Memoirs of an Amnesiac

Late this afternoon I chanced upon a child about seven years old, all filled with grime and stench. I was boarding a tricycle that's waiting to be filled when this child came to the driver and said that he wanted to ride. The driver's countenance was filled with hesitation as the only seat left was in front of him. Just then an old lady came to tell the driver to let the child ride as he knew the child as their neighbor's eldest son. "Nakit-an ni nako bataa sa Carbon. Usa nani ka semana naglaroy-laroy didto. Wala man lang pangitaa sa inahan. Mao ni iyang kinamaguwangan. Siguro kay mabdos naman sad gud, mao wala na niya ni maatiman. