By Pennie Azarcon-Dela Cruz, Executive Editor
Sunday Inquirer Magazine
SOME people have shrinks. Others take valium. The rest just sleep it off. Me? I take a ride on the LRT. Nothing can make you forget your blues quicker than the more immediate need to (puff-puff)… get (huff!) on that train! Quick now, before the buzzer sounds and the doors slam shut.
It helps that it’s fast, cheap and you don’t have to talk to the other riders. You’re just basically left to your thoughts, thinking about lunch maybe or that pair of shoes you saw in the mall last night. Except when a cell phone rings and as one, everybody starts groping inside their bag or patting their pants. Never fails to amuse me. Like Pavlov’s dog or a Marcel Marceau sketch.
Then the distraction begins. “Hello, Papa? Oo, pauwi na ko. Initin mo na yung ulam diyan. (Yes, I’m on my way home. Heat up the food.). Sometimes it’s less innocuous and you find yourself lost in translation — the Japayuki talking in nihonggo to someone in Japan, the sticky intonation hinting of romantic transactions. Or a couple fighting, strong whiffs of third party liaisons in the air. The mother pleading for a son to stay put, she’s almost there. Speculations rise. Puzzled looks, raised brows, the pursed lips of judgment.
Who needs a Koreanovela when it’s all here — in the intimacy of an LRT coach where drama plays out just as urgently as inadvertent humor. I recall how one train driver once pitched in in this huge eavesdropping emporium. “Huwag po nating salubungin ang bumababa,” he intoned nasally, seriously, into the public address system. “Hindi po natin sila kamag-anak.” (Let’s not meet the passengers going down. They’re not our relatives.) Smiles all around.
The passing scenery isn’t bad either. From the rusty roofs of Caloocan, the train zooms past the majestic tombs of North Cemetery and slows down when it gets towards Blumentritt and its plethora of umbrella-covered street stalls. In Sta. Cruz, decaying buildings with their cracked windows and decrepit walls afford riders the tempting opportunity to play voyeur. There are glimpses of unmade beds, unwashed glasses, some shirts hang out to dry on the balcony. More speculations. When the LRT gets to Avenida and its rows of melancholy moviehouses, one turns away instinctively from the rundown toilet cubicles and stained urinals visible from the windows. The best view is before Central Station from Monumento: all those trees at Arroceros Park. Then it’s back to the anonymity of buildings all the way to Buendia.
When I’m lucky and find a seat, I settle in with my cell phone, texting in reminders to errant writers and contributors, finishing a day’s work in the time it takes to get to my stop. On a dull day when conversation shrinks to a companionable hum, I look around, noting street fashion, what the stylish commuter is wearing, what I’d like to be wearing myself.
Sure it’s a routine. Line up. Open bag for inspection. Climb four flights. Fish out LRT card. Push into slot. Get in. Wait for train. Rush in. Eavesdrop. Observe. Answer phone. Text. Look into open windows. Slip out. Get down. Save gas. Save earth. Feel good.
Read the Sunday Inquirer Magazine’s Earth Day issue on April 27.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Agree. Daily commuting is more energy-efficient and a better option to taking the car bec. this way you minimize fuel consumption. It’s also less stressful than driving.
April 24th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
this article made me smile, remembering with fondness how i experienced all that the writer has penned down; everything that a rail commuter knows but has not had the time (or witty humor) to write for most to read.
also, it made me more homesick, (yes- i miss the crush, the cursory bag inspections, the sea of humanity) for here in melbourne when the trains get full people complain that it looks like a third-world thing; little they do know that within the confines of our full LRT there is more connection within our kababayans than they do here where people set out to do their own thing and keep to themselves.one lot is happier than the other, for sure.