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The crowd sang with them and got a standing ovation too!
The festivities ended with a masquerade ball where they blended
with the golden (50 years), ruby(40), silver(25), sapphire(45), and
emerald (55). One signee for the 1951 class was a “No Show.” That
could euphemistically be due to natural attrition.
Having said goodbye to each other with pledges of meeting again,
all returned back to their hometowns and the family members still
there.
Coming back to one’s country of birth after an absence provokes
keen objective observations of everything old and new. One’s senses
are alive to the proffered experiences.
One feels the cool mountain breeze, ascending to a family resort
in view of the local cloud-shrouded volcano, Mt. Apo. The colors
of the multicolored bougainvillea along the way are brilliant as
the sunlight falls on them, the reds of the fire tree are fiery indeed.
The field of a million flowers shines blue and the giant ferns seem
majestic as they raise their boughs to the sky. The touch of a small
swimming pool for the grandnephews and nieces at the destination
on top of the highest hill reminds one that modernity has inevitably
blended into what once was an untouched Eden, (which the place
incidentally is called).
rises now dominate the landscape, where once the highest point in
town was a church steeple. Everyone seems to be equipped with
a cell phone, including the tricycle driver who ferries passengers
through clogged roads, and the cab driver who gets his fares from a
centralized station. Motorcycles weave in and out of traffic, creating
their own lanes among the modern vans and passenger jeeps. The
wonder is how they all manage to get to their destinations with
minimum accidents? Everywhere traffic has become a problem.
Fish and vegetable vendors however still cry out their wares in
the morning amid steel grated homes in the subdivisions. In the
afternoons one can catch freshly fried bananas being sold by local
entrepreneurs. Modern hospitals where bypass surgeries and kidney
transplants are now being done have supplanted the “one or two
doctor” towns that once were, mine among them.
What wondrous progress has come to pass in 60 years!
The best part, however, is being able to bridge two worlds, both
now beloved, one in the past where one had been nurtured, started
one’s career and left one’s mark, and one of the future, where one’s
children and grandchildren are being encouraged and trained to
do the same.
Time moves on, and we with it.
Dr. Oropilla is a retired psychiatrist.
Back in the cities and towns it’s another story. Megamal