Ngenteni Udan Ning Mangsa Ketiga aka A Matter of Futiltiy

There is a popular saying in Javanese about something impossible. Popular among common people, the expression is especially used by songwriters and artists alike to tell unbearable emotions that one experiences due to failing love or relationship failure. Ngenteni udan ning mangsa ketiga rose to popularity when Didi Kempot used it in a song.

Didi Kempot, probably one of the most phenomenal singers of Javanese songs, once expresses his feeling as his lover fails to keep her promise to meet him at the Tanjung Mas Port in Semarang, Central Java. Didi is dubbed the pioneer of congdut (keroncong dangdut) that incorporates two streams of music in Indonesia in a fresh way. The fusion is slightly different from campursari that Manthous is well-known for. 

Didi Kempot, king of ambyar (Photo: detiknews)
   
The famous song by Didi is based on the first line of the lyrics. The following is the complete lyrics that build up the whole story of failing affection thus a matter of futility. 


Bebasan kaya ngenteni udan ning mangsa ketiga | it is like expecting rain during dry season 
Najan mung sedela ora dadi ngapa | it's okay even for a slight moment 

Penting isa ngademke ati | as long as it soothes my heart


Semono uga rasane atiku | that is what I do feel
Mung tansah nunggu tekamu | always expecting your arrival
Ra krasa setaun kowe ninggal aku | it's been a year you've abandoned me
Kangen... kangen'e atiku | I'm deeply longing for you


Aku sih kelingan nalika ing pelabuhan | I can recall our parting at that port
Kowe janji lunga ra ana sewulan | when you promised to return in a month 
Nanging saiki nyatane kowe ora bali-bali | turned out that you've reneged 


Ning Pelabuhan Tanjung Mas kene | here at the Tanjung Mas port
Biyen aku ngeterke kowe | where I once let you depart
Ning pelabuhan Semarang kene | here at the Tanjung Mas port
Aku tansah ngenteni kowe | I'm forever expecting you to come


From Didi Kempot's song we learn that Javanese people have an expression to tell something of futility. When something is impossible to happen or unlikely to happen, then you're ngenteni udan ning mangsa ketiga. If it occurs to you that something is elusive and will cost you nothing but vanities, you certainly know what to do.

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