Pulang

Prologue
On Sabang Street, Jakarta, April 1968

Night had fallen, without complaint, without pretext. Like a black net enclosing the city; like ink from a monster squid spreading across Jakarta’s entire landscape—the color of my uncertain future.

In the dark room, I knew not the sun, the moon, or even my wristwatch. But the darkness that enveloped this room was imbrued with the scent of chemicals and anxiety.

Three years ago, the Nusantara News Office where I worked, had been cleansed of lice and germs like myself. The army was the disinfectant. We, the lice and the germs, had been eradicated from the face of the earth, with no trace left. Yet, somehow, this particular louse was eking out a living at Tjahaya Photographic Studio in central Jakarta on the corner of Jalan Sabang.¹

1. LeilaSChudori.com ↩