Discovering Old Fragments

I was requested by a lecturer of mine to search for him some used books of Dutch in Jakarta. Since he ever studied in the Netherlands, he obviously possesses compelling sufficient ability in the Dutch language, hence one of his job as a Dutch lecturer. Once he notified me that he could not find any proper book of Dutch in bookshops Banda Aceh. Since I am in Jakarta now, he asked my help to search some for him. Frankly, I am not yet familiar enough with all the nooks and corners of Jakarta, even I never locate any bookshop for my own need. He suggested seeking for the books in Pasar Senen which later as discovered as a flea market with a broad range of second-hand books.

That to spot Pasar Senen is not difficult for me since it is also situated in Central Jakarta, the very sub-district I stay in. Not willing to disappoint my lecturer, after two days since he called me for the request, I decided to hunt the book as soon as possible. I made an order for online Go-Ride and waited for it in front of Mandiri Bank by Jl. Taman Cut Meutia Menteng. On the app, I could notice the movement of the Go-Ride driver which was heading to pick me up. Yet, instead of coming for me, the driver turned to another way leading him to my destination, Pasar Senen. Initially, I thought that he misunderstood assuming that I was waiting for him in Pasar Senen where it was actually my targetted destination. Therefore, I instantly texted him and he replied asking me to wait for a little while. Minute by minute, he kept driving to Pasar Senen and on a street before reaching the market, he stopped and approved on the app that he had taken me to the market. Automatically, the app showed onmy cell phone's screen a confirmation page for me to vote for him. It was mad, the driver cheated me. Not wanting to waste my time longer because of anger, I made a second Go-Ride order. This time the driver came picking me up very soon. As I reached Senen Bus Station, I got down from the bike and before the driver left, I asked him about what I experienced some minutes past with my first Go-Ride order. He said that I was deceived and suggested me to report the cheater driver on the app. Yup, I fully understood that and, because of the heat of the day, I hurriedly thanked the driver for clarifying that and continued my quest.

I browsed on the Net, that the bookshops now are situated adjacent to Senen Bus Station. I asked several people around the station about the precise location of the flea market. They directed me to enter the premises of the station and go further inside until I found the market on the left side of the premises viewed from the main gate I got in. There I saw the bookshop in a line like cells connected each other. the piles of books filled the rooms of the stores even some spaces outside them. As I approached a store, an old guy, the seller, asked what I was in search of. I said that I wanted a German language book. The guy started checked his collection and found nothing of my request. Then, he asked me to wait while he was trying to look for my order in other bookshops around. As he started going, I remembered that I was actually in search of Dutch language book, not the German one. It was plausibly because now I am learning German in Goethe Institut that all crossing my mind is German stuff. When the guy came back with some German language books, I acted as if I checked the books carefully while inquiring ‘is there books like these for the Dutch language?’. He was confused asking ‘do you look for German or Dutch?’, I said ‘Both’, not wanting to ignite his anger with my unintentional wrong order. He asked what were the criteria for the books I wanted. I specified that I wanted a grammar book and a book containing instances of Dutch conversation. He started searching a second time. I was so sorry.

Not so long waiting, he came with three Dutch books, one of them seemed pretty old as the papers had turned brownish. There I acted as if a profoundly check one by one out. Later I said, I want these, pointing two Dutch books out. He was confused saying ‘Not the German ones too?’ I said ‘no perhaps’. I saw he was sort of expressing his tiredness because of looking for my order of German books and disappointed why I did not want to buy the German books. As a solution, to soothe the condition, I took two Dutch books and one German book. I said ‘these three, how much they cost?’ He started the account using a calculator then said Rp.220.000. I tried to bargain asking for a cutting Rp.10.000 making Rp. 210.000, this was agreed. Remarkably, he added a pocketbook of Dutch conversation as a bonus without raising the cost.

After that, I tried to move to another bookshop looking for another book of Arabic language for Senior High School student grade 3 published by Toha Putra. It was actually not an urgent need, yet I ever read the book when I was at Ulumuddin Boarding School and found it was a very fine book for teaching Arabic. Again, as I approached another bookstore, the seller prompted asking what I needed. Again he had no collection of my request and looked for it in other neighbouring stores. Not finding what I wanted, he got Arabic book for Senior High School students grade 1, yet it is published by the same publisher. I checked its contents and found they are also good. Not wanting to lose such a scarce collection, I bought it.

This is my little story about the bookshops that have survived across years. People of Jakarta also refer to this market as an anything-available market since you can find an unpredictable collection of books of any era. Normally, there are school or university students who frequently seek targets here. It is amazing for Jakarta to have this spot. I hope the flea market may thrive better.

Jakarta, 20 March 2018