thePlace

This morning I awoke to a patch of gray. There was no horizon. Just an endless, formless wide expanse of living gray - the sea and the sky were flowing in union. For a long while, the sea merged into the sky; veiled by the lingering timorous thin air - evanescent and unpredictable.

I leaned up against the bed, feeling the cool morning air; lost in the celebrated morning. It was so quiet; I could almost hear the steady susurration of the Bali Sea way below. Gentle shafts of sunlight began coloring the space, soon the union began to glow and shimmer. Slowly the sky turned to whitish blue while the grayness of the sea deepened into a darker hue. The horizon reappeared.

Still gazing out, I drank the aromatic invigorating tea that Kadet brought me – a concoction of lemon grass, tulasi (basil family from India) and temulawak (ginger family, indigenous to Indonesia), all home grown. I moved to the hanging bale in the veranda and let the sky wrapped me up, watching the wind. Patches of brown spots dapple among a wide expanse of living verdure below the KP hill – it’s the middle of the dry season.

It’s a season when the relax pace of life slows down to a crawl up on the hill of Kayu Putih. Except during the rainy season, for lack of well water from the low land and spring water from the upper hill, the KP mid hill has a lot of dry burnt land. Wild grasses wilt and one plant anything. It’s the time villagers sell their cattle when finding cattle food becomes too laborious. So I bought the Place a pair of cattle – Tom and Su-san. They are both beautiful with delicate features, slender necks and trim bodies. I need them for their dunks and as a small investment to help the villagers to get some income when they are sold – as the keepers, they get 50% of the profit.

I have resumed the work at the Place – finishing the works in the garden and the final works at the cottages. The office/reception at the end of the driveway will be the last to be completed. Then the paving of the driveway, repairing of the fish pond below, the garden retention walls, more grass to be planted, trees….. Agung has brought his 4 workers and is doing a great job cleaning up the chaos Made left.

Still, things are moving and growing very slowly during the dry season.

The flow of the spring water from the hill above is much reduced and at times non-existence for the whole night. Although there is plenty of water for one person, the water situation is grim for keeping an entire hector of land green. I have an unconditional and indefinite usage of the water with Pak Totok, the seller who lives in Java. I also have a signed agreement with him to build a cover and filter to protect the source of the spring. I already paid to replace the old flimsy plastic pipes but nothing is being done at the source because there is a dispute between Pak Totok and the previous owner that has the land adjacent to the spring source. It’s a complicated issue and on my end, I have tried all means to solve it to no avail. Naturally the cement, cement blocks and sand that I paid for have all gone missing from the site.

To add to the problem, Pak Totok’s promised half of the payment has been conveniently put off – citing sickness, earthquake (his shop was hit in the last quake in Java), bad business, police problem…. He also keeps postponing his trip up the hill to settle the issue, and I’m left waiting on the side line, dealing with the water problem.

This morning I sent a team of people to investigate, to trace the pipeline and to clean up the spring water source. When they returned, I was surprised to hear that I’m also providing water to 3 or more other households along the way. They just cut the pipes and fit theirs onto it. The worse part is they put an L-bend on mine so that the meager flow of the water is almost entirely diverted to their pipes. None of them asked for permission. So I asked Agung to explain that although it is alright for them to get some water for household use, they shouldn’t do it in a way that I don’t get any water. Agung (based on his experiences) insisted that it is no use telling them, that they are not capable of thinking for others, nor have the courtesy to ask for permission. He emphatically added that the villagers have zero EQ.

I made Agung do it anyway and I called on one of them to explain how we can all be happy if we are a little considerate of other people’s needs and that I don’t mind paying for the maintenance of the pipes and water but I do need them to be responsible users.
I strongly believe if the distribution of the spring water is properly done and managed, it would be sufficient for all of us.

Well, the track record so far, a couple of them have tried to extort money from me and others have tried other crafty schemes…and why not, if they can get away from it. The point is I have faith in the village people of Bali and in the goodness of the people around me.

After all, my world is created by my thoughts.