Lia Golledge's Blog, page 19

Perjalanan Umroh ku (Catatan Pinggir)

Dua hari terakhir saya di Mekkah, sebelum pulang ke Indonesia, tamu bulanan saya datang tak diundang. Jadilah saya mendekam di kamar sambil membaca buku Naked Traveler 3 yang saya bawa dari Indonesia. Buku Trinity ini, menurut saya yang terbaik dari ketiga buku. I love it very much. Ceritanya makin komplit dan makin vulgar a la Trinity :)) Doh jadi kangen jalan bareng Miss T lagi!

Gara-gara buku itu saya jadi mau cerita light side story dari religious trip saya ke Madinah, Mekkah dan Jeddah.

Ini kunjungan pertama saya ke Arab. Yang pertama mencuri perhatian saya saat sampai di King Abdul Aziz (9 jam perjalanan Jakarta – Jeddah) adalah simbol negaranya yang bergambar 2 pedang beradu. Welehh… intimidating >.<

Kemudian yang saya perhatikan tentu jalanannya. Jalanan di sana lebar, sepi dari mobil dan kanan kirinya tandus dengan gunung-gunung berbatu tanpa tanaman hijau sedikitpun. Mungkin karena itu juga, gedung-gedung di Madinah semuanya seragam bentuknya, kotak, dengan jendela kecil dan berwarna cokelat. Makanya masuk ke Mesjid Nabawi dengan arsitektur yang luar biasa dan colorful benar-benar pemandangan menyejukkan. Melihat kegersangan itu, gambaran surga yang digambarkan al-Quran, taman hijau, dengan berbagai buah, sungai yang mengalir, itu semua Indonesia banget. Saya selama ini udah hidup di surga tapi take it for granted, tak menyadari dan lupa bersyukur.

Saya merasakan anomali (keanehan) saat berada di negara Islam, yang harusnya jauh lebih mengamalkan nilai-nilai Islam, tapi sebagai cewek saya malah takut dan canggung jalan sendirian. Mungkin karena wanita lokal nggak banyak (bahkan nggak ada) yang jalan sembarangan tanpa pendamping.

Soal cowok sendiri saya suka perhatikan diam-diam karena Mekkah dan Madinah adalah tempat ngumpulnya pria Muslim dari seluruh dunia, maka saya sempatkan untuk melirik (dikit). *sambil istighfar dan berseru pada diri sendiri: "Luruskan niat!" :)) Saya nggak tau persis orang mana aja yang wajahnya cakep-cakep, tapi yg jelas, pria berkulit putih, berhidung mancung, bibir merah, sedikit brewok halus, berbaju putih panjang dan baca Quran dengan khusyu' itu gemesin! #ngikik :))

Ceweknya sendiri di sini nggak kalah cuantik. Ada anak kecil Arab umur 5 tahun. Dia duduk diem aja, ga pose macem-macem. Tapi luar biasa cantik. Alis melengkung sempurna dengan alami, nggak terlalu tipis nggak terlalu tebal. Matanya nggak usah ditanya, dengan tingkat 'ke-belok-an' yang tepat, warna mata yang sophisticated, serta bulu mata lentik yang bikin saya pengen cepat-cepat jepit bulu mata. Hidungnya mancung tipis dan bibirnya merah. Kulit putih dan rambut cokelat. And kebanyakan cewek-cewek sini modelnya kayak gini yang umurnya mudaan. Jadi biar pake cadar juga keliatan cakep.

Tapi kalo usia mereka udah beranjak ibu-ibu, ukuran tubuh langsung membesar signifikan. Saya nggak pernah lihat wanita oversize begitu banyak dalam satu ruangan sebelumnya. Oh ya, mengenai ukuran tubuh ini, saya sempat shock waktu pertama sholat Subuh di musholla kecil di jalan menuju Madinah.  Begitu selesai sholat, saya kaget karena tiba-tiba udah 'dikepung' sama belasan perempuan tinggi besar berjubah hitam-hitam. Langsung feel intimidated banget. Mana mukanya serem-serem tanpa senyum >.< Tapi lama-lama biasa juga.

