Christmas on Manila
Christmas on Manila sucks.
I mean it!
This is why I don’t remember spending the last few Christmas on this city,
ever.
In 2002, I spent my Christmas on Bacolod, and it was the first and, thus far
the only time, I’ve attended my High School Reunion. In 2003, I went to Bacolod
again to give my uncle a tour to
this lovable city. And I’ve met with many of my high school friends too, even if I missed
the annual reunion. Then in 2004, I went to Taiwan so my brother won’t feel too
lonely about spending a Christmas on a country that gives too little value to
this occasion. On 2005, I was on Bacolod again, but words couldn’t even
describe how awesome that was.
And where am I spending this year’s Christmas Eve? Why, I’m spending it on my house, listening to Bing Crosby and
updating my blog. I don’t actually detest both, but why do I have to be in
Manila of all places? If only my office has permitted me to take a week off, then I could’ve been elsewhere! Even though it’s already the holiday season,
this city just don’t want to release me from its oppressive grasp!
Frankly, I’m sick of
Manila. It’s not that I don’t love my home; it’s that I’m sick of my
surroundings. If I ever get to tell the rural people from this country that I
live on these parts, they’d always react with a “Wow! Isn’t that a rather risky
place?” I could only mentally note an affirmation, because it’s risky in many
ways. People may think Manila is risky because it’s got traffics, it’s got lot
of thieves and it’s got lot of dirty politicians (all of which are true). They
forgot one thing: it’s risky for one’s sanity, especially due to its monotony.
Like all of this city’s
inhabitants (although I sometimes question the adults’ honesty to this), all of
us want to have fun. And indeed there’s fun that’s expected to be had on the
country’s capital, what with it being the center of most events. So tell me, if
Manila is supposed to entertain, why is every “entertainment center” a freaking
mall, a freaking “gimmicks” bar, a freaking coffee shop with horrible saxophone
music, a freaking restaurant with bills that could blow a hole on a Louis
Voitton wallet, and a freaking parking lot with lots of peddlers (like
Greenhills)? Sure, it may be where different kinds of products are most easily
found, but when spending money buying stuff have become tiresome, one becomes
tempted to ask, “Is that all?” Where’s the park? Where’s the museum? Where’s
the cultural center? Where’s the library? Where’s the amusement park? Where’s
the independent film theater? Where’s the educational center? Where’s the
playground that’s actually worthwhile? Where’s the place embraced with Mother
Nature’s best? Where’s the variety? Where’s the “nature’s escape”? Where’s the
recreational area that’s everything else than a mall – which is essentially
more like a bad compilation album (Now That’s What I Call Music,
anyone)? Sure, they do exist, but they’re as easy to reach as inserting your
hand on a bottle of Coke, as empty as the noisiest egotist, and have as few
audiences as the number of passenger from North Korea’s subway.
If you don’t get it by
now, let me be blatant: I’m sick of all the malls. Enough is enough! Even New
York doesn’t have this many – after all they know how to preserve culture by
promoting museums. And they have Central Park. To me, malls are useful in that
you can get most of everything on a single place. It’s not just a department
store where it only keeps the most basic of all necessities. It’s a place with
department stores plus all the independent stores each selling different
products and services. So a mall is basically like a spring roll where lots of
different ingredients get wrapped so that you can consume them all at once. But
I don’t ALWAYS want that, not the least on Christmas day! Moreover, it’s
tiresome to see behemoths after behemoths of buildings packing up all sorts of
places on this city. Meanwhile, “family time” becomes devolved into simply an
alibi for spending lots of money. It’s no longer about going to the park
together simply because, well, the parks are either gone or pathetic beyond all
imagining. It’s no longer about going out for outdoor exercise. It has
simply devolved into spending lots of money on another one of Henry Sy’s or
Gokongwei’s or Gotesco’s or Ayala’s establishments! Call me an environmentalist
prude, but all these infrastructures taking up spaces where trees could’ve been
planted has done nothing but consume the fresh air that could’ve been
comforting to human lungs. Sure, this is the urban, after all, but there’s got
to be a limit! I really wouldn’t mind seeing more of nature’s green and blue
instead of some gray shades of blah that’s too prevalent with Manila these
days.
With no choice but to
spend my Christmas on this place, it is depressing to learn that I have yet to
go to another mall and pretend to feel the warmth of yuletide. Instead, I went
home feeling like a scrooge. I guess to some people these kinds of places are
the most spectacular, but not for me. When you think about it, their activities
are just limited to spending ad infinitum, not much about the actual
experiences of playing or sweating or adventuring or breathing. In other words,
they’re far too trivial when you compare them to all other places that could be
used for entertainment.
That’s why, I think
this Christmas sucked because I have to spend it on trifles.
Note: This entry is written on December 24, but due to internet downtime, I could only post it today.
