What I intended to see was the grassroots of pottery in Central Java - a small village outside the town of Bantul called Kasongan. At one time, the village was a mere ’suburb’ of Bantul. However, everything changed after Independence was declared in Indonesia on the 17th August, 1945. Kasongan became a village in its own right. It had for centuries, been infamous as the centre for ‘erotic’ pottery. Many pieces can still be found in museums within Indonesia, but to find them in Kasongan nowadays was like, as they say, looking for a needle in a haystack.
The morning had already become hot, the sun fierce and unrelenting, when we set off for Kasongan. From the city of Magelang in Central Java, the trip should have taken ninety minutes at the most. A flat tire, a boiling radiator, and some ‘pit-stops’ for yummies and drinks, made it more like a day trip. Romadi, my old friend in Magelang, who ran a craft shop, and I were extremely happy to see the flat open plains after the drive down from the mountains which are the backbone of Java. This was the fertile area. Like a multi-green coloured patchwork quilt, the paddy fields stretched seemingly to the horizon, the farmers tending the rice crop, the women planting the seedlings - a backbreaking job I would never desire to do. The long straight road seemed to fall off the horizon together with the paddy fields, and as I became impatient, Romadi assured me it was not much further. He had said the same thing fifty miles back. As the road became narrower, started dipping and rising across small creeks, my impatience soon dissipated.
Entering the village was just like entering any other village in Indonesia. Two tall stone pillars, one either side of the road, displayed the name of the village. I was disappointed to see graffiti haphazardly scrawled over the pillars. When I mentioned my disapproval of such actions to Romadi, he only replied, “Your Western influence.” Naturally, I didn’t take that personally! The narrow, pot-holed dirt road was more like a rough bush
