Desperately Seeking For Ketupat

There are times when you can’t help being silly for wanting something so badly. Last Saturday was one of those times. I was craving for ketupat (rice wrapped with coconut leaves in a trapezium shape .. hihi ... good description?). Why? Well, it was Lebaran! It is the best time to eat ketupat.

Whenever I am in Jakarta, I always eat ketupat at Shinta’s in Tebet. But since I haven’t had many muslim friends here in Sorong, I had to tag along with others. So I went with dr. Alex, Willy, Shinta (Adonara) who lived in Bintang Timur clinic. The four of us left the clinic early at 10.30am with 2 motor bikes ready to hit the road. I was so determined to eat some ketupat that day. I was a woman on a mission.

The first house that we went to was Hari’s house who works at Yayasan Sosial Agustinus. Having waited less than 15 minutes, the host asked us to take some meal at the other side of the room. My heart leaped with joy. Oh yes!! But I didn’t find any ketupat on the table. So, I ate only a little to save some room in my stomach for ketupat that would have had later on. This was only the first house and we still had some more houses to visit.

From Hari’s house, we went to Aimas, around 30 minutes drive from Sorong. It was so damn hot of a day. The sun shone blazingly. It was scorching. You’ll be burnt to a crisp if you dare to stand in the sun of Sorong for 2 hours. Refused to get more tanned than I had been already, I equipped myself well enough for the ride. I put on my sweater, a cap, a scarf to cover my nose and sunglasses.

We stopped at the front yard of a quite nice house in the transmigran’s (Indonesian government’s program in Suharto’s era to move people from Java to other islands including Papua) area in Aimas. This time, it was dr. Alex’s acquaintance. It looked promising. Unfortunately, the host turned out to be a bachelor. There was no chance of having ketupat there. Feeling a bit disappointed, I convinced myself that the hope was still there.

Then we went to Pak Slamet’s house. Pak Slamet is Fr Tromp’s driver who picks me up every Thursday evening. I was so hopeful this time because when I told him that I would like to eat ketupat at Lebaran he said he’d have had it at his place. It was still in Aimas. But the weather suddenly changed dramatically. It started to rain heavily albeit only a few minutes. We had to pull over to find a shelter. We found Pak Slamet’s house. Having waited for quite some time, there was no sign of our getting some ketupat. So we, ehm I mean I, left the house with a big dismay. The hope was fading away now. I was losing my confidence.

We then headed back to Sorong. There was still another, the last, house to go. Trying to save my mission, dr Alex suggested us to go to a doctor’s house, before that last house, which he thought might have had ketupat ;-). Thanks! This hadn’t been on the plan. Disappointingly, we found only an empty house. And the last house also turned to be a big disappointment. The host had gone out. Apparently, my mission was destined to fail. A total failure!

It was almost 4pm. Everyone looked tired now. The weather has added so much to our weariness. It rained for 5 minutes then it stopped. It rained again then stopped. We had already pulled over 4 times during the whole ride. So much for ketupat ;-)! And I ended the Lebaran day in Sorong with a bowl of instant noodle … crying out loud!