Beasts

 Set between the gas station on Jalan Hang Tuah and my side of Gang Merdu Komala #1, there is a field extending along the length of the gang (gang being the Indonesian word for a small side street). From what I've heard, dwellings cannot be built on this patch of land due to its close proximity to the gas station. Before I moved to my newly built house, the field, and indeed the land where I now live, had been sawah, a ricefield. Construction all along my side of the road gradually turned the field into an expanse of dry soil, upon which mountains of rocks and other debris were gradually lain, and now with the arrival of rainy season, this barren track of land has become a jungle of wall grass and thick bushes.

I was talking to a neighbor up the road who expressed the opinion that there are likely snakes in the grass, and buaya (large lizards), and who knows what all else. It may seem odd that exotic creatures such as these might be lurking in this little spot of wild in the midst of so many civilized creatures such as gas stations and houses and roads and warungs and shops and motorbikes and cars, but then again, as their natural habitat disappears chunk by chunk, where else are they going to go? I remember seeing the relentless paving over of Renon, where I used to live, and actually witnessing a homeless alligator run across the neighboring housetop! I also remember a yellow snake spanning the width of a road (although the snake was dead, having been run over by a car). 

Back on Merdu Komala, the neighbor was mentioning the caution he takes when he comes outside his house at night. "I always bring a flashlight, just in case," he said. "But on the other hand," he continued, scratching his chin, "I see kids running around in this field every day."

Well sure! I would too if I were a little kid. What better playground than one occupied possibly by wild beasts? Ah, where has our sense of adventure gone?