That afternoon, the air and weather felt a little muggy at UGM compound. This might be caused by the weather in June that is uncertain, sometimes it is hot, sometimes rainy. For a second I had the urge to have a drink at the Food Court around the Student Hall, however, I changed my mind when unintentionally I walked past the Faculty of Cultural Sciences. Yes, ‘Bonbin’, I decided quickly. I parked my motorcycle and went straight to the ‘Bonbin’, the popular name of a cafeteria located on the east side of that Faculty.
Various food and beverages are available there. Starting from the meatballs, chicken noodle, rames rice, dumplings, and batagor, ice tea, ice lemon, various juice as well as newspapers and magazines are available there. Nowadays the canteen is known as Mandiri Humanities Plaza’s Rekadaya Boga Canteen. The term ‘Bonbin’, according to the information I gathered, is due to the fact of the people who sit and have breakfast or lunch there, they look like animals confined in cages: dirty and wild.
There are many differences found between the old ‘Bonbin’ with its current form. Currently, the building is strong, neat, orderly and clean and nothing like when I was still in college majoring in Indonesian Literature from 1998 to 2004. The impression of shabby and dirty ‘Bonbin’ was very strong. Activities of student, faculty, and employees, however, are still the same, which blend into one community not limited by age and culture boundaries."It’s more neat and orderly, compared to the old Bonbin," said Widodo, a batagor seller when the conversation started. Widodo who has joined the ‘Bonbin’ community since 1999 says that he is more comfortable with the arrangement made. Currently, it contains around 12 foodstalls. The happy thing is, he admitted that the dumplings and batagor selling profits increased by about 30% with the current arrangement. "About the advantages, we admit that it increased. In the past, we could get around 2.4 million Rupiah each day. Now it increases to five million Rupiah," he said.
Well, the concept of the canteen restructuring turned out to bring benefits to the food sellers. But, does this only apply to the sellers? While still enjoying my avocado juice, I greeted Feni, a student of class 2007 History Department. In the conversation, Feni said that she was also quite pleased with the concept and services in the Humanities Plaza Cafeteria, the wide range of affordable menus for students. "The price is standard price. There is also a variety of menus," said Feni. Feni, however, felt that some facilities there still need maintenance and repairs. She cited that some part of the roof was leaking and hotter. "With the current policarbonat roof, it gets even hotter, it is better to replace it with roof tile," she said. Almost similar with Feni’s comments, another student, Rafe, also agreed that the canteen as to continually improved, especially its facilities. He agreed to the re-arrangement, thus they are more comfortable when having a break or discussion in that place.
"Although it’s trivial, it is about convenience. If it’s good, the students will feel content eating, drinking, while having a discussion here," said Rafe.
Indeed, I saw some parts of the roof there was slightly torn open so that raindrops can go through. Due to the heat going through the policarbonat, the sellers attached used cardboard underneath. That’s not the only problem, when I went to the toilette, the door on the west side is broken, so, automatically, the toilette can not be used. More unfortunately, some junk is stacked in front of its entrance. I was told that the junk is owned by scavengers. "The scavengers usually stop by here even though they had been alerted by us and security guards. They often sleep here at night and store things, too, thus, this place looks dirty," said Heru Waluyo, the seller coordinator. In his opinion, those problems require the attention of the university in order to make the canteen cozy again.
Apart from those weaknesses, the ‘Bonbin’ Humanity Plaza canteed at the east of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences is worth a visit. Social interaction between campus community who come from various cultures mingles theres. It’s a shame if you have not had the time to simply relax and sample the menu in the "Bonbin" Humanity Plaza Mandiri canteen. So, what are you waiting for?