Sunday, January 16, 2011

Presidential Book Signing

I went to Gramedia - a four-story and the biggest book store in the city - on Merdeka street this afternoon. I was just browsing through the books I was interested in when suddenly there was this bit of commotion. Frankly, I was a bit disturbed. But then there was the smooth and pleasant music of angklung. I began to get curious and asked a nearby shop attendant what was going on.



Apparently, there was a book signing, and the author doing the signing was BJ Habibie, Indonesia's third president, who had just recently launched his second book after he retired from presidency. The book, entiled "Habibie & Ainun", is about his true-love story with his wife, Ainun.

He wrote the book after Ainun, his wife for 48 years, passed away in May last year, and out of deep bereavement he was diagnosed with severe pyschosomatic malignant. His doctor suggested three options to treat his illness and one of them was to write what later became this book.

6 comments:

Leif Hagen said...

Book signings are fun and a great subject for a daily photo blogger to find! I'm hoping to attend an upcoming book signing by our governor on Tuesday....

Cobalt Violet said...

Wow, you have great timing!
Fantastic. Love when fun synchronicity happens.

Photo Cache said...

right place at the right time. good for you.

Jeannette StG said...

And you were able to get so close to take pics -what an opportunity! Was thinking that his cod gave him an unusual "prescription"...and it worked:)
Is this president "softer" in his approach to reign the country, or?

Dina said...

Very special photo op for your blog!
That is so nice he chose to write a book about his wife.
Our president's wife was buried today. He is so sensitive; I hope he can cope with this sudden loss.

arabesque said...

i have never been to a book signing before, you must have been starstruck to see the ex-pres.
up close, or not... was he a good one.
and what gr8 timing. ^0^