Mahatma Putra

Foto: Arsip pribadi Mahatma Putra Hidup mungkin sama dengan jalan-jalan Jakarta. Suatu saat aku pernah bertanya pada adikku, "Putri, kalau jalan itu adalah hidup, lebih baik kamu tinggal di jalan tol atau di jalan biasa seperti di luar sana?" Kebetulan saat itu kami sedang berkendara di jalan tol menuju Bandung. Adikku menjawab, "Di jalan biasa-lah!" Aku mengerti sekali jawabannya. Tanpa ia menyebutkan alasan sama sekali aku juga tidak akan pernah ragu untuk menjawab hal yang sama. Berjalan di lajur bebas hambatan seperti 'mencurangi' hidup dengan berbagai macam alasan untuk menghindar dari berbagai macam masalah yang seharusnya dihadapi muka ke muka dalam hampir tiap saatnya. Kadang jalan tol membuat segalanya lebih mudah. Kita terbebas dari sistem, bisa melaju sesukanya (kadang batas kecepatan maksimum dan minimum tidak pernah ada), berada di jalur yang notabene lebih luas dan disana tinggal sedikit sekali manusia. Tetapi tentu harus dengan beb...

Photo: Mahatma Putra 's Personal Archive I used to see ‘a’ world in black and white. Yes, I was a color-blinded person. I had never seen colors before, and sometimes, especially, when the night was very dark, it was funny and dizzy to walk on the street. But I’ve changed –now I see colors in everything! Not because I’ve had an eye-surgery and replace my color-blinded eyes with some fresh-colored eyes. I had some kind of holy- dumoly -magic-water poured into my eyes, and suddenly I saw that sky’s color was not a light gray, it was blue, and my girlfriend’s nipple was pink! I thought it was very grayish, near to the white. It was my first day to see the real world. God is great, eh? But still, I did not know what was the purpose of my new eyes, that most of the people I met, ever so often said that it was a gift from God. Then I used to reply them arrogantly yet frantically, “don’t you dare to tell me as if I don’t know what it is!” I knew there was something more I could...

"A Man Left Lonely" A man left lonely will soon grow tired of waiting, He'll do crazy things, yeah, on lonely occasions. A simple conversation for the new women now and again Makes a touchy situation when a good face come into your head. And when he gets lonely, he's thinking 'bout her women, He knows she's taking him for granted, yeah yeah, Honey, he doesn't understand, no no no no! Well, the fevers of the night, they burn an unloved man Yeah, those red-hot flames try to push old love aside. A man left lonely, he's the victim of the life, yes he is. When he can't keep up his own way, good Lord, He's got to do the best that he can, yeah! A man left lonely, Lord, that lonely boy, Lord, Lord, Lord! * a modification of "A Woman Left Lonely" by Janis Joplin

Photo: Mahatma Putra 's Personal Archive The room was black, as black as his past. He sat there alone, in his black Victorian-chair, accompanied only by his books. He had no friends, for he thought there were no one he could speak to, he thought everyone else was dumb and that if he socialize with them, it could lead him away to reach enlightenment. So he locked himself in his black painted office, where he could spoke and listened to Heidegger and Machiavelli -some of his few imaginary friends. They told him -and he believed- that when he had enlightened, his black-painted office would transform itself into a brilliant white box. When someone was too lonely, sometimes there was a voice that one couldn’t differ whether it was real or not. He had been a director in Mayhem-Factory for almost a thousand years. This job was no different than any other job; it had its ups and downs, and maybe this time, right now was the most-down side his job. He mourned a lot, for everything ar...

Photo courtesy of Change! Magazine. Photographer: Mahatma Putra. Model: Astrid. Make-up Artist: Alya. Fashion Stylist: Arfa Suci So, what is fashion? Literally fashion was translated as a mode for people to dress, and fashion always come to the term of noun. It is a thing that cycling around the era, something abstract that tells people how to dress properly and in the end is accepted as a trend. Fashion is a trend on how people should dressed around their time, and the person who could afford to follow the trend literally -some called them the ‘fashion victim'- called fashionista . Quoting from wikipedia: "Fashion is the style and custom prevalent at a given time, and it commonly refers to current clothing styles." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion on September 6th, 2010. Even the open-source encyclopedia mentions it ignorantly, forgetting its own roots and history, and deviate from the origin of itself. From Oxford English Dictionary, we could ...

Kamu menggerayangi tubuhku, dengan sepoi hembus nafas angin sore. Kamu, teganya, sekarang kamu membuatku masuk angin. Hebat kamu, tuhan. Photo: Mahatma Putra 's Personal Archive _ Ini adalah sebuah kisah fiksi dan opini pribadi. Pengandaian pemikiran manusia masa depan. Mari sekarang saya bawa anda semua berkelana mengarung samudera masa -karena sepertinya kemarin saya berhasil menembus dimensi. Nah. Sekarang indonesia sedang berada di penghujung tahun 3000 masehi, apa yang berubah? Salah satu yang signifikan adalah ilmu pengetahuan. Sebenarnya eksperimen ini sudah ditemukan umat manusia sekitar tahun 2000 masehi. Dengan alat-alat canggihnya, mereka telah membelah atom menjadi bentuk terkecilnya, yaitu ketiadaan, manusia telah menemukan tentang ketidakberadaan yang ada. Karena ternyata pecahan terkecil dari proton dan elektron adalah ketidakberadaan. Manusia berada karena pada dasarnya mereka adalah bentukan partikel ketidakberadaan, mereka tidak ada. Manusia melihat ...

Photo: Mahatma Putra 's Personal Archive The room was black, as black as my past. The memories were dark, glancing in a blast. From an old clock rack, tick-tocked in a rush. _ It was rainy today, I saw at the weather forecast. It was wet and cold, yet we ate Haagen-Dazs. We were together, yet we listened to Radiohead's 'Just.' Finally you said that I had life none could adjust. You left me alone like that girl in Bang-Bus. I shocked, nearly stopped my pulse. It was on that park, I remembered that dog's bark, I felt that cold spark. _ It was on that grass, we met and talked, it was all about us. Sipped some wine each a glass, until your cheek's blushed. We toasted to a past, for the life we have passed.

The stone-shaped man answer her question gently, “We were going to a place called Mayhem-Factory!” said stone-shaped man gladly. Che liked to watch nasty-b-movie-sadistic films, but she did not like to be in a chaotic situation. She liked to watch butchers cutting their meats, but she could not stand to see her friends cries for a mere broken heart. She could stand blood, but not tears. She would like to go there, Mayhem-Factory seems to be a very strange, exciting, and mystical place, but she felt that maybe if she came back to the school now, was not too late. There still must be a celebration party, and she loved party. Che did believe in astrology, her zodiac was Leo; perhaps that’s why Che liked party very much, because according to her belief, Leo was popular and liked to be the center of attention. The stone-shaped man could read her mind -it was a mystical creature, eh? It knew that Che did not want to miss the party, but it also knew that Che also liked new t...