Mayoritas cewek di sini adalah cewek-cewek yang matanya lebar, jadi saya yang bermata sipit saat eyeliner luntur ini, cukup menarik perhatian. Salah satunya saat di Masjidil Haram, ada cewek Iraq yang niat banget lari ngejar saya, hanya untuk nanya dengan bahasa Inggris terpatah-patah: "Are you Japanese?" gubrak. Pengennya sih bilang iya haha… Tapi saya harus mengecewakannya dan bilang kalau saya adalah satu dari ratusan ribu jamaah dari Indonesia: "No. I'm Javanese. From Indonesia!" :))

Cara wanita menggunakan jilbabnya di seluruh dunia itu berbeda-beda dan saya menjadi pemerhatinya. Muslimah Arab sudah pasti dengan jubah hitam dan niqabnya. Untuk menambah style pada jubahnya, biasanya aksen bordir atau payetnya bermain di daerah lengan dan ujung jilbab. Muslimah Iran biasa menggunakan kain besar seperti seprei dengan berbagai corak seperti bunga-bungaan, untuk sholat. Yang dari India dan Pakistan, paling festive dengan corak baju yang warna warni. Yang dari Turki, terlihat dari jilbabnya yang sutra full corak tapi bajunya berbentuk coat panjang berwarna gelap. Orang Indonesia paling gampang di-identify karena mereka rata-rata pake mukena putih dengan bordiran nama travel di bagian belakangnya

I'm blessed with travel buddies yang menyenangkan, Siti & Dani. We had fun the whole time, termasuk saat berbelanja. Saat kami di Madinah, Siti, asal Tulungagung yang selalu berbahasa Jawa timuran, saat itu akan membeli kunci koper di sebuah toko. Pemilik toko berdiri di samping kami. Siti yang tidak bisa bahasa Inggris menyikut lengan saya, "Tanyain li, berapa!". Dengan tenang saya tanya pada penjualnya dalam bahasa Indonesia, "Berapa?" dijawab, "Tiga Riyal." dan Siti pun bengong, "Oalah… Iso boso Indonesia yo… Lek ngono aku yo iso…." :))

Soal dagangan pula, orang sini suka bilang Halal untuk boleh dan Haram untuk tidak boleh. Waktu di Madinah, saya nawar gelang sama cincin jadi 15 Riyal dan pedagangnya bilang: "Oke, kamu cantik, halal!" -_-; Akhirnya pengetahuan itu saya terapkan untuk beli jubah hitam di Mekkah. Setelah nawar nggak berhasil juga, akhirnya saya bilang, "Ok 60 Riyal halal!" Mas nya sampe ngikik sendiri. Memang selama di sini saya ga pernah berhasil nawar. Mungkin karna mereka ngambil untungnya ga kayak di Cina yang gila2an.

Saya juga penasaran mau coba pake niqab atau cadar. Pemilik toko semangat banget kasi tau saya cadar yang paling ideal menurut dia. Sampe dicontohin cara makenya segala. Akhirnya saya pun beli dan pake. Tapi kurang matching karna baju warna-warni, tapi cuek aja. Rasanya gimana? Secara umum rasanya kayak pake kacamata hitam. Rasanya terlindung aja. Bebas dari judgement soal wajah kita harus gimana. Tapi, mungkin karna ga biasa pake, saya merasa susah nafas dan jengah ada yang nempel-nempel di muka. Di toko yang lain, saya disambut gembira sama pelayan toko: "Wahhh ada haji baru!" semua orang jadi noleh. Malu-maluin aja -_-;

Selama sekamar bertiga dalam 9 hari, kami sudah paham karakter masing-masing. Begitu sampai kamar, Dani biasanya akan berkutat di kamar mandi untuk mencuci apa saja yang bisa dicuci, Siti selalu menemukan alasan untuk membereskan barang-barang atau repacking sedangkan saya? Tidur! Ya, saya dijuluki Ms. Sleepy sama mereka karena saya tidur di setiap kesempatan. Maklum, kegiatan ibadah banyak menguras fisik dan saya selalu berusaha menjaga kondisi dengan recharge energi *alesan*

