A Scary Story at the Meatball Warung
Tauhid Nur Azhar
Two days ago, around 5 pm, my wife, who was extremely hungry, asked me to take her to the nearest warung to get some emergency food before we had a heavy meal at home.
We chose a place called CAB, or Cuanki Aseli Bandung, based on Google’s navigation guide. The warung was hidden in a residential complex of the Indonesian Army, and at the end of a street lined with tall trees. When we entered, there were only a few tables and chairs occupied.
One table near us was occupied by two fashionable and trendy women who seemed to be academics. From their loud conversation, which echoed throughout the room, it was clear that they were trying to convey something important.
To give you an idea, the normal human speaking voice is around 55–65 decibels (dB). Meanwhile, a safe sound level for human ears is between 30–50 dB, like the sound of people chatting.
If the sound level exceeds 90 dB, it can be harmful to human hearing. In fact, sounds above 100 dB are considered extremely loud and dangerous for human hearing. The human ear can only tolerate sounds above 100 dB for 5 minutes at most.
According to research, the following sound levels can be compared:
- Complete silence is equivalent to 0 dB
- A whisper is around 15 dB
- A peaceful library atmosphere is around 45 dB
- Listening to a lecture by Pak Lek Doktor Catur at FKB Telkom University is around 60 dB
- Listening to Pak Rana Akbari flushing the toilet is around 75–85 dB
- A crowded coffee shop with students is around 90 dB
- The noise level in a hospital corridor during visiting hours can reach 100 dB, similar to the bustling atmosphere of Johar Market in Semarang in the morning
- A crying baby can reach 110 dB
- The sound of a Lion Air jet taking off is around 120 dB
After Mas Fikri, a well-known trainer, finished his flight and was picked up by the committee in a Toyota Alphard, he was taken to a 4-star hotel. The atmosphere in the luxurious car and hotel room was around 40 dB, probably due to the sound of the TV and the soft hum of the air conditioner.
As he enjoyed the calming aroma of petrichor during the first rain, Mas Fikri also enjoyed the sound of the raindrops on the rooftop garden of the hotel, which was around 50 dB.
Generally, the human hearing system and ear can hear sounds with a frequency range of 20 to 20,000 Hz. Meanwhile, according to the level of loudness, the intensity that humans can hear is 0 to 140 dB. For more information, please ask and consult with a leading ENT specialist, one of whom is Dr. Yanuar Iman Santosa, SpTHT-KL, MKes from Dr. Karyadi Hospital/Undip Faculty of Medicine.
The conversation at the next table actually affected the aroma and taste of the dish I was enjoying. Why? Because the plate of fragrant rice with fried chicken and sweet sambal that I chose over the cuanki, which is the mainstay of this food stall, was mixed with high-intensity frequencies from the next table. The taste of the fried chicken and crispy fried dough seemed to blend with the discussion about scopus, post-doc, and the Dean’s problem.
The intertwining and crossing of sensory nerves are indeed common and even a human advantage in constructing sensory associations towards stimuli and sensations that come in various forms and models of information.
If they come together and are associated, resulting in overlapping meanings, it’s also common for each sensation to influence each other. There’s even a unique condition related to the sensory processing pathway known as synesthesia.
Synesthesia is a neurological condition that causes sensory crossover, such as seeing colors or tasting sounds. This occurs when stimulation of one sense or perception stream produces a subjective experience of a different perception stream.
The term synesthesia itself comes from the ancient Greek words “sýn”, meaning “together”, and “aisthēsis”, meaning “sensation” or “feeling”. In other words, a feeling that is interpreted by more than one sensory association area.
The first medical note about synesthesia was made by a German doctor named Georg Tobias Ludwig Sachs in 1812. According to his observation, the most common response from people with synesthesia is the ability to perceive things like letters, numbers, or sounds as colors. When listening to any sound, like a song, it’s as if it has a shape or pattern in various color spectrums.
Before I knew it, the Maghrib prayer call had sounded, and I hurried to pay for my food because it was time for worship. While waiting for the cashier to finish calculating the total bill, a scary figure suddenly emerged from the left side, with a loud and intense shout… “How much do I owe?”
The cashier looked stunned, as if he didn’t believe it, and I was also left with my mouth agape, feeling embarrassed… “How come…” I whispered, still in disbelief.
The person who was earlier enthusiastically talking about post-doc and scopus suddenly, when seeing the queue, could loudly and fiercely cut off a shy man who often felt embarrassed in front of the cashier. It was like the incident at the La Catalunya circuit, where Pedrosa overtook Valentino Rossi at the last turn and snatched the main podium from the champion.
The cashier and I could only stare, and the cashier said… “That’s a characteristic of a cultured person.” It seems that the cashier is a student of humanities or philosophy.
The result? The mother’s eyes bulged and her pupils constricted, just like a cat staring at its prey. And the two of us, I and the cashier, were like two sibling mice trembling with fear under her gaze.
It was a truly traumatic and terrifying experience. Why? Because have you ever imagined if our future generations were to emulate and be taught by someone like that? A mother is a natural educator, the first madrasah, and all her actions and words will become a template for a child. Both epigenetically and socio-culturally and pedagogically.
A nation that has empathy and can respect each other in a tolerant manner, giving space to the rights and existence of others, begins with the first educational process. Including, of course, competitions that lead to the birth of creativity and innovation that become multi-dimensional solutions, can be initiated by a caring attitude and the ability to construct awareness of the essence of one’s existence.
How beautiful it would be if the natural energy of a mother, which instinctively would protect her family’s private and personal domain, were channeled into a catalytic energy that could nurture the seeds of awareness that would grow into the roots of wisdom, rooted in fertile soil rich in the values of life, and could penetrate the hard rock layers with clever strategies.
Because life cannot be denied, some of its fragments will be tough and sometimes situations will be sparked by various cunning actions. So, a mother’s fierce and unyielding example is a good guide if it is in harmony with the harmony of care and the ability to prioritize the values of togetherness in the corridors of human kindness, isn’t it?
