creativity

when i had returned from visiting the temple in the forest, who should i bump into but...yep, ketut! i laughed, how he always shows up at the right moment. also another friend of mine, a young 15 year old that helped me the first time with my computer, just show up all the time too. after the cleansing ceremony by the sea, there he was, standing next to me, as the 1000 people all left...and we spoke a bit and suddenly as the line of 20 priests passed us, he said,"ah, this is my father!" and pointed to one of the priests that i especially like, and i told him we must meet before i leave because i have a lot of questions for his father.

and now here was ketut, and i always have a lot of questions for him too, trying to understand what makes this community tick. as we stood there talking, a young fellow on a motorbike slowly passed us and honked his little horn to announce that he is selling some fast food for the kids. ketuts kids immediately went running after him and asked if they could buy some, which he agreed.

and i went over to watch what he was going to serve them. it turned out that he makes little dumplings, and has a little skillet and gas balloon and cupboard with all the ingredients all compactly arranged on the back of his motorbike. he is a fellow i have seen on the streets many times over the month i have been here, always wearing a green knit hat no matter the weather, he happily went about preparing the little egg dumplings and even had his stapler there to fold the paper into a little plate for the kids to eat along with some ketchup.

i was curious as to how this fellow decided to make these dumplings so i asked ketut if he would translate some questions for me. which he agreed to do.

how did he decide to make these? it was his idea.
where did he ever see something like it? in java
how long has he been doing this? 14 years was making pancakes and pushing them in a cart along the street. now for 2 years he has been making the dumplings instead, and has a motorcycle and travels from singaraja where he lives, which is an hour away, everyday going through the neighborhoods along the way and honking his horn and selling.
how old is he? 29 and comes from java.
does he enjoy what he is doing? yes!

after he drove off i commented to ketut that it is very impressive that for 14 years he pushed a cart and saved his money, and now he has a motorcycle and makes dumplings, which is unique. that i was impressed. and he is always smiling...you can tell he loves what he is doing.

ketut said: it is called creativity! if you are creative, you can make a living doing anything you love.