Oh ya, ada tower jam baru di sana. Jadi bisa dijadiin patokan biar nggak nyasar atau salah masuk gate yang serupa tapi tak sama di Masjidil Haram

Kalau ditanya apa yang "aneh-aneh" selama di Mekah dan Madinah, selain sembuhnya sakit gigi saya, saat di Mekah, thawaf malam itu sangat ramai karena esok hari Jumat (hari libur di Arab, sehingga banyak yang ibadah ke Masjidil Haram). Amazingly kami bertiga bisa tawaf dengan tenang dan tiba-tiba bisa menyentuh Makam Ibrahim serta berdoa dan mencium Ka'bah. Di antara keramaian yang super itu, tiba-tiba jalan seperti dilapangkan untuk kami, Alhamdulillah!

Bicara soal yang aneh, ada juga yang berbentuk peringatan. Di Mekkah, semua dibayar kontan. Maka saat kami akan berangkat ke mesjid dalam waktu yang cukup sekitar 45 menit sebelum adzan, namun kita spend time ketawa ketiwi dan ngomongin mas-mas Arab yang ketemu di jalan, akhirnya kami melongo saat harus sholat di pelataran masjid lantaran Masjidil Haram yang luasnya 125.000 m2 sudah penuh. Kami 'nggak boleh' masuk ke Masjidil Haram! Astaghfirullahaladzim!

Lantaran tiap pulang sholat dari Masjidil Haram, saya selalu melewati KFC, maka jadilah wangi-wangian ayam membuat saya ngiler berat berhari-hari. Tapi beli KFC di sana cukup repot karena ngantrinya luar biasa. Akhirnya begitu sampe di Jakarta, saya langsung pesan KFC sama papa saya :))

Selain beribadah, kami juga berziarah ke berbagai tempat, termasuk Jabal Rahmah tempat bertemunya Nabi Adam dan Hawa setelah berpisah selama 200 tahun. Nyokap pesen banget kalo ini tempat yang oke buat minta jodoh. I said, "Ok mom, I'll stay there longer." :))

Di sana banyak banget orang Indonesia… banyak tukang bakso… sampe nggak berasa jauh di luar negeri, tapi berasa di Bandung atau Jawa Tengah aja hehehe

Semoga saya bisa berhaji dan kembali ke tanah suci kembali bersama keluarga. Amin…
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My Umrah Journey

Living in Indonesia, country with largest Muslim population in the world, I've been a Muslim all my life. I automatically become a Muslim because my parents are Muslim. I didn't walk thru process of 'searching'. I accept Islam they way it is. And I didn't questioned it. The 5 times praying ritual started become a soul-less routine. Because that's what you've been told to do since you were a kid. You didn't seek for it but you get feed. Sometimes you didn't know what you eat, so you just chew, just because everybody else eating it.

Then come one moment in my life, when I just felt that I'm ready to go to the Holy Land of Makkah, visiting Ka'bah, performing Umrah (Lesser Pilgrimage). People said it's the personal 'calling' from God.

This is the same kind of feeling when I put hijab for the first time in year 2000. It was my first year of college, where I'm so ready to 'have fun go mad' with my buddies, yet the unexplainable feeling told me to wear hijab and behave. And that's it.

And proclaim to mankind the Hajj (pilgrimage). They will come to you on foot and on every lean camel, they will come from every deep and distant (wide) mountain highway (to perform Hajj). Quran Surat Al-Ĥaj 22:27

This is my first time to Arab. I went there with a group of people in a tour. I don't have any idea of what will happen, I decide to just go with it.

Our first stop was in Medina. The Prophet's mosque: Nabawi, looks very beautiful, grand and elegant. Some girls stopping at the gate, rubbing the golden carving, crying, say salaam to the Prophet Muhamad (PBUH) and mumble some prayers.

