Aku masih mengingat hari itu. Aku dan teman-temanku punya ide untuk mencari ikan di sungai kecil dekat rumah. Air yang mulai surut saat padi-padi mulai membesar membuat banyak ikan kecil terlihat di permukaan.
Tanpa alat apapun, hanya ember kecil, kami menyusuri sungai itu dengan penuh kegirangan. Saat menemukan gerombolan ikan kecil sebesar ikan teri, kami menangkap mereka dengan tangan secara hati-hati. Dari sepuluh ikan yang ingin ditangkap, hanya satu atau dua yang berhasil hinggap di telapak tanganku.
Rasa bahagia yang sulit dijelaskan. Tanpa berpikir aku bisa apakan ikan itu setelahnya. Yang aku tahu, aku hanya bahagia.
Hampir satu kilometer kami menyusuri sungai itu. Di tengah jalan kami menemukan kepiting kecil yang membuat kami ketakutan untuk menangkapnya, takut capitnya melukai kami. Kalau aku bayangkan sekarang, mungkin tidak akan sesakit itu. Lalu kami pulang saat punggung terasa sakit karena merunduk berjam-jam, dengan beberapa ikan di ember, kegirangan dengan berbagai cerita yang kami temui dan kami bahas lagi sepanjang jalan.
Hingga ayahku berdiri di depan rumah. Wajahnya seperti alarm yang menyuruhku lari.
Dia berkata dengan dingin, "Dari mana kalian? Bermain di sungai berjam-jam dengan kaki terendam dan air yang kotor, kalian bisa sakit. Hanya untuk beberapa ikan."
Cinta yang terbungkus oleh kekhawatiran.
Dengan wajah takut, kami hanya tersenyum tanpa menjawab. Karena jika kami menjawab, percakapan ini akan panjang. Ayahku tidak tahu betapa bahagianya kami dengan petualangan kecil itu.
Di sungai itu kami juga menemukan beberapa botol plastik, kain-kain, sandal bekas. Tidak banyak, hanya beberapa. Berbeda dengan hari ini, di mana plastik dan sampah yang sulit terurai lebih banyak dari ikan yang ada, bahkan menutupi sungai itu sendiri.
Sedih rasanya kehilangan tempat bermain itu. Ketidaksadaran kita akan lingkungan telah merampas hak alami sungai itu sendiri, dan hak anak-anak untuk mengeksplorasi alam lebih luas.
Hari ini tidak ada lagi yang bermain di sungai-sungai kecil itu. Tidak ada ikan-ikan kecil. Tidak ada tawa bahagia anak-anak di sana.
Dunia berubah dan itu tidak apa-apa. Aku masih memiliki serpihan ingatan tentang kisah kecil itu, sebagai penanda seberapa jauh kita telah meninggalkan alam.
FISHING WITH BARE HANDS
I still remember that day. My friends and I had an idea to go looking for fish in the small river near our house. The water had begun to recede as the rice grew taller, and that was when the small fish became visible near the surface.
With no tools at all, just a small bucket, we followed the river with excitement. When we spotted a cluster of tiny fish, each one no bigger than an anchovy, we caught them carefully with our bare hands. Out of ten fish we tried to catch, only one or two actually ended up in my palm.
A happiness that is hard to explain. I didn't stop to think about what I would do with the fish afterward. All I knew was that I was happy.
We followed that river for almost a kilometer. Along the way we found small crabs that frightened us, too scared to grab them in case their claws hurt us. Looking back now, they probably wouldn't have hurt that much. Then we headed home, backs aching from bending over for hours, a few fish in the bucket, still buzzing with all the stories we had found and were already retelling to each other on the way back.
Until my father appeared in front of the house. His face looked like an alarm telling me to run.
He said, in a cold voice, "Where have you all been? Playing in the river for hours with your feet in that dirty water, you could get sick. All for a few fish."
Love wrapped in worry.
With frightened faces, we just smiled and said nothing. Because if we answered, the conversation would go on for a long time. My father didn't know how happy we were with our little adventure.
In that river we also found a few plastic bottles, scraps of cloth, old sandals. Not many. Just a few. So different from today, where plastic and rubbish that never breaks down outnumbers the fish, sometimes covering the river itself.
It makes me sad to have lost that place. Our carelessness toward the environment has taken away the river's right to be what it was, and the right of children to explore the natural world more freely.
Today no one plays in those small rivers anymore. No tiny fish. No happy laughter of children along the banks.
The world changes and that is alright. I still carry a fragment of that small story with me, as a marker of how far we have come from nature.