Books, pillows, shoes, pens, watches, toys, money, toothbrushes.... These are things we encounter in our daily life. They are so ordinary that we take them for granted, as if they’ve always been part of our lives. As a matter of fact, the ability to create objects is probably how we humans define our species and make us different from other living creatures. Just look around us and see the amount of stuff we surround ourselves with and accumulate throughout our lives. A human being might ...

Buku, bantal, sepatu, bolpoin, jam tangan, mainan, uang, dan sikat gigi... Ini adalah berbagai benda yang kita gunakan dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Semuanya begitu biasa sehingga kita menerimanya begitu saja, seolah-olah semua benda itu sudah menjadi bagian hidup kita. Pada kenyataannya, kemampuan untuk membuat benda mungkin adalah cara kita mendefinisikan spesies kita dan membuat kita berbeda dari makhluk hidup lainnya. Coba tengok keadaan di sekitar kita perhatikan jumlah benda yang ada di ...

If there is one thing that the Covid 19 •Pandemic has taught us, it is how to deal with being alone. Quarantine and Social Distancing, while keeping us away from each other,has forced us to confront that person we normally have the least time for. Which is our own Self. The Self that we have neglected and ignored during our busy lives interacting with the outside world, but which many of us could no longer avoid as we spend more time at home and shy away from public places. We can however, ...

GOING OFFLINE Menemukan Jati Diri di Dunia Penuh Distraksi Melalui media sosial dan realitas virtual, kehidupan online membuat kita terus terhubung dan selalu aktif. Ponsel cerdas kita adalah benda pertama yang kita raih saat bangun tidur dan yang terakhir kita letakkan sebelum tidur. Layar kecil di tangan kita itu memberikan kenyamanan, persahabatan, dan rangsangan yang membuat kita terus-menerus tertarik dan bersemangat serta mengalihkan perhatian kita dari dunia nyata. Bersamanya, kita ...

Salah satu pelajaran yang dapat kita petik dari pandemi adalah cara menyikapi kesendirian. Karantina dan Menjaga Jarak Aman, yang menjauhkan kita dari orang lain, memaksa kita untuk menghadapi sosok yang biasaya sangat jarang kita sediakan waktu baginya. Diri kita. Sosok Diri yang telah kita abaikan saat kita sibuk berinteraksi dengan dunia luar, tetapi yang saat ini tidak dapat lagi kita hindari karena kita menghabiskan lebih banyak waktu di rumah dan menghindari tempat umum. Namun, kita dapat ...

This collection of reflections is to remind us of some of the things we can turn our distracted minds to, when we can direct our attention to what are in front of us, above us, and more importantly, within us, using all the senses that we were all born with. They are a rediscovery of some of the things we have forgotten how to do or have put aside in favor of our all-consuming electronic toys, and an attempt to help us reconnect once more with our senses and our natural gifts. So, why not put ...

Melalui media sosial dan realitas virtual, kehidupan online membuat kita terus terhubung dan selalu aktif. Ponsel cerdas kita adalah benda pertama yang kita raih saat bangun tidur dan yang terakhir kita letakkan sebelum tidur. Layar kecil di tangan kita itu memberikan kenyamanan, persahabatan, dan rangsangan yang membuat kita terus-menerus tertarik dan bersemangat serta mengalihkan perhatian kita dari dunia nyata. Bersamanya, kita jarang merasa bosan atau punya waktu untuk hanya duduk diam dan ...

Sebagai manusia, kita semua pandai membuat hidup menjadi rumit. Kita isi hidup kita dengan harapan, kecemasan, dan ketakutan. Kita dibayang-bayangi masa lalu, kita mencemaskan masa depan, dan kita mengabaikan masa kini. Kita mencari kepuasan dalam kebendaan dan kebahagiaan dalam angan-angan, sering dengan mengorbankan kekayaan yang hadir di sekitar kita. Hidup Sederhana merupakan kumpulan perenungan, pengamatan, dan pemikiran yang dihimpun oleh Desi Anwar dari pengalamannya, kenangan masa ...