To enter the mosque, I must get my bag checked for any camera or mobile phones with camera in it. Of course, I still bring all of it in my bag, and the officer lady in blacks won't let me enter the mosque. I walked back to my hotel to put my camera and back to the mosque, realizing that I just lost my roomates, Siti & Dani. Now, I'm alone in a huge mosque, on my first day in Medina. I started to kind of worried. And like an answer, a smiley Indonesian lady sit right beside me. She stayed in the same hotel with me. And she share her valuable experiences while she was in Makkah. Alhamdulillah, indeed I've meant to meet her.

And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and your colors. Indeed in that are signs for those of knowledge. QS Surat Ar-Rūm 30:22

My mom told me that I would see Muslims all over the world. All with their different skin colors and cultures that might amazed me. A lot of new things also would surprised me. But I must not think bad about them, because it is believed something could happen to me as a warning. My mom really scared me off that when I saw a dark skin lady with moustache, I said in my heart, "Oh my God, she looks like a man!" And then I immediately said, "Astaghfirullahaladzim, please forget that I ever said that ya Allah!" Hehe. I become more aware of what I'm thinking of. I think I already a positive thinker, but turned out I still make some unneccessary comments inside. This is really good exercise of self-reminder.

Talking about Nabawi mosque won't complete without mentioning Ar-Raudah. This is an  area in the heart of the mosque which extends from The Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) tomb to his pulpit. It's like a little piece of heaven, and if you pray there and ask for anything, Insha Allah your wish is granted. Women have special schedules to enter Raudah. My group went there at night around 11 pm. We're among the last groups. People said it's difficult to pray there because it's packed, yes it was packed, but Alhamdulillah I manage to pray longer. I pray for myself first, hope God have mercy and forgive me, then on to the more 'world kind of wishes'. Then I pray for my family and friends. I can't help my tears in this place. I felt so close with my Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). This is the place where he used to walk, pray, and I missed him so much.

I said to my mom, that I won't shop a single thing on my Umrah journey. Indonesian are well known to be overshopper and I don't want to be in the same list. Until I heard the sellers said, "Khamsa Riyal. 5 Riyal!" And I was like, "What?! That cute scarfs only 5 Riyal??" And the rest is history :))

The flow of performing Umrah is more and less like this: you wear Ihram clothes (wear two garments of unsown white cloth for men) from the Miqat (stated places where you say your intention to perform Umrah), Perform tawaf (circling the Ka'bah, inside Masjidil Haram, 7 times), perform Sa'y (walking from Safa – Marwah 7 times) and then shaving or shortening your hair.

When I walk from Hotel to perform Umrah to Masjidil Haram, I'm drowned in a lot of thoughts. I just can't wait to see Ka'bah. I see a lot of Ka'bah still pictures back home, and now I finally would see it myself. I walk slowly, and I can see Ka'bah appear. Formed as a simple but attractive black cube, it's the center of moslem's prayer around the world. I stop for a moment. My tears just fall down. Mixed of unexplainable feelings. I've been seeing this moment in my dreams. The moment when I see Ka'bah for the first time. It's a dream come true.

I've been trying to understand the philosophy of Tawaf (Circumambulation). Circumambulation means to go round something, orbiting. When I love someone, I'd orbiting around him as an expression of love, and a prove that I'm ready to sacrifice everything for my beloved. I'd be ready if he needs me. And that's how I understand Tawaf. Symbolic way to Show that I love and detached everything just to be around Allah.

Walking for Sa'y from Safa – Marwah 7 times really hurts my (lazy) feet (3.15 km total). I can't imagine how Siti Hajar running in the exact place, without air conditioning and all the facilities I have right now, to look for water for her boy Ishmael. This is where ZamZam water show up on the spot where Ishmael kick his feet and it never dried ever since.

I felt a sense of relieved after I get my hair cut. That means I'm already finished performing umrah and I can 'release' my Ihram state. Alhamdulillah.

