Part 2

On I Gusti Ngurah Rai’s life Gianyar (state East of Denpasar) became a special place for him. It is not just because Gianyar was his first place to learn about military drill but this was also a place where he met his true love. Desak Putu Kari, a dancer, was the one who had stolen Rai’s heart at the first sight. She is an orphan from Gianyar. Gusti Ngurah Rai asked for the hand of her when she was at the age of thirteen. One day Rai appeared suddenly at 11 pm in her room and ran her away. When Kari’s family looked for her Rai asked her to go to the barracks while he talked about his willing to get married with Desak Putu Kari. But based on Kari’s demand, they got married after the cremation ceremony (ngaben) of Kari’s parents.

I Gusti Ngurah Rai. www.baliprov.go.id

Before getting married Desak Putu Kari told Rai that she was an unintelligent girl, she could not read and cook but Rai strengthened her heart by saying that it is not a big problem as long as she had faithfulness. He was a wise husband and full of tolerant. Even though he had not much time to spend with his wife but he always tried to find out his wife and children’s news and taught his wife about nationalism. It was shown when Kari and her children were caught by NICA to get information about Rai, he sent message to Captain Knoch which informed that his wife did not know where he is and any information about his barracks, so he asked Captain Knoch to release his family.

Both of them (Rai and Desak Kari) got a lot of obstacles and pains during the struggle to defend the Independence of Indonesia. Desak Kari was only spent eight years with Ngurah Rai but he always lives in her heart.

Source: Orang-Orang di Sekitar Pak Rai (People around Pak Rai)

To be continued…

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