If it was up to me, I wasn't even sure if we'd ever have any reunion after
the one I did in 2014. For some strange reason, I was reluctant and wasn't convinced that we should have another one. Not even the
Gembala Baik reunion managed to trigger my competitive feeling to do something bigger and better. But few months after theirs, I was included in the reunion committee chat group by my friend Rudy. That's how it all started.
There were already Denny,
Endrico, Aripin and Rudi (do take note that there were Rudy and Rudi) in the group. They were very excited about the reunion and had a lot of ideas, but the execution was rather vague. It was the inclusion of Yuliana that eventually got us on the right track. She was good and very determined, but never forced her way through. She playfully suggested things that got us going instead. When Anni and Susan came on board to reprise their original roles as the treasurer and her faithful helper (they were also the committee members of the previous reunion), the team was complete. As for me, I played only very limited roles this round and whatever I did, it was because largely due to the encouragement of Endrico.
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The teachers and the committee members of the reunion. Photo by Denny Wu. |
Fast forward to July, two days before the big day, I crossed to
Batam and made my way to
Pontianak. I already had a long list of plan arranged nicely, but much to my surprise, I was told at the check-in counter that the flight had been cancelled and there wouldn't be any Citilink flights from Batam to Pontianak for the rest of the month. I was so stunned that my only reaction was to laugh so hard about it. In a blink of an eye, I was totally screwed. Then I asked around and paid premium for the next available flight that was departing at 5.30pm on the following day.
A day later, Surianto and Andiyanto came from Batam, too. Despite the story that I'd shared, they'd yet to learn that they were going to suffer the same fate. It was only when I asked them casually during our lunch about the flight they were going to take that they realised about the doomed Citilink flight. Then we began our longest wait at the airport, searching for the faintest chance that we'd be flying to Pontianak. When I went for check-in, Andiyanto was still negotiating Saturday's flight with our ticketing agent. The funny part was, when I came back from check-in, he already held the boarding pass for the same flight. Money did wonders in Indonesia!
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The long wait for tickets at Batam's Hang Nadim airport. |
With Surianto sacrificing himself by taking the Saturday's flight (and he didn't make it in the end), Andiyanto and I went off to Pontianak with Endrico. We dropped by at the housewarming party organized by Eday's Mum. It was like we were young again, just a bunch of high school students hanging out, albeit 20 years after the original timeline, haha.
Thus began our two wild nights. From there, we went for supper at Melda and we eventually had our last stop for the night at Avara Hotel for drinks and a soccer match (where Brazil lost the match).
Hardy, the last to arrived that night, joined us as well. It was a good hangout, just us old friends, reminiscing the past and talking about life in present days. We parted ways around 3am and after the short crazy ride we had to where Muliady was staying, I continued the journey home with
Eday, Harry and
Parno. And it wouldn't be a ride with Parno if it went smoothly! We heard a weird engine sound suddenly and Parno stopped his car to check. But after seeing Parno literally massaging the tubes and machine in his attempt to investigate, Eday decided that he was one hopeless engineer and got us to completely ignore Parno by posing together for a picture instead. The picture was brilliant and iconic!
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Harry, Anthony and Eday, with Parno at the back with his car. Photo by Eday. |
Later on that day, when morning came, I ran some errands with a little help from Harry and after that, the committee members gathered for the first time at Kapuas Palace Hotel to prepare everything. Aripin and his team did a good job with all the settings. Susan, Anni and the rest helped out with the financial stuff and t-shirt distribution. Yuliana did the rundown briefing and I did some IT setup involving Apple TV, MacBook and iPhone for slides and video calls.
Then the reunion began! The crowd began to build up and it was heartwarming to see old friends started coming to the event and taking pictures on stage. At 3.5 hours, it was like the longest school recess ever! The had around four stalls of traditional snacks, including
Aming Coffee, and they made it look more like the good old days. I made it my job to mingle around with as many people as I could, saying hi and cracking few jokes so that it won't be an aloof and awkward gathering. By the end of the session, I was bloody exhausted. The heat and humidity clearly didn't help!
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Mingling with the crowd. Photo owned by Muliady The. |
But it was a humbling experience to see how things come together. There were only twenty of us when the event started at 3pm. Then, as the day got darker, many more would come until there were like almost 200 of us! Our teachers, the living testament of our illustrious past, started appearing as well. Then of course there was this nostalgia when I saw some of the popular students gathered together. It was like school days again, except we were 20 years older than before.