For 9 days, I've been focusing and dedicating myself to God. Praying in the mosque & reciting Quran, are the only activities. And a lot of people have the same thoughts. Masjidil Haram always packed with people. If we're late coming to the mosque, we must struggle to find a place to sit. It's happening a lot of times that I even dream of wade through each other in the mosque. What a weird dream :))

People asked if I get some sort of miracles that often happened there. Well, one of the best thing that happened was, when my newly born wisdom tooth kicking thru my gum, I felt  excruciating pain that it's hard to even open my mouth, let alone eating. All my body felt sick and feverish. Since I can't eat tablets, I refused to go to the pharmacy :)) Then I pray to Allah to cure me, and drink ZamZam water with the intention to cure it. The pain is magically disappear the next morning!

Alhamdulillah, I finished reading tafseer of the whole Quran when I was there. I could also see places mentioned in Al-Quran, such as Jabal Uhud and many more. I felt like I found myself once again and I finally can relate more to what I've read on Quran, and found soul in my prayers. This get me a whole new idea to learn Arabic especially for Quran study.

Hope I can come back again soon to Makkah, as I haven't been able to say good bye to Ka'bah, and that time I wish I could go with my life partner. Amin

 
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But if I really have to answer it. My biggest life regret is… hurting someone's feeling back then and I haven't got a chance to actually say, "I'm so sorry."

How about you? What is your biggest life regret?

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Women & Technology

Seperti yang sudah saya sampaikan di postingan sebelumnya, yang paling penting untuk memulai bisnis adalah action. Tapi saya perhatikan, banyak dari kita yang kesulitan memulai karena terlalu banyak berpikir hal-hal yang susah.

Yang paling sering saya dengar adalah: "Saya pengen bikin bisnis online seperti mbak, tapi saya gaptek banget!"

Saya pikir, ini hanya masalah kemauan aja. Kemauan kita cukup keras nggak untuk mau memulai bisnis. Saya wanita, tapi bisa belajar IT selama 4 tahun saat kuliah dan bekerja sebagai web developer pula selama 2,5 tahun. Sekarang malah punya startups (perusahaan rintisan digital) dan organize event komunitas #StartupLokal setiap bulan. Padahal dulu kalau mau disuruh memilih, saya inginnya juga belajar sastra Inggris dan menulis puisi sepanjang hari Tapi saya sadar, teknologi adalah katalis. Alat untuk mempercepat saya meraih tujuan. Maka dari itu, saya perdalam kemampuan saya di bidang itu.

Saya pernah mengajar workshop di depan 300 ibu-ibu Dharma Wanita seluruh Indonesia untuk membuat toko online dengan Multiply. Tadinya saya agak gugup juga. Apakah dalam waktu yang singkat, saya bisa mengajari ibu-ibu yang usianya sudah setengah baya, untuk membuat toko online. Ternyata semangat belajar mereka luar biasa. Semangat berkarya-nya juga. Diberi contoh sedikit saja, mereka sudah bergerak sendiri. Membuat dan menghias toko online mereka, sesuai dengan bisnis yang ingin mereka jalankan masing-masing. Kalau mereka saja bisa, kenapa kita yang lebih muda tidak bisa?

Teman-teman seller di Multiply adalah salah satu contoh paling bagus para wanita yang tidak takut untuk meng-eksplor teknologi. Awalnya, Multiply adalah salah satu blogging platform yang populer di Indonesia karena menawarkan fasilitas lengkap untuk blogging termasuk untuk sharing photo, video, reviews, guestbook dan lainnya. Melihat hal ini, wanita-wanita yang kreatif (saya perhatikan seller Multiply kebanyakan wanita), mulai berjualan dengan menggunakan platform Multiply. Toko-toko online berbasis Multiply pun mulai marak, sehingga membuat penerbit Media Kita menghubungi saya, untuk menuliskan buku berjudul "Membuat Toko Online dengan Multiply". Buku itu menjadi buku how-to pertama saya dan menjadi buku best seller. (Yang mau beli, nanti ya, saya akan menulis versi update-nya agar sesuai dengan fitur-fitur terbaru Multiply :D)