“Kita menyaksikan tabrakan-tabrakan yang sengit antara cara pandang barat dan kebijakan timur. Tapi anehnya, di akhir kisah, kita pasrah menemukan harmoni yang menenangkan masing-masing pihak, walau sebenarnya tetap berbeda kubu. Di lain tempat, kita bagai mencicipi racikan bumbu Minang yang pedas, nikmat, kaya. Tulisan yang terasa kadang personal, emosional, dalam, juga spritual. Alurnya bisa zig-zag antara kekinian dunia, dan ketuaan falsafah. Banyak kata sifat hebat yang bisa dilekatkan ke ...

Young Adela discovers that the pangs of love are a lot more complicated than she has imagined, and that there may not be such a thing as the perfect love after all. At her mother’s death bed, May tries to make sense of the dying woman’s role in her life and the strange nature of their mother-daughter relationship. As a new undergraduate learning the ropes of adulthood, Djuna meets and learns from her role-model, only to find that in life, nothing is entirely what it seems. Meanwhile, a ...

A globe-trotting journalist and a lifetime traveler, Desi Anwar has visited many places all over the world, met and interviewed international figures and notable individuals during her years as Indonesia’s top TV anchor and talk show host. In Faces & Places, Desi has compiled some of her travel writings she produced in the last few years and initially published in her weekly column in the English language daily newspaper, The Jakarta Globe. The articles consist of personal impressions, ...

A globe-trotting journalist and a lifetime traveler, Desi Anwar has visited many places all over the world, met and interviewed international figures and notable individuals during her years as Indonesia’s top TV anchor and talk show host. In Faces & Places, Desi has compiled some of her travel writings she produced in the last few years and initially published in her weekly column in the English language daily newspaper, The Jakarta Globe. The articles consist of personal impressions, ...

“Reading Desi Anwar’s collection of essays, we not only feel the pain, agony and frustration, but also the joy, laughter and hope of a country and its people struggling to make the transition to a nascent and vibrant democracy.” -- Endy M Bayuni, Editor-in-Chief, The Jakarta Post Being Indonesian is a collection of Indonesia’s Senior Journalist and TV personality Desi Anwar’s columns published between the years 1997 and 2007. The essays trace the journey of Indonesia during that ...

Sebagai jurnalis yang sering bepergian dan pelancong seumur hidup, Desi Anwar sudah mengunjungi banyak tempat di seluruh dunia, bertemu dan mewawancarai tokoh-tokoh internasional serta sosok-sosok penting selama tahun-tahunnya sebagai pembawa acara bincang-bincang dan pembaca berita televisi papan atas Indonesia. Di Faces & Places Desi mengompilasi sejumlah catatan perjalanannya selama beberapa tahun terakhir, yang awalnya diterbitkan di kolom mingguan dalam harian berbahasa Inggris The ...

Living a healthy, productive and balanced life is easier said than done. Although our common sense can normally guide us on what to do when it comes to taking care of ourselves, often we don’t pay attention to our inner wisdom, or even worse, does the opposite to what it tells us. For example, we know that eating healthy, doing physical exercises and making sure we get proper rest are essential to our well-being. However, habit, convenience or just sheer lack of discipline often lead ...

If there's one thing we're good at, is making our lives complicated. We fill it with expectations, anxieties and fears. We fret about the past, we worry about the future, we ignore the present. We seek fulfillment in material things and happiness in wishful thinking, often at the expense of the riches that already surround us. A Simple Life is a collection of musings, observations and thoughts that Desi Anwar gathers from her experience, childhood recollections and perspectives, as ...

When you listen to others, listen to understand, not to judge (Jika kita mendengarkan orang lain, cobalah mendengar untuk memahami dan bukan untuk menilai.) Peace is when what you think, say and do are in harmony (Damai dapat kita capai ketika terjadi keserasian dalam apa yang kita pikirkan, katakan, dan lakukan.) ***** Semua berawal dari situs blog mikro Twitter. Di ruang itulah Desi Anwar menuliskan pemikiran dan gagasannya tentang bagaimana menjalani hidup yang mungkin sudah ...