Wulandari Oktaviana

Featured book

Water Vessels Whispering the Past

Ratna, a 29-year-old woman, was forced to return to Solo after seven years of navigating the hustle and bustle of Jakarta. Her grandmother, Mbah Turah, had fallen ill and kept murmuring Ratna’s name in her delirium. In the quiet, old joglo house, Ratna found a black clay pot inlaid with shards of old glass in the kitchen. Her grandmother whispered, “That’s for boiling water, Le.” But every night, Ratna heard a hissing sound coming from the pot—not the sound of steam, but conversation. Gradually, Ratna realized the pot was no ordinary cooking pot. It was a repository of memories. Every time it was filled with water and heated, the pot “boiled” the memories of those who had once used it. Ratna began to hear the voice of her mother, who had died when she was a child; the voice of her grandfather, who had mysteriously disappeared; and even whispers from the future warning her not to repeat the same mistakes. In her search, Ratna must distinguish which whispers are true, which are merely echoes of her family’s trauma, and ultimately—why her grandmother had deliberately hidden the vessel for decades.