Waktu saya ke Irlandia, saya juga cerita sama para pemerhati IT sana tentang fenomena ini, dimana Indonesian users bisa mengevolusi Multiply dari sekedar blogging platform menjadi situs jejaring belanja sosial Sekarang sudah ada 35.000 merchants (penjual) dengan 2.000 new merchants setiap bulannya di Multiply. Perkembangannya sangat menjanjikan hingga membuat Multiply resmi membuka kantor di Indonesia pada tanggal 15 Desember 2010. Kantor Multiply di Indonesia adalah yang terbesar kedua setelah kantor pusat-nya di Florida! Lebih jauh lagi, untuk membuktikan keseriusannya di e-commerce, Multiply meluncurkan platform e-commerce yang meliputi katalog toko yang diintegrasikan dengan shopping cart dan proses pembayaran yang didesain untuk mempermudah transaksi bagi pembeli reguler maupun yang baru mengenal Multiply: MULTIPLY 5.0

Congratulations dan selamat datang Multiply Indonesia! I'm sure dengan menggunakan alat yang sudah biasa kita gunakan untuk ngeblog, berbisnis (dan berbelanja *ehm*) online akan semakin mudah dan menyenangkan. Let's Multiply-ing!
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Education is life, it should never stop

-Mas Indra of #PerpusKreatif

I have a concern about children education in Indonesia and been wondering if there's anything I could do about it. After my blog post, @inandatiaka email me directly. We manage to meet and talk more about this. Well, I do most of the talk :)) Basically I push her & Satrio to finally act on their ideas about grassroot movement on education. And to my surprise, they work fast. They make Child Can Lead movement (twitter @ChildCanLead) with @emiralda joining the team. And after couple of months, yesterday, I can finally see #perpuskreatif, a library they create to facilitate their activities and I'm so proud of them.

Meet Mbak Nur. She & her husband, Mas Indra, maybe two of the most amazing people I've ever known in my entire life. They live in a small space in Tanjung Priuk area, North Jakarta. Yet, they giveaway HALF space of their house, for children's library. Their concern in education and social issues around the neighborhood, with limitation in their life, has really really amaze me (and make me truly ashamed of myself).

The event starting with me, as the writer who published several books, try to motivate them to write. I really need to learn more on how to do this properly, because I got more invitation to speak in front of children and I've been clueless about it. Just follow my instinct :))

Then a group of children gathered to start writing. I have a group of little children age around 6 years old. I tried to find ways to build their imagination. Sukesih, the girl with the green tee, is doing a good job. She can describe what clothes she wear when she went to the zoo with her family and she said in her writing that he actually want ice cream when her mother give her something else. Sukesih won the third prize and she got to read her piece in front of her friends.

Fany, won the first prize. She's 11. She wrote about how she wanted to be a doctor. And why she wanted to be a doctor. It's a very amazing piece. Very proud of her. She can expressed her dream. She knows what she wanted.

Other children been struggling to write, and one of them even have difficulties in writing that I finally asked her to just tell me about it. Check the video, where she tell the story, and her friends been passionately writing and asking what more should they write. And I didn't allow them to use the eraser. Because they could never finish their writing. Ps: for you who read this, yes YOU, when you write, don't push the backspace, ok? :P

After playing some more games, we finally wrap the writing workshop. It's been a lot of fun. Hopefully they can publish a book together. I'll be glad to publish it with NulisBuku.com

I'm touched to see how children been so excited to greet us, their brothers & sisters. They even make an effort to create some crafts and welcome message for us!

My new friends, volunteers of #perpuskreatif, keep the spirit!

We've been trying to research new method to effectively educate children. If you have experiences in this matter, please do leave comment on the box, we could collaborate or discuss in any way.

Last but not least, if you care about children education in Indonesia, because they're our future, please spread the words!

