Somewhere I belong

I miss the sea and the red sky as it heralds the new day. I've been meaning to get out of the city again and see the place I grew up in.

Unngoy sa Siyudad

Sa tagal ng pamamalagi ko sa kalye papuntang eskwelahan noon at sa trabaho ngayon, sa tingin ko'y namalagi ako sa pampublikong sasakyan ng mahigit 10 taon. Hilig ko talaga ang pagbiyahe at ang pag-commute sa kalakhang Maynila ay isa sa mga maliit na kaligayahan na aking tinatamasa sa araw-araw. Ngunit gaano man ang hilig ko dito, hindi maiiwasang meron din mga tao na sisira ng magandang karanasang ito. Sa talakayang ito, itatawag natin silang mga Unggoy sa Siyudad. Mga taong nag-aasal hayop!

Unggoy sa hagdanan. Kung madalas kang sumakay ng pampublikong tren ay makakakita ka nito. May mga lubid na nakapalibot sa mga hagdanan upang igabay ang pila ng mga taong gustong sumakay. Pero ano ito? May tumatawid sa mga lubid! At minsan, matatamaan o mahahagip ka pa ng mga naglulundagang mga unggoy! Dugyot na ang barong na suot mo. Madungis na ang itim mong pantalon na kinaingat-ingatan mong huwag maapakan at madumihan. Sira na ang araw mo, sira pa ang porma mong disente sana.

Unggoy Libre. Iba talaga ang epekto ng salitang "libre" para sa mga Pilipino. Parang wala nang bukas at di bale nang ikaw lang ang makinabang dito. Hindi ko alam kong bakit pati libreng periodiko ay kelangang kunin ng tig-iisang dangkal. Magbabago ba ang balita sa bawat kopyang kunin mo? Wala pang alas-siyete ng umaga, ubos na ang libre. Diyata't naubos ng mga unggoy.

Unggoy Rehas. Ewan ko ba kung bakit ang unang rehas sa pinto ng tren ay syang paboritong kapitan ng mga unggoy. 'Di naman sila lalabas ng maaga. Palagay ko ay dahil sa pintuang bumubukas at sumasarado mag-isa kung bakit hilig nilang tambayan ito. Babara sila sa lahat ng gustong pumasok at lumabas. Kakapit sila ng madiin na parang tuko, 'wag lang mawala sa puwesto! Siguradong gusot-gusot ang damit mo na parang galing ng sampayan pagdaan mo sa kanila.

Unggoy Reyna. Sa lahat ng uri ng sasakyan, meron kang makikita nito. Nakaupo ito ng patagilid. Nakaharap sa bintana at tila walang pakialam sa iba pang gustong umupo! Ito ang mga tipong nasanay sumakay ng nag-iisa. Huwag 'mong susubukang makiupo kung ayaw mong matitigan ng masama!

Unggoy Hari. Syempre, di patatalo ang hari. Nakaupo ito ng diretso at nakabukaka ng todo upang ipagyabang ang kanyang pagiging hari. Ayaw nya ng may katabi! At pag nagtabi sila ng reyna, 4 na katao ang sakop nila! Naku, puno na pala ang sasakyan, sa susunod na jeep na lang po, mamang driver!

Unggoy Usok. Kahit ilang panawagan na ang meron sa telebisyon o sa dyaryo at sa mismong pakete ng yosi, madami pa ring nalululong sa bisyo na ito. Ok lang sana kung sila lang ang nakalalanghap. Kung talagang masarap magyosi, bakit nyo pa binubuga? Di ba dapat, hithit na lang ng hithit? Para sa mga hindi nakakaalam, ang pagyoyosi sa pampublikong sasakyan ay labag sa batas. At hindi rin totoo yung commercial na pag nakiusap ka eh, titigil sila. Baka nga mapaaway ka pa eh.

Unggoy Dura. Ilag! Baka tamaan ka ng lumilipad na sipon! Dito ka lang ata makakakita ng taong dumudura sa kalye. Kung hindi ka alisto ay siguradong tatamaan ka at baka kailangan mo nang sunugin ang suot mo para hindi mahawa. Malas mo lalo kung nasa sasakyan sila at ikaw ay nataon na lumalakad sa bangketa. Hindi lang pantalon mo ang maaring masapul.

Hindi lang yan ang mga unggoy na makikita mo sa siyudad. Pero marami pa rin namang natitirang tao. Pag laon kasi ng panahon, dahil nakasanayan na ang mali, nagiging tama. Hangga't may pumupuna, hindi mangyayari iyon. Ipagpatuloy nating pansinin ang mga mali para maituwid at di pamarisan ng ibang tao. Hindi ka maarte kung nasa tama ka. At wala ka sa tama kung ang tanging dahilan mo lang ay ginagawa rin ito ng iba. Kung mahal mo ang Pilipinas, hindi mo hahayaang maubos ang tao dito at mapalitan ng mga unggoy. Kumilos ka. Makialam. Yun lang.... Wala akong sponsors kaya wala ng kasunod.... Salamat po.

Back to School

"One day, you'll miss going to school", my mom says while I lay in the couch slumped like a drunken college boy. At that moment, I could think of a thousand reasons why she's wrong. The zits alone make up ten and it complicates a high school kid's life on so many different levels.

While I stand in the train station waiting to be whisked away to work, I felt envy for the young students making their way to school. I never thought I'd look back and wish I was back in those days where life was so much simple.

You don't have to worry about money. There seems to be an abundant source of it and you don't have to worry where it comes from or who gives it to you. As an adult, you realize it comes from blood and sweat. It kind of makes me feel guilty for all the smoothies and fish balls I embellished on back when I was young. It's amazing that back then, those were considered a luxury.

You don't have to study all the time. When you're a gifted audio learner like I am (ahem), you don't have to write stuff on your notebook or read like the rest of the bunch. You just listen to the lectures and after the tests, you see that you might have missed one or two things. When you get to college, all the readings and notes you have will be worth nothing against your professor's confusing way of delivering the question and giving you a whole set of choices that seem to fit in. You suddenly feel like Madam Auring trying to guess the right answer with all the cameras pointed at you. Why can't someone come up with a test that has the "connect the dots" theme on it?

Good friends. The friends you had in high school are probably the only real friends you'll ever have. College friends get you into trouble, and work buddies are good until after office hours. You can forget faces you met in college and at work, but you'll never forget who sat beside you in 5th grade trying to peek at your test paper.

The Teachers. You keep wondering why it's important that you know stuff about things you won't really need in real life like trigonometry and physics (at this point, its becoming apparent that I hated math). And yet, when I'm trying to decipher my pay slip, I feel thankful somebody took the time to teach taxation, even after school hours, to someone like me who doesn't like to crunch the numbers. When you're in the real world, no one will bother to sit down and explain things to you. Not unless she (or worse, he) finds you cute.

Spare time. You seem to run out of this as you grow older. Back in the school days, we always run out of things to do. We've finished our homework. We've played 'till we're drop dead tired. All our TV shows are finished. You've already called your crush and asked lame questions like "what's for dinner at your house?". When you look at the clock, there still some time to kill. After work and the long commute home, I often look at the clock and wonder who put the time on fast forward.

Responsibility. You can't be held liable for your actions when you were a kid. Instead of blaming you, the adults would most likely end up blaming each other. That's the beauty of accountability. Now that you're all grown up, you can't blame anyone but yourself.

I'm back in the couch, still slumped and exhausted in every way a person can be exhausted. I hate to admit it, but my mom's right. I do miss the days when I HAVE to go to school.