Indulgence

Delight

Anatole France
Time deals gently only with those who take it gently.

The other day, I was suppose to go home and get some rest for another busy day and yet, I found myself on a bus at 11am heading towards Baclaran. It is a bus I always take but I always get off at Shaw station. I must've passed Baclaran many times but never really stopped and took a look at the Baclaran church which I hear is the cause of traffic during Wednesday. Getting down from the bus, I took a look at the dirty streets filled with people standing at the curb and waiting for the right jeep to take them home (or maybe even to work). I crossed the highway and into the many stalls that sold everything the mind could imagine at 12 midnight without much sleep or rest. There were stalls for these really tall lamps made of painted cloth that looked really lovely, stalls for pirated dvds, shoes, clothes, trinkets and even food. The streets were filthy with cigarette butts on the floor, plastic ripped in half just lying there, broken paper cups and others.

And yet there was the Baclaran church. I didn't see all of it since to come close to the Church felt like I was just attracting danger. Around it, it seemed that the grass was green and there were benches and trees but it was so dark and if anybody was there, you could not tell. I preferred to stay at the crowded area where people could see me. I walked around the perimeter admiring the white walls of the church and imagining the flocks of people coming on Wednesdays to make their prayers to God. That must be an amazing sight.

All this internal revelry was cut short as a crowd began to gather near Chowking because a man who has been screaming and preaching for the past 5 minutes has fallen to the floor. He kept shouting that he was dying. It took 4 people to lift him up and carry him off with the man shouting Ba't niyo ako dinadala sa presinto? (Why are you bringing me to the precint?) As I walked away not wanting to be a part of the spectacle, I over heard two teen-agers talking. One was mimicking the crazy man shouting and screaming while the other said loudly, Kung patay ka na, ba't ka pa nagsasalita? (If you are dead, why are you still speaking?)

I then went to another branch of Chow King in the same area and ordered a serving of Halo-halo with a scoop of ice cream. I ate it happily to help escape the city's ever-draining humidity. The taste of ice cream made fireworks in my mouth and I found this increasing sense of delight, being in an alien place, seeing a different side of Manila, one I don't see often and ending it all with a fantastic sweet dish.

I enjoyed the whole experience immensely. It was the whole idea of being spontaneous, adventurous, maybe I can even say careless. And it was fun to be that way, to be so random. The sheer delight made me feel alive.

It is good to be alive.

posted by wanggo @ 3:23 AM