Follow @bincangedukasi too, bimonthly event about grassroot education movements in Indonesia.
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Rethinking March & April 2011

8 minutes past midnight. A good time to write about what I've done in March & April 2011. Actually, after writing my January and February summary, I tried to pretend to forget writing this, until @fajarh come to remind me :P So, I guess… I can't get away from posting this LOL

March was a total blast for me. It's surreal to have 15 days OFF, stopping at these cities: Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Paris, Amsterdam and spend time at: Dublin (invited by Enterprise Ireland, Irish Government to represent #StartupLokal community) & Beijing (Invited by @IndoTamasya just to have fun :D). The experiences & lessons were unbelievably precious.

While spending my vacation in Beijing, I met girls who've been dealing with travel industry for quite some time. And we chat a lot about education, and turned out we have the same vision about this. Finally I found perfect partner to do that socio-travel thing that I've been thinking about all these times. We're sorting out some details and hopefully can launch our venture together and share the plan with you soon

The first @bincangedukasimeetup finally happened in Surabaya! One more community event that share concerns & aim to empowering grassroot (social) movements in education. Initiators are: me, Kreshna, Bukik, Dwi, Nanda, and Guntar. I can't make it to the event but from what I've heard, it was a total success. I'm so excited! More info check here >> Bincang Edukasi

On April, #StartupLokal is having 1 year birthday party at XXI & IndoChine, FX. We also launch our book #StartupLokal Kita curated by Rhein Mahatma & Joshua Kevin. In this event, we've been helped by volunteers and finally can spot people, who's done excellent works, to be our apprentice.

Playing role as one of Echelon 2011 Indonesia Satellite judges with bunch of great guys in the industry. I love judging. People suddenly act too nice to me haha.

Because April is Kartini day month, most media talk about women. Chic Magazine said I'm one of The Inspiring Women. Thank you very much! One of the coolest was InfoKomputer select me as 1 of 10 beautiful women in Indonesia IT world. They also put my pic on the cover with other girls. Can't believe my eyes!

I was invited to the first ASEAN blogger conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Got a lot of insights about blogging in ASEAN. Got to meet and chat with Mahathir Mohamad, and sitting on the same lunch table with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and chat a lot with his wife. OMG! What a priviledge! One good thing for sure, after series of events abroad, my English (speaking) is improving a lot

I finally got a new channel to address women issues: using my Multiply Multiply Indonesia assign me as one of their Multiply Friends and I'm free to write what I want. And of course I want to fill my Multiply with posts on how technology can help women become more and more fabulous thru writing and online business.

For my concerns about women, I also get a chance to talk at @atamerica in @TheUrbanMamaevent, talking about entrepreneurship. Lovely crowd. Moms. I'm not even close to be a mom. But it's okay. I'm okay!! #notchill :))

TempaLabs release first game for BlackBerry's PlayBook, called: Animal Choir. We finished it on time and RIM send us a brand new PlayBook for us to play with We're consistent in putting the touch of Indonesia in our products, and I believe this time, the mountain shown in the game was one of Indonesian mountains :)) *bricked*

On the lighter note, to neutralized the buzz of life, I manage to jump into economy train, listen to the street musicians, going to a park, lost into the music played by a violinist; while twilight set.

Life is all about balance. And before I knew, I could hear, Rumi poetry, chanting in my ear.

"Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of

what you really love."

- Rumi

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Gate to Success

Went to one day business trip to Surabaya yesterday, going to 2 events: Indonesia Bercerita and my Nulis Buku club Surabaya event.

I wrote a story for Indonesia Bercerita's book: 22 hari bercerita #2 called: Cerita Selma. I never write a children story before and I was confused on what to write. That's when I attend my famous writer's friend Raditya Dika's writing class. He could teach really well, even to a 10 years old girl name Selma. And I was inspired to write about them. The message in my story is that you should be brave to try and make your dreams come true.

