Siftings
Some Desiderata in this Year of the Tiger
It is the 13th of January 2010 as I write this, three days after the diurnal decade of the new year, and things are going pretty much the way they have always been. Plodding on or going in fits and starts, like a new motor on an old vehicle. The Christmas trees and their décor have been packed away, no more Christmas carols scent the air with nostalgia. The holiday shopping for gifts and treats have tapered off to the usual weekend bash and rush in malls and restos. The whiz and whoosh of New Year’s firecrackers almost simultaneously went out with the non-stop beating of Dinagyang drums in the cool evenings, as Ilonggos once again gear up for this year’s annual ultimate tourist Festival — actually the Local Department of Tourism’s copycat acquisition of a local religious festivity based in San Jose Church and the once-upon-a-time clone of Kalibo, Aklan’s quasi-religious festival which, aficionados maintain, is still the ultimate ati-atihan festival in this country, never mind if there are countless other ati-atihans like the Dinagyang, Sinulog, Binirayan, etc. to fill up the calendars of avid tourists because each tourism festival always has an edge and flavor of its own.
For me, the past 2 – 3 weeks have been a blur: my apo’s arrival to celebrate her debut at Esca’s Garden Restaurant, with me acting as parent surrogate, event planner and organizer, etc, a thankless but fulfilling task, no less; and then there was another obligation to fullfill as maninay for a former staff of my research days; and on top of that a new project which must be tackled head-on, despite time and other constraints. People to contact and see and re-establish links with, in particular, relatives and close friends. A time to take stock of things old and new as the past year painfully limps out with the aftermath of Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, the Ampatuan Massacre, ships colliding and sinking and people dying, the usual horror story of so many people’s lives snuffed out with the going of the old year as the new one comes in with the usual end-of-the-year tally of firecracker victims, albeit more lives were spared in Daragang Magayon’s last-minute decision not to explode and innundate Legaspi, Albay with ashfall. But two more lives were sacrificed to the Black Nazarene – a miracle, actually, considering the possibility of multiple stampedes because of the millions of devotees in last Saturday’s procession, from the Quirino Grandstand to Quiapo Church, a mere two-three kilometer normal hike turned into almost a whole day’s agonizing turtle-paced shuffling and clearing of one’s way through a literal sea of people.
What is it like in other countries, with other people? I have yet to see this kind of thing in other countries, with other people.
But then, again, one can see the same crowds and hysteria described above in the concerts of Michael Jackson in the last decades of the last century, something that I can marvel at with equanimity from the comparative safety and comfort of my sala as I play/replay the DVDs made easily available since the death of the King of Pop. An aspect of modern living which holds us all in thrall.
But wait: Why I am griping in this season of Dinagyang? Shouldn’t I be glad that we, Ilonggos, Filipinos, tourists, etc., are about to experience once again the thrill, not the thralldom, of something to look forward to besides Valentine’s Day next month; and after that, the Junior- -Senior Pro; and afterwards, the whole rigmarole of commencement and graduation excercises, before the fact of summer vacation and trips to Boracay or Palawan or Sagada seeps into our collective consciousnesses and make us gasp. Yes, gasp! Despite the dust storms that almost make us gag, we gasp in anticipation of the sheer joy of the freedom and fun of this carefree season!
Despite the typhoons that descend on us after the summer months. Despite whatever floods the rain may bring. Despite whatever killings–spiritual, physical, economic, moral–the elections may bring. Despite whatever watered-down justice and punishment get to be meted on the perpetrators of massacres; despite whatever ships collide and sink, despite whatever volcanoes spew out lava and lahar that can kill hundreds; despite whatever sporadic viral epidemics are loosed upon the country and the world – this is still the only world we know and will ever know before we are transported to that Other World from whose bourne, according to Alfred Lord Tennyson, no traveller ever returns. Despite whatever.
So, I’ll keep my peace – and use my breath instead, so goes the English saw, to cool my porridge.
May this year of the Tiger be for us a better year – to make us stronger and more patient and persevering as we bear the burdens of life and living in this environmentally-challenged, rapidly self-destructing-due-to-human-greed globe. The only Globe you and I will ever know, despite what Avatar the movie insists on projecting to the contrary.
