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peaceful and relaxing atmosphere is enough to bring happiness to renowned filmmaker Garin Nugroho. The director and producer of a series of award-winning films said he only needs to go as far as his own garden to cheer up his mood after a hectic day at work.

On a beautiful Sunday, I like to spend my time in my garden in Bintaro, South Jakarta and in Depok, West Java. I don’t plant abundant kinds of flowers, just enough to beautify vases around our living room and bedrooms.

For me, the main thing is not whether I grow beautiful flowers or not. The fun thing is deciding on which flowers will serve for the week, and arranging them in vases.

I have a habit of changing the flower decoration in our rooms every weekend.

After finishing this activity, I pick mangoes from our own mango tree, enjoy looking at the flowers, or continue gardening with my family. I wonder what butterflies will visit my garden today.

Engaging in those relaxing activities early in the morning or in the afternoon are the most beautiful and pleasant ways to spend my Sunday.

If my family wants to enjoy a place other than our house, then we choose familiar places that are beautiful and not crowded.

I currently prefer to travel to places around the country.

If we go abroad, a place like Krosida Island in Napoli, Italy, is one of the best choices. The Mediterranean feel in that place is magnificent. There we can enjoy local ambience by observing the residents’ everyday lives.

But things were completely different when I was a child. When I was kid, I spent my childhood in Yogyakarta, where I explored nature in many places.

When cold lava from Mount Merapi flowed down Code River, my friends and I would grab our swimming tires and plunge into the river, following its stream which spanned across most parts of Yogyakarta.

In the past, children received clear information about Mount Merapi’s activities. We knew the cold lava contained sulfur, which was good to heal skin diseases. We received the reliable information from Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) and from our parents, who taught us the dangerous and safe things to do when disaster strikes.

Things are different today. We receive the bulk of information from many media sources, but are not sure which ones are reliable. The news on cold lava was reported as if it was a horrible occurrence.

I have been in love with nature since I was a kid. I think people in this world build too many non-living things. The imbalance is probably the reason why we see so many disasters.

Personally, I enjoy simple things like reading, drinking tea or coffee and eating mango.

In this life, we often lose the simple things that keep life beautiful.

— As told to Indah Setiawati