About dreams, NulisBuku.com & I try to make people dreams of having their own book come true. And when you make a little action and effort to write, we will publish your dream. And the outcome of that braveness could be amazing! Just heard from Kika @theonlykika that just after 2 months self publishing Ber317an a major publisher is interested to republish the book, she just launched her book with GPU (one of the biggest major publishers in Indonesia) called Cemburu itu Peluru, she will have interview with TvOne and will soon writing a non-fiction about urban lifestyle with other  major publisher. How cool is that!

Nulis Buku club actually started in Jakarta. Because of our concern that there are no such thing as writers club in Jakarta. Out of 240 million people in Indonesia we could only produce around 20,000 books every year. What's happened? To Raise awareness of writing coolness, we start to meet regularly every month. Inviting great writers like Trinity, Alberthiene Endah, Sefryana Khairil and many more. Soon, other cities are interested to make their own writing club and we encourage them to copy our model. We show them how we do it in Jakarta and they can improvised depend on their city characteristic. And I must tell you, Nulis Buku Club Surabaya rocks! A lot of great talents, initiative, and passion!

It was great meeting you all at #NBCSby3 in the lovely cafe Cannoli >> @lalapurwono @WangiMS @theonlykika @ninaniena @nonInge and many more. Til we meet again!

At the journey back to Jakarta, inside the plane, with the city lights, I was sobbing silently  while holding these book & DVD from @netkirei & @christpramudia.

The book titled Aku Kamu Kita & Cinta. I've read the book. It's professionally done from the cover, layout and editing. Love the stories so much. And I can feel her passion and dreams coming out of the book. The Curhat Cinta Colongan DVD contain a movie that Christ produce out of stories from Curhat Cinta Colongan book, a project that @nulisbuku community do together. It was very emotional book and the movie + soundtrack has been done carefully. The movie is amazing and soundtrack is beautifully touching heart. I know they both have realizing their dreams. And this… is why my partners & I created NulisBuku.com in the first place. The feeling is unexplainable and I'm overwhelmed.

It is very clear that the gate to success is simply starting. Even with small simple step. So… would you start (writing) NOW?
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Judging For Echelon 2011 Indonesia Satellite Event

Happy to represent #StartupLokal initiators as one of judges of Echelon 2011 Indonesia Satellite event, sharing table with some big names in Indonesia & Singapore Technology world, such as Aulia Masna (Daily Social), Aaron Tan Wei Cheng (SingTel Innov8), Shinta Dhanuwardoyo (Bubu.com), Danny Oei Wirianto (Kaskus Networks), Andi Boediman (IDS Education), Irving Hutagalung (Microsoft Indonesia), Satya Witoelar (Yahoo! Koprol), & Martin Hartono (GDP Ventures).

We were judging 10 startups (each 5 of us judge 5 startups): Sixreps.com, Rockto.com, Tasterous.com, Goorme.com, Pricearea.com, Ngaturduit.com, Wooz.in, Rserve.me, Infoll.mobi and Bouncity.com. The best 3 of them will go to Singapore for final pitch & to showcase their startups.

Most of the startups founders are my friends. And I know their startups from the very early stage. 2 things I always want to see in their startups are: usability and how they make money.

Quoting Leo Babauta from Zen Habits: the only kind of marketing you need is an amazing product. If it's good, people will spread the word for you. That's why my questions to the startups always about how well people going to understand your products, how awesome your product would be for them, how can your products solve their problem and how you make a difference.

About how startups making money is also my concern. Business model. How sustain would it be and how's the prospect of scaling the business. Quoting Scott Gerber, the founder of Sizzle It!: No revenue, no business. Period. Build a sustainable business for yourself, and not one based on hypothetical acquisitions or imaginary investment capital. Bottom line: Stop thinking about many tomorrows from now, and focus on today. Cash flow, or die.

All the 10 startups have seen opportunities in the problem they see around them and turned it into, not only a concept, but also a great solution: creating a creative startup.

I'd like to say good luck to you, you're all inspirations for others to build their own startups. Hopefully together we can nurture the ecosystem and soon to have our own version of Sillicon Valley ;)

Thank you @joonian for giving me the opportunity to judge in Echelon 2011. See you in Singapore!
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