Sometimes we come across men whose life stories are worth re-telling. Sometime in June, 2016 I met Canupling (not his real name), the driver of the cab I took in Manila as I was rushing to the airport. While we were having small talk amidst the traffic, I became intrigued with the happy disposition this cab driver had. He was originally from Leyte, and that he came to Manila all by himself as a young man of 19. He is now 39.
I asked what drove him to leave the comfort of his hometown, expecting a normal answer by young rural boys who migrated to Manila in search of their destiny. My dad was one such boy, ages ago. But his answer shocked me. He had no choice. His father was made to dig his own grave before being liquidated by what they suspect were NPA rebels. Because their mother cannot support them any longer, he and 5 of his siblings had to go their separate ways and must try to fend for their own. The answer for him is Manila.
Luck favored him, as he easily landed a job in a bakery. He made good in all his tasks as a baker’s helper, and pretty soon he was already making deliveries as a ‘pahinante’ (trucker-hand) of the truck driver. By this time, he developed an image in his mind that he wanted to be a driver, so he focused all his efforts to that one goal. He befriended the company driver and gave him all sorts of presents for the opportunity to drive the delivery van in and out of the garage. Pretty soon he was on the driver’s seat as they did the rounds of their daily bread deliveries.
He was totally consumed by his desire to make driving his lifetime profession. But he did not even have a driver’s license. Lacking of education, (he did not finish elementary grades) he thought it impossible to get one. Until he heard of Recto (a street in Manila’s university belt where one could get a fake copy of any document for a fee) from friends. So with his life’s savings of 2 years, off he went.
The years quickly passed as he went through the motions of working as driver for different companies. Now he sits beside me, one happy cab driver with seemingly no care in the world. “Sir, pangarap ko lang maging driver nung pumunta ako sa Maynila. Pamasahe lang ang pera ko at sa Luneta ako natutulog. Ngayon 39 na ako, okay naman trabaho ko as taxi driver, may dalawa akong anak, may maliit na bahay thru Pag-ibig, at naging teacher din ang asawa ko." ("Sir, it is my dream to become a diver when I went to Manila. I only had money for my fare, and I slept at the Luneta Park. Now I’m 39 years old, I have a good job as a cab driver, I have 2 kids, I have a small house which I acquired thru a Pag-ibig loan, and my wife became a teacher.") With that he drowned the stress of traffic outside my cab in one rambunctious laughter.
He knew that I had to go down soon because we had just entered the airport gates. So he shot off this one last repartee: “Actually sir, nung naging driver na ako, ang pangarap ko naman ay maging seaman. Ewan ko lang kung kaya pa sa Recto nito, hehehe." ("Actually, sir, now that I’m already a driver, my new ambition is to be a seaman. I just don’t know if Recto [fake documents] can handle that. hehehe.")
Soon I was rushing out of his cab into the throng of people at the airport’s departure area. His positively bright, beaming face was the last I saw as he shouted "thank you, sir!" as I handed him the bills that I had surreptitiously prepared so I won't expect change. "salamat din", I shouted back, as I gave him the ‘thumbs up’.
Indeed, I had so much to be thankful for. This short encounter of less than an hour made my day. Suddenly, I was smiling as I took the time to walk less hurriedly. I was more patient with crowd and the ruckus all around. I thought to myself: some people with so much more don’t seem to be as happy as this guy with so much less. Thank God for this day, for making me appreciate life through the eyes of another person. I will try to make this day as perfect as I can, in honor of this man who really, really appreciates life.
:)
