View my page on Tour De Pinas Project
It was raining, and it was traffic. Situations like these, roads to and from Manila are thanklessly tiresome.
At about 30 minutes past 8 pm, hunger was starting to strike me. Exhaustion was beginning to haunt and defeat me. Good thing I was seated beside a very jovial father whom I instantly shared a chat with.
As we watched different vehicles crawled the crowded roads, and let our bus swerved on its own paths to get its way amidst the seas of automobiles, we shared personal views from Philippine politics to Philippine economy to family life even to Frank and Helen. MV Princess of the Stars and RCBC bank robbery, security measures and spouses’ responsibility to support each other were the threads that linked us.
He works in the security and IT maintenance department of Allied Bank and a father of two growing youngsters.
Working as an in-house corporate maintenance technician and IT security specialist at Allied Bank, he has to travel at least two hours in the morning to service different branches and another more than 2 hours in the evening when he goes home.
Both being parents, we shared the same sentiments on how difficult it has now been to provide our children the best basic needs from food to education to clothing. We also shared the same reactions on the on going fare hike. I learned that he has been spending at least P150 for his daily fare alone. We both lamented that earning minimum will never really provide a family man and his family a decent living.
Our long bus ride gave me a chance to find a confidante in incognito. Through the sincerely friendly man I shared a seat with, I was able not to take notice of my hunger, neither my fatigue nor my exasperation. I was also able to share a meaningful chat.
In him, I saw how a very responsible spouse and father can inspire not only his children but also his better half to build dreams and realize them for his family. That it always feels great, even it is obviously hard and humongous to work for your family.
We reached our destination at 40 minutes past 9 pm. It was a long ride. It was a long chat, too, that made me established ties.
To you Sir Victor, thanks for a serendipitously heart-warming and affable conversation. Hope to see you again!
Tags: bus, bus ride, chat, serendipity, traffic
Entries (RSS)