We also replicated few things from that part of our lives, from ringing the bell to notify the crowd to come into the ballroom, hitting the desk as the signal to stand up and pay respect to our teachers and so forth. Shortly after that, the committee came up to be interviewed by the MC and we explained what we actually did in organising the event. Then came the first section of the show where I made a couple of live video calls to Susanti, Iwan, Wiwi and Variana. Out of the four, only Susanti picked up and faced the crowd. It was an impromptu call, but she was well-dressed (the beauty of Indonesian ladies, they always dress nicely in every occasion) and very interactive. Kudos to Susanti for her all-out participation!
Dinner was the next programme, followed by not only one, but two performances from the daughter of the belly dancer of our generation,
Lianna. There was also games such as transporting the marbles using the spoon in mouth and popping balloons using crotch. I did one game, too, the school exam where students had to choose the correct answer from multiple choices. I was told later on that those who scored a full hundred mark actually cheated by striking the correct answers as I was announcing them, haha. Oh, there was also Jony Wong and Yuliana singing
Nostalgia SMA, the same song that we performed during
graduation party two decades ago. It was great!
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The alumni of '98. |
Then came my favorite part of the show. Yuliana did the most beautiful rendition of the appreciation that I wrote for the teachers. Accompanied with the instrumental version of Here, There and Everywhere from the Beatles, she did it perfectly. Her expression, her body language, her crystal clear pronunciation, her intonation and the pause she did to convey the emotion, they were all brilliant. Sitting at the side of the stage, I was overwhelmed as I watched her. I got this mental image of school days replaying in my head and it was as if I finally got chance to say thanks for those who did their best for that part of my life. I loved it and I'm glad I did ask her to do that.
After that, we took the pictures together with the teachers. The event was finally closed with all of us singing
Kemesraan, the national anthem for school graduation. It was six and a half hours of togetherness and the moment it was over, I thanked God that we did it. I couldn't help feeling that it was a very important milestone of my life. We were not so young anymore, but yet we were still in our prime. 10 years down the road, I'm not sure if everything is still going to be the same, so the reunion was the right time and right place to be. I was very lucky to be part of it...
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As part of the crowd! |
Epilogue:
It didn't end there, actually. After the reunion, we went to Bakmie Tunggu for supper. It really lived up to its name. Bakmie Tunggu means wait for the noodles and we waited for an hour for our meal. We went to Lenda's house afterwards, hanging out until it was time for Eday to go to the airport at 4.30am. We were very tired, but it was like hours before we went our separate ways again, so it was worth it.
There was this hilarious moment when Tuty tried to trick some of us with her black magic trick. She claimed that she could show them the
tuyul, a tiny evil spirit that is capable of stealing money. In order to see
tuyul, they had to follow her instructions. I wasn't there, but it seemed like the light was off and they turned on candles instead. Each of them held an upside-down bowl to cover the candle. As a result, it created a black stain without them knowing it, especially when they was asked to close their eyes. Tuty then instructed them to rub the inside of the bowl and then rub their own face immediately. Eday quickly realised that something wasn't quite right, so he stopped practicing the instructions. As Tuty forced his hands down into the bowl, she began laughing uncontrollably herself when she saw Budiman's face turning black. Apparently Budiman was curious as he still couldn't see the
tuyul, so he went on to rub some more burning stain on his face. The whole scam was eventually botched and Budiman ended up as the butt of the joke for the rest of the night, although he did crack some good jokes at the expense of Tuty's phobia of chicken feather.
It was a great way to end the whole journey, really. It didn't start out really well for me, but I couldn't and wouldn't ask for more. All in all, it was the best reunion ever! Very memorable!
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Tuty, on the left, looking worried after pulling her prank. |
20 Tahun Kemudian
Jika semuanya tergantung saya, mungkin tidak akan pernah ada reuni 20 tahun setelah kita lulus SMA. Setelah
reuni yang saya gagas di tahun 2014, entah kenapa saya merasa enggan dan tidak yakin bahwa kita harus mengadakan reuni lagi. Bahkan reuni sekolah Gembala Baik yang diadakan berdekatan dengan perayaan Imlek di tahun ini pun tidak memicu sisi kompetitif saya untuk mengorganisir reuni yang lebih besar dari apa yang telah mereka adakan. Kendati begitu, beberapa bulan setelah reuni Gembala Baik, saya dimasukkan ke grup panitia reuni oleh teman saya Rudy Santyoso. Dari sinilah semuanya bermula.
