Monday morning. You are all fresh and up and ready to face the world again. You wake up a few minutes earlier than your alarm! Man, are you excited to go to work! You take a bath, eat your breakfast, brush your teeth, do your Monday make up, put on your best office attire, put on your newly-shined shoes, and with a smile on your face, you lock the door and get ready for your commute.
It's still dark, it's still 5:30 in the morning. You would want to get to the terminal before everybody else gets up to go to work too. And when you finally get there, surprise! Everybody else had the same idea you had!
Welcome to the commuter's life in Mega Manila! Where travelling from work to office is a transformative journey! Yes it's a transformation! Because every single day, you come out of your house looking like a princess ready to be crowned as queen and yet you arrive at your office doors looking like a warrior surviving - and not to mention winning - a battle against a furious dragon!
Everybody is your enemy. Let's start with the slowpoke driver. This guy seems to be on the know when you are in a hurry. "Are you running late? Let's stop at the gasoline station and fill our tank first, shall we?" Most of the tim, he would be really really fast like a race car driver but there are times when he would be on a cruising mode. That's more likely to happen when he needs more passengers. When you're running late, never let the driver feel it. He will make sure that you arw not just late. You will be fashionably late.
Then there's the ever accommodating barker. If you haven't been in the Philippines, those are the people that stand behind a jeep and shout names of landmarks and places. These people are arguably honest. Do not be fooled. Before embarking on a journey with these barkers, do not believe whatever number they say. They would say that the vehicle can still accommodate five more people but in reality, three people could no longer fit inside. So better count by yourself. Do not listen to them. Not all they say are true!
If you've survived the slowpoke driver and the overaccommodating barker, there's still the mob. This is a group of passengers, sometimes angry, most of the times hasty. If you're not quick enough, you'll be caught in a rampage. The mob consists of different people from different class from different race. There's the rugby player who pushes everyone in his way. Then there's the ant who specializes on fitting into small openings just to get to the front of the mob.
One thing's for sure, once you survive these obstacles, you are considered a warrior. You make up will be a bit runny and smudgy with all the ruckus and if you're lucky, you might even smell of the smog and stench of the commuters' world but nonetheless, you're a survivor!
Your transformation is now complete! Now go ahead redo your make up. I've got good news for you. You survived Monday! That means you only have four days left to fight the good fight of commuting to work.
