My CHARIC...

CHARIC is not an alien language, it does not come from Timbuktu or Dayak or Madura, and not an aboriginal either.

CHARIC stands for the initial of six people’s first names, with me included. The other five are my dearest friends, who are now living different life paths. There are three guys and three girls, with no in-Charic relationship whatsoever.

We have a very minimum frequency of meeting up, yet we are still very close and we have never lost our bonding. We are very grateful to the technology of internet, which makes it possible to still update each other with what life has offered us until now.

Way back in October 2002 was when we were first formed. Actually, I had known all of them by then.

Let start from the guys.
The first C – he was my NTU friend, we both studied in School of Mechanical and Production Engineering, though we opted different specialization. He is my relatives’ neighbor in Jakarta. He knows my twin cousins better than I do. Watch out, he is a taekwondo champion.

H – A renown businessman, though he studied Material Engineering in NTU. He liked to conduct a cooking session in his room with his fellow hall-mates and some migratory ones like me. Don’t be amazed yet, sometimes cooking may mean steamboat in a rice cooker. We enjoyed the session, though. Psst, we all speculated that he will be the first among us to tie the knot.

A – In our first Get Together Day (Freshmen Orientation Program for Indonesian students in NTU), A and I were placed in one group. That’s where our friendship started. He is the most matured among us, and we simply call him “Mbah” which refers to a well-respected Sage. He is whom we look for to get advices and input and… erm, some palmistry as well. Nowadays, it is difficult to ask him joining our gathering as he often commute between Indonesia and Singapore for erm, future-being.

And now the girls.
R – I have known here since she had the size of 50 cm and 3.05 kg, simply because it is me.

I – Our most-talented. An avid thespian artist, all her works; poetry, scriptwriting, acting, theatrical make up artist, singing will invite many thumbs-up. A typical career woman, she is always the most dynamic (and chic) among us. Despite her busyness, at most of the times she will be the one to trigger our outing or gathering. I also played a role in egging her very famous nickname, I** when we were classmates in 1-3, SMU Santa Ursula, Jakarta.

C – our youngest but not the least. She is famous for her melodious voice, smartness and her shopping-spree hobby. I’ve known her even before she was accepted in NTU. One day with my sore eyes, I was called by the directress of NTU’s International Students Unit to meet her. She was very surprised that we remain connected and even became close friends. We have different circle of friends at school but we worked in same committee before. And we used to talk just like sisters. With her promising career, she is now a high-flyer.

(I suddenly feel like writing Friendster’s testimonials)

Though I had known all of them, some of them were still foreign to each other. Fate had brought us to attend a 3-days 2-nights Indonesian Catholic retreat. And after that, we are bound. Then, the mailing list was formed after we all agreed to name our dear group as CHARIC.

Blame our busyness, which are all very different from each other, a complete gathering has become a very rare occurrence. The last time was in NTU’s hall 14, when we ate pecel with a jumbled mix of food, including yong tau fu’s stuffs. Ha!! The pecel “dressing” freshly came from Ponorogo, sluuurrpp!!!

That was already more than two years ago. Since then, our best gatherings are virtuals, through our yahoogroup. Sometimes four or five of us are still determined to meet, though we still long for a complete gathering.

Why does CHARIC have a special place in my heart (and I believe in other’s heart as well)?

We have literally grown together, especially while entering our quarter-life crisis. When we started, we were all students plus one very-fresh graduate. Now, some of us have even job-hopped, changed career direction, obtained a Master degree, etc.

For us, CHARIC is a place to share our confusion, struggle and restlessness to find the correct direction. Though we take six different directions, but we are all journeying through one thing called LIFE.

We discussed about NTU exams, and now about the real exams in going through life.
It was Final Year Project, and now it is our endless works.
It was boy-girl relationship, and not it is man-woman relationship.

We shared in many forms; the luckier ones can share in forms of poems, whereas others are satisfied with simple sharing and questions.

Do we really expect an answer for every question that we throw? Not really, as none of us is an expert in life, none has gone through the life-phase that we are going through. We are all still in learning process.

So what do we get when we send an e-mail, even a short one? Firstly is definitely an encouragement. Continued by sharing, which becomes the essence as from there we try to grapple some clues which may lead us to the answer.

Hence, at least for me, CHARIC has somewhat become my learning ground and holding grip. As we stagger forward, we always try to help each other, which in a way will also help us.

Last Wednesday (2 November 2005) we insisted to meet up although only four members could confirm their attendance. So we met up at 11.15 pm at McCafe around Orchard. Though we are tired and sleepy, we still value this rare opportunity highly. We stayed until 2 am with a lot of trafficking discussion in between.

Folks, I am still waiting for our complete CHARIC gathering…

Wish you all the best always in whatever path you are taking.

Sincerely dedicated to: My CHARIC. Thank you for all that we have had!!