Napoli

Napoli (Naples), Campania, Italia

Oyah, kemaren saya sempet hop in trenitalia, menuju ................ errr, Napoli. Kota greco-spagnolo yg aneh itu. Dari awal udah rada serem, tiap hari di tv di sini -Italia- banyak genangan darah di jalanan Napoli, turis dirampok etc, temen2 Romani juga bilang super ati2 (dompet ditaro di tempat tak terjangkau –haah, emang hari gini masih gaya naro dompet di balik cangcut?) ... anyway, saya ambil kereta regionale yg paling murah, banyak sih eurostar tapi beda harga bikin begidik.

Tiba di napoli centrale, disorientasi, berharap ada informasi turis buat ambil peta atao apa kek, dan saya berharap terlalu banyak. Tidak ada kios turisme di stasiun!

Napoli memang bizarre. Soal traffico, Roma aja udah kacau, Napoli itu dobel -motor2 seliweran merasa raja jalanan. Pelacuran terang2an, jam lima sore udah memajang diri dg bergerombol para "donnaccie" -pelacur- sambil melirik ke pelalulalang. Anak2 kecil 5 atau 6 taon «scugnizzo» -raskal- melaju dg motor mini mereka, dengan pilox di tangan, mencoret mobil2 yg mereka lalui.

Bukan saja sampai di situ, anak-anak remaja tanggung, 15 tahun-an. bukannya berada di sekolah tapi malah berkerja. Realitas kehidupan keras Napolitana???

Banyak pula ibu-ibu Napoli yang berjualan rokok dengan harga murah. Rokok ilegal sebetulnya. Rokok contraband. Rokok tak berpajak. Saya pikir ini potret usang Napoli tahun 70-an atau apalah, cerita di buku-buku tua. Tapi masih saja aktual. Dan tak ada satu polisi pun yang saya lihat mempatrol jalanan Napoli.

Gila euy!

Pedagang kaki lima bukan saja org Afrika tapi juga para Napolitani yg harus survive bergerilya mencari sesuap nasi. Di jalan,
kebanyakan org bicara dialetto napolitano, saya bukan saja ngga ngerti
dialetto tapi juga saat mereka bicara italiano-italiano, susah nangkep
aksennya yg bizarre itu. Apa mau dikata, Napoli bak dunia lain!

Napoli in images :
(komentar akan sangat diapresiasi)


Fruttivendolo (fruitstall)


Panni in aria (Napoli's famous washing lines) ubiquitous everywhere in Napoli


Vicolo (Napoli's sombre alleyways)


Bidonville (Napoli, a dirty port town)

Ambiente et Bookshelves

Excuse moi for the terrible linguistical mélange of the title above. More simply intended, ambiente (italian) means environmente. Et for "and".

And bookshelves. Those sombre looking pieces of wood neatly assembled together and, rather often, later end up in one's salone, or study room, or proudly compliment a living room.

I admit it. I don't really buy books. I read, heaps, though. (phiuuuwh, what a relief to know that!)

And the horrendous excuse would be, I've never had spaces in a house of my own. Been nomadic, you see, across half the world. And, what a tough luck for me, in Italy, or rather in Europe, the temptation has never been more forté. I gotta buy books. Not so much of textbooks, rather a bummer than pleasure that is.

All the signs couldn't have been more clearer. The necessity is pretty convincing. The need, too, connived with the first two. So I have been studying Italian and Italian texts, now, I can read and understand them. No, not the stuff of letterature .

Bargain books. Yeaaah, a one way ticket for any self respecting broke student.

I bumped, at a chain shop vending all sorts electronic goods here in Rome, into a bookshelf, and in the end bagged myself a Jacques Prévert's work.

The French poet, born in 1900 in Paris and ceased 77 years later, poured down his heart to his content into lines of poetry of amour and liberté. Of life in Paris through the early 20th century.

Love it heaps albeit not prepared to weep my soaking up eyes.

La belle saison

A jeun perdue glacée
Toute seule sans un sou
Une fille de seize ans
Immobile debout
Place de la Concorde
A midi le Quinze Août

°°°

The beautiful season
An undesirable lost fasting
All alone without dosh
A girl of sixteen
Standing immobile
Place de la Concorde
At midday of August the fifteen