Denny,
Endrico, Aripin dan Rudi (rekan-rekan panitia ini ada yang bernama Rudy dan Rudi) sudah berada di grup ketika saya bergabung. Mereka sangat bersemangat dan memiliki banyak ide, tapi pelaksanaannya tidak terlalu fokus. Setelah Yuliana Rahayu diikutsertakan, barulah hasilnya mulai terlihat. Dia memiliki keahlian dan kesungguhan dalam mengerjakan semua ini, tapi tidak pernah terkesan memaksakan kehendak. Justru sebaliknya, dia sering bercanda sambil menyelipkan idenya sehingga mudah diterima. Ketika Anni dan Susan turut berpartisipasi sebagai bendahara dan asistennya, tim panitia akhirnya lengkap. Saya sendiri terus-terang hanya memiliki sedikit peran dan apa yang saya kerjakan adalah berkat dorongan dari Endrico.
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Para panitia saat acara berlangsung. |
Memasuki bulan Juli, dua hari sebelum hari-H, saya menyeberang ke
Batam untuk berangkat ke
Pontianak. Saya sudah memiliki banyak rencana, tapi tidak pernah saya bayangkan bahwa saya akan mendapat kabar kalau penerbangan saya bukan cuma dibatalkan, tapi juga tidak akan ada rute Citilink dari Batam ke Pontianak selama bulan Juli. Ini kabar yang sangat mengejutkan dan saya sungguh terperangah sehingga satu-satunya reaksi saya hanyalah tertawa. Dalam sekejap mata, rencana saya kacau-balau. Kemudian saya bertanya ke sana kemari dan akhirnya membayar tiket seharga 1,6 juta rupiah untuk penerbangan esok sore.
Hari berikutnya, Surianto dan Andiyanto pun tiba di Batam. Meski saya sudah bercerita sebelumnya di grup alumni, mereka sepertinya belum menyadari bahwa mereka juga akan bernasib sama. Ketika kita makan siang bersama, barulah mereka tahu bahwa penerbangan mereka sudah dibatalkan. Kita lantas bergegas ke bandara dan menanti, berharap mendapatkan tiket di saat-saat terakhir. Ketika saya masuk untuk
check-in, Andiyanto masih bernegosiasi dengan calo tiket untuk penerbangan hari Sabtu, tapi begitu saya keluar, dia susah memegang
boarding pass untuk penerbangan yang sama dengan saya. Uang bisa berbuat banyak keajaiban di Indonesia!
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Berdesak-desakan di mobil Parno. |
Karena Surianto bersedia mengambil penerbangan hari Sabtu (yang lantas dipindahkan lagi ke jam sore dan membuatnya gagal untuk ikut reuni), Andiyanto dan saya berangkat ke Pontianak bersama Endrico. Begitu mendarat, kita langsung menuju ke rumah Eday untuk menghadiri pesta peresmian rumahnya. Saat berkumpul rasanya seperti kembali menjadi anak sekolah lagi, meski kenyataannya sudah 20 tahun berlalu!
Dan dua malam yang liar pun bermula. Dari rumah Eday, kita pergi ke Melda untuk bersantap malam. Setelah itu, kita berkumpul di Avara Hotel untuk minum dan menyaksikan pertandingan sepak bola (Brazil kalah di hari itu).
Hardy yang datang paling belakangan di hari tersebut juga menjumpai kita di sana. Para teman lama berkumpul, mengenang masa lalu dan berbincang tentang masa kini kira-kira sampai jam 3 pagi. Kita semua lalu berdesak-desakan di mobil Parno yang bergerak mundur dan berbelok ke jalan tempat rumah mertua Muliady berada. Dari situ kita berpisah jalur dan saya ikut pulang bersama
Eday dan Harry di mobil yang dikendarai oleh
Parno. Bukan perjalanan bersama Parno namanya jika berlangsung dengan mulus. Tiba-tiba saja terdengar suara aneh dari arah kap mesin dan Parno pun menghentikan mobilnya untuk memeriksa. Sesudah melihat cara Parno yang hanya menyentuh dan menekan aki, tutup radiator dan selang di mesin, Eday dengan sigap menyadari bahwa Parno adalah teknisi gagal yang tidak ada harapan. Dia lantas membiarkannya dan malah mengajak kita berfoto dengan latar belakang bambu runcing dan Parno. Ide yang spontan, kocak dan jenius!
