i meet a lot of people in those 04L rides i take on my way to school. most of them are USP students, some IT park employees, the rest a motley crew of individuals who make up the filipino working class. of course we never talk to each other, no two strangers ever do these days. in fact the only interactions we have are the usual "palihug..." ("pass my fare, please...") and the occasional strands of someone's hair that whip the face. 04L commuters, like other filipinos who commute by jeepney, have to deal with sitting close to each other, too close, in fact, depending on the driver's mood. this inconvenience (or convenience, depending on seatmate's attractiveness) may be the very determining factor why the filipino is the way he is -- the personal bubble, upon regular invasion could really alter the psyche.
the last interesting person i "met" in an 04L ride was an egg vendor. he was a big burly man complete with unkempt beard and pot belly. he was tall too, and there was an obvious hint of machismo in his gait. it's not so much on the way he looks that makes him interesting, but on what he carried along. he was carrying a big, big basket of eggs filled all the way to the brim, forming a sort of pyramid on top.
when he was about to ride, he courteously asked the USP girls near the entrance/exit if he could take their place so he would be able to get out easily. the girls slid aside, and in an amazing feat of dexterity, the egg vendor maneauvered his basket-full of eggs inside the jeep all the while smiling. "sibugi pa gamay tawn day kay mapisa akong itlog (move a little more please or my eggs would crack)," he said in a deep burly voice in the verge of laughter. the sexual innuendo was not lost in everybody in the jeep, and pretty soon we were laughing with him.
while we were cruising down J. Luna street, the egg vendor had everybody's attention. well, at least his eggs did, as they were unsafely wobbling about with each driver's brakes. once the driver abrubtly braked, an egg on the top of the pyramid rolled down the pile soliciting various degrees of "ay..." and "uy... uy...". when this happened the egg vendor was in the middle of a familliar song he was humming.
the egg vendor got off the jeep near IPI. a guy got off before him to help him with the basket. the egg vendor said his thanks and smiled. he continued his song.
near TESDA, a middle-aged yuppy-type rode the jeep. she was in her complete yuppy regala. not once did she smile.
proof that when you are an egg vendor, you can never take life seriously.
