Javanese Love Story Tukiyem and Tukijan by Inton Abdullah

Tukiyem and Tukijan

In far away Java island, a young man about twenty years old, whose name is Tukijan holding his sweetheart’s arm. They are lying down on a broad grass field. Under the banyan tree, a girl name Tukiyem is holding back Tukijan’s arm tightly. She is crying, asking for God’s blessing, so that the Tukijan’s journey to achieve his dreams to find a better life will be smooth. They both talk about their love story since they were first met, how they struggled for their love in the middle of those who hated their relationship.

Tukiyem was raised by her aunty in a poor village since her mother died. She did not have anyone else except her aunty, now tukiyem has grown up as an enchanting girl in the village. Nanu, that was what Tukiyem called her aunty. Nanu was a strict woman. She never wanted Tukijan in Tukiyem’s life, because Nanu required Tukiyem to work only for her as a “mbok jamu”, a woman in Indonesia who sells traditional medicines around the village by walking. Tukiyem never wanted to work as a mbok jamu, but she did not have any choice because she simply thought she must do this for her aunty, who raised her since she was nine. Fortunately, the atmosphere of her life started getting colorful once she met Tukijan. Tukijan had been the only man for her in sharing her sorrowful life.

It was almost everyday Tukiyem and Tukijan met each other in a place which they thought was comfortable for them to make love. They did it passionately as if they were a couple of teenagers who were drunk in love in every single day. The days passed, Tukiyem found herself pregnant, it was her first time selling jamu and carrying a baby in her belly at the same time, she was partly excited and partly worried. Excited because of her baby in her belly, worried because she was afraid of a fact that she broke the village’s rule. Most people in the village were the follower of Islam, including her. The religion did not allow its followers to make sexual contact before the followers get married and so did the village. As she was a pregnant woman, it was a difficult circumstance for her.

Tukijan, who was alone and did not have anyone but Tukiyem in the village, was known as a poor man who was still looking for a permanent job around the village, in the village he worked casually as a “buruh tani”, men that worked temporarily in a farm for someone who owned a rice field, he will got paid if he finished his work in the afternoon, he only get one thousand five hundred rupiahs each day. The money was not enough to fulfill of his life’s necessities. On the way home, Tukijan met Tukiyem in the side street. At that time, Tukiyem did not waste the chance to tell Tukijan that she was pregnant. Tukijan was happy to hear the news. Unfortunately, his wage was not as much as other men in the village because of the temporary work he had, he told Tukiyem the truth that both of their salaries would never cover all the necessities if the baby was born.

Tukijan had to go out of the village to find a better work for a better life. He promised Tukiyem that he would never leave her behind. Tukiyem trusted him in all of her heart that Tukijan would come back someday for her if he had a successful life. The day after they met at the side street, they got separated by time and different place. Tukijan left, as the months passed, her belly got bigger and bigger so making everybody that looked at her belly suspicious and so was her aunty. Then, Tukiyem told her aunty the truth. Knowing that her niece broke the village’s rule, Nanu insisted Tukiyem leave the village secretly and quietly. Tukiyem lived two miles away from the village, that nobody would ever know she lived there. 9 months passed, she gave birth. Though her life had never been happy because of she was worried that tukijan would never find her.

Finally, tukijan came back to his former village with his successful life, He did not find Tukiyem in the village. Till, he asked Nanu, and Nanu told him where Tukiyem lived. Tukijan went there. As he arrived to the village where tukiyem lived, he saw tukiyem selling jamu to people. He walked closer to Tukiyem, grabbed Tukiyem’s arm, and then Tukiyem looked back at a man who grabbed her arm. She was speechless, this man was very familiar to her. She hugged Tukijan tightly and went home to see their baby and live happy ever after.