Keesokan paginya, saya mengerjakan bagian saya sebagai panitia dan lantas berkumpul dengan rekan-rekan lain untuk pertama kalinya di Kapuas Palace. Aripin dan timnya telah berada di sana untuk mengerjakan dekor dan sebagainya. Susan, Anni dan yang lain membahas masalah dana yang terkumpul dan pembagian kaos. Yuliana menjelaskan pada kita tentang rangkaian acara dan saya memasang perlengkapan komputer yang mencakup Apple TV, MacBook dan iPhone untuk tampilan foto dan panggilan lewat video.
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Teman-teman berpose di atas panggung. |
Tepat pada jam 3 sore, reuni pun dimulai! Perlahan-lahan para tamu pun bermunculan. Senang rasanya melihat wajah-wajah yang sudah lama tidak terlihat ini memenuhi ruangan terbuka dan dan berpose bersama di atas panggung. Dengan durasi selama 3,5 jam dan makanan tradisional (dan juga
Kopi Aming) yang dipajang di empat kios kecil, suasananya yang riuh mirip dengan jam istirahat sekolah terpanjang yang pernah terjadi. Saya tergerak untuk menghampiri semua teman lama untuk menyapa dan bercanda dengan mereka supaya suasana lebih akrab dan tidak canggung. Ketika sesi ini berakhir, saya bukan main lelahnya. Cuaca Pontianak yang panas dan lembab sama sekali tidak mendukung!
Kendati begitu, saya sangat tersentuh saat mengamati bagaimana suasana kian menghangat. Pada awalnya hanya ada sekitar 20 orang termasuk panitia, namun lambat-laun jumlah peserta kian bertambah sampai kira-kira ada 200 orang banyaknya. Setelah itu para guru dan kepala sekolah, orang-orang yang mendidik dan menjadi saksi sejarah akan gegap-gempitanya masa lalu kita di sekolah, pun tiba. Perasaan nostalgia semakin membumbung tinggi sewaktu saya melihat mereka yang dulunya populer di sekolah. Rasanya seperti kembali lagi ke masa lalu, namun dalam wujud fisik yang lebih tua 20 tahun dari sebelumnya, haha.
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Susanti tampil di acara reuni. |
Kita juga meminjam beberapa kebiasaan dari masa sekolah, misalnya lonceng bel sekolah yang menandakan mulainya acara di aula, tepukan di meja yang mengisyaratkan kita untuk berdiri dan memberikan salam hormat pada guru-guru, serta hal-hal kecil lainnya. Kemudian para panitia muncul di depan untuk diwawancarai oleh pembawa acara dan pada kesempatan tersebut kita silih berganti bercerita tentang bagaimana kita bekerja sama dalam menyiapkan ajang reuni ini. Setelah itu acara pun dimulai dengan melakukan panggilan video ke teman-teman yang berada di luar kota. Susanti, Iwan, Wiwi dan Variana pun dihubungi, namun hanya Susanti yang menjawab dan berhadapan langsung para hadirin. Panggilan tersebut dilakukan secara mendadak dan tanpa pemberitahuan apa pun sebelumnya, namun sebagai ibu-ibu yang selalu berdandan, Susanti bukan saja sangat interaktif, tapi juga tampak rapi di hadapan ratusan penonton. Salut untuk Susanti yang tampil bersemangat secara spontan.
Acara berikutnya adalah makan malam yang dilanjutkan dengan dua tarian oleh putri penari perut generasi kita,
Lianna. Setelah itu ada berbagai permainan seperti memindahkan kelereng dengan sendok (dimenangkan oleh Imelda dan Hendri) dan juga memecahkan balon dengan cara dijepit dengan selangkangan (dimenangkan oleh Andry dan satu orang lagi). Saya juga menyumbangkan satu permainan yang menyerupai ujian sekolah berbentuk 20 soal pilihan berganda. Setelah reuni saya diberitahukan bahwa mereka yang berhasil mendapat nilai 100 sebenarnya baru mulai mengisi kertas mereka saat jawaban dibacakan, haha. Oh, selain itu, ada juga pertunjukan dari Jony Wong dan Yuliana yang berduet lagu
Nostalgia SMA, lagu yang juga kita nyanyikan saat
pesta perpisahan di sekolah dua dekade yang lalu.
