah novel Iwan Simatupang. Jakarta : PT. Kresna Prima Persada, 2004.
