from ubud to hollywood

From Ubud To
Hollywood For Balinese
Medicine Man
A 95-year-old man sits cross-
legged on the mat in front of me.
He looks comfortable in his white
polo shirt and batik wrap, with a
piece of yellow cloth worn
looped round his waist like a
belt.
Silver hair frames his wrinkled
face and his old eyes sparkle
every time his index finger
finishes drawing a line on the
palm of my left hand.
“And the other line, I show to
you again this, the luck line to
the middle finger, ” the old man
says in his knows-no-grammar
English. “Oh, you have two luck
line there. This is meaning in
your life. Don ’t worry, you will
be lucky.
“According to the line to the ring
finger, I show to you this is
money line. And I see money line
to the ring finger very deeply,
long, start from there to there.
Very good. ”
The old man is Ketut Liyer, a
Balinese medicine man, artist and
palmist whose name has been
the talk of the town since
Elizabeth Gilbert ’s novel “Eat,
Pray, Love” — which details the
author’s friendship with Ketut —
became a best-seller.
The story is being made into a
film, featuring Hollywood star
Julia Roberts. Filming for the
movie recently took place in
Ketut ’s hometown, Ubud.
Ask any local taxi driver if they
know where Ketut lives and
chances are they will quote you
a pricey fare for the short ride
— but they all know where the
medicine man’s house is.
Ketut’s house in Pengosekan, in
the Ubud area, is barely
discernible from the main street.
Like most Balinese houses it is
dominated by light gray and
orange bricks and has intricate
designs around the edges. The
home has several buildings, and
the main house stands out
elegantly with a wooden door
decorated by floral-patterned
carvings.
A number of black-and-white
paintings of Balinese gods by
Ketut himself are displayed on
the walls. The sound of running
water from a small fish pond and
the scattered frangipani flowers
on the ground create a peaceful
ambience in the quiet garden.
Earlier that morning, when I
arrived, a middle-aged man was
talking to Ketut while a Chinese-
Indonesian woman waited for
her turn.
The woman, Alexandra Tjoa, or
Alex, flew from her home in
Switzerland to Bali for a vacation,
she says. While there, she
decided to visit Ketut, the man
she had read about in Gilbert ’s
book.
“I was just curious,” Alex says
when I run into her the next day
at a restaurant. “He is such a
sweet grandpa.”
Perhaps it is the way Ketut talks
that makes him seem such a
character. He hardly uses the
word “ saya ” (“I”) when
speaking in Indonesian to his
clients. Instead, he addresses
himself as “ kakek
” (“grandfather”).
He talks slowly as if he wants to
make sure his words can be
understood. When he speaks in
English, he often checks to see if
I follow him, saying, “My English
not good, but you understand,
right ?”
Ketut is said to have the ability to
cure sick people, mostly with
herbal remedies, and foresee
people ’s futures by reading their
palms and studying their ears
and faces.
The knowledge was gained from
his ancestors, he says, with
manuscripts written in ancient
characters on palm leaves
passed down through the
generations for centuries.
He focused on becoming a
medicine man when his second
wife passed away many years
ago.
“I stayed single after my second
wife died because I was
determined to be a medicine
man, ” Ketut says. “I was so
occupied with painting and
curing people I forgot to look for
a wife. ”
He doesn’t dwell on past
misfortune, believing instead
that everything happens for a
reason.
“My first wife left me and
married another man,” he says.
“But I believe that was the way
thing was meant to be. Then I
met this beautiful woman and
married her. ”
From his second marriage Ketut
had one child who died when
she was very small. He then
adopted a son and a daughter
who have blessed him with four
grandchildren.
Being someone many people
turn to for advice — or just out
of curiosity — Ketut says he
always tells them nothing but
what he really sees.
“Once a man came to me and I
could see that he would suffer
from a serious illness. I told him
that and advised him to be
careful, ” Ketut says. “If it is not
good, I will tell them it is not
good. And if it is good, then I will
tell them that it is good. If I made
up things, according to my
religion, my spirit would go to
hell when I die. ”
Ketut takes my left hand and tells
me to bend the fingers. He draws
a line near my pinkie. Later he
tells me I will marry twice in my
life, to which I respond with a
laugh.
“Are you serious?” I ask.
“I only tell you what I know,” he
says.
There are three more people
waiting to see Ketut after me, so
I decide to continue the
conversation the next day.
When I arrive early the next day,
Ketut is holding a newspaper,
trying to read the small letters.
“Can you please read it to me?”
he asks, handing me the
newspaper. “Tell me what it
says.”
It is an article about him and
how he met Gilbert a few years
ago. Once in a while, his eyes
look into the distance and he
smiles. At times he touches my
arm, signalling me to pause so he
can comment on what I read.
“Yes, I remember Liz,” he says
when I mention the author’s
nickname.
“Who is Julia Roberts?” he asks
when the article mentions the
movie being filmed. I explain
that she is the actress playing
Gilbert.
He nods when I ask if he
remembers meeting Roberts, and
laughs when I say he should
have been in the film too,
playing himself.
“No, I am too old. Besides, I have
this kidney problem that causes
pain here, ” he says, touching his
waist.
Asked if his life has changed
since Gilbert ’s book shot to fame,
Ketut says that everything
remains the same for him in Bali.
“I don’t think that [my life] has
changed,” he says. “I wake up in
the morning and meet people
here, sometimes they come
early, other times [they come] at
10 or 12, or late in the afternoon.
In the evening, I meditate.
“I don’t feel famous. Nothing
special, you see.”