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Teng Lai dan Janti bertukar kelereng. |
Selanjutnya Yuliana membacakan apresiasi yang saya tulis untuk para guru. Dengan latar lagu Here, There and Everywhere dari the Beatles, acara ini dibawakannya dengan baik sekali. Ekspresinya, lafalnya yang jelas, intonasi dan caranya berhenti berucap dan tersenyum sejenak untuk memberikan penekanan pada emosi yang tertuang dalam kalimat, sangat luar biasa. Saya yang saat itu duduk di samping panggung merasa terharu. Di benak saya berputar kembali masa-masa sekolah dan apa yang dilakukannya seolah-olah memberikan kesempatan bagi saya untuk mengucapkan terima kasih pada mereka yang berjasa pada saya dulu. Singkat kata, saya sangat menyukai penampilannya.
Setelah itu, kita pun berfoto bersama guru-guru. Reuni akhirnya ditutup dengan lagu
Kemesraan yang dinyanyikan bersama-sama. Setelah 6,5 jam yang penuh dengan kebersamaan berakhir, saya bersyukur bahwa kita mengadakannya. Tiba-tiba ada kesan dimana saya baru saja melewati satu tonggak bersejarah dalam hidup saya dan itu besar artinya untuk saya. Kita tidak lagi semuda dulu, tapi kita justru sedang berada dalam kondisi prima. 10 tahun kemudian, semuanya tidak akan pernah sama lagi, jadi reuni pada malam itu adalah tempat dan waktu yang benar-benar tepat bagi kita semua. Saya merasa beruntung bisa menjadi bagian dari reuni ini...
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Di Bakmie Tunggu. |
Epilog:
Ketika reuni berakhir, kita tidak bubar begitu saja, melainkan berkumpul lagi untuk makan malam di Bakmie Tunggu. Nama Bakmie Tunggu bukanlah lelucon. Kita benar-benar harus menunggu satu jam lamanya sebelum pesanan kita datang. Sehabis makan, kita menuju ke rumah Lenda dan berkumpul di sana sampai tiba saatnya bagi Eday untuk berangkat ke bandara jam 4.30 pagi. Saat itu kita sudah sangat lelah, tapi beberapa jam terakhir sebelum kita semua berpisah lagi terasa sangat berarti.
Ada cerita lucu sewaktu kita berada di sana. Tuty berkata bahwa dia bisa memanggil tuyul bagi mereka yang berminat melihat makhluk halus ini. Meski saya tidak ikut serta, dari cerita berulang-ulang yang saya dengar ketika kita bercanda, sepertinya mereka mematikan lampu dan menyalakan lilin. Masing-masing orang memegang mangkok yang dibalikkan sehingga menutupi lilin. Perlahan-lahan mangkok pun menghitam, tapi mereka mungkin tidak menyadarinya karena mereka diminta untuk menutup mata. Tuty lantas meminta mereka untuk memegang dasar mangkok dan mengusap wajah. Eday jadi curiga, jadi dia tidak benar-benar melaksanakan instruksi ini. Tuty menyadari hal ini dan mulai menekan tangan Eday ke mangkok, namun dia jadi terpingkal-pingkal sendiri setelah melihat wajah Budiman yang menghitam. Ternyata Budiman sangat penasaran karena tuyul belum terlihat, jadi dia melakukan ritual berulang kali. Akhirnya tipuan Tuty pun terbongkar dan Budiman menjadi korban. Budiman yang tahu bahwa Tuty memiliki fobia terhadap bulu ayam pun melakukan gertak sambal sehingga Tuty jadi cemas sendiri.
Acara tengah malam itu menjadi penutup dari kisah reuni 20 tahun. Pengalaman ini tidak dimulai dengan lancar bagi saya, tapi semuanya berakhir dengan baik. Secara keseluruhan, reuni ini sungguh luar biasa. Sangat berkesan!
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Kumpul-kumpul di rumah Lenda. |