a boy and his bubble

A boy playing detergent bubbles at alun-alun Bandung.

what's up there?

carting game

Children playing with a cart at Ciroyom.

infants playing on the street

Football Fever

Football (American English: soccer) has always been a popular sport here. But in the past few weeks, following Indonesia's national team successes at AFF Suzuki Cup 2010, it's more than just popular; it's become a contagious fever.

baby on a motorbike

It's not "Beware A Baby on Board" like the warning sticker you often see at the back of a car; it's a baby on a motorbike. And there's no warning about it.

infants' conversation

Combining the words infants and conversation is somewhat oxymoronic. Should you not know, the word infant is derived from the Latin word infans, which means "unable to speak or speechless". Thus, how can somebody who is unable to speak have a conversation with an interlocutor who is similarly speechless? Yet, babies do talk with one another. Their language may not be as verbal as that of the adults, but it is nonetheless communicative, perhaps even more communicative than that of the adults. See the picture?

little feet

mother motorist

soft drink boy

A boy selling soft drinks on the pavement of Asia Afrika Street.

o' child

On Children
Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

motherly care

Location: Stasiun Bandung (Bandung Railway Station).

motherly comfort

hurry up, mother!

"Hurry up, mother! I don't want us to miss the train."

The excitement of the train ride belongs to children. We, adults, often take it only as a matter of necessity.

Location: Bandung Railway Station.
Camera: Canon PowerShot A490.

destitute

Things most of us don't want to see. But they exist and beg that we pay attention.

"tahu-tahu"

A language help: In Indonesian, tahu is tofu (noun) or know (verb). When repeated ("tahu-tahu"), it means suddenly.

peeking out

curious

They are born with it.

treasure hunter

meeting a distant cousin

A child's encounter with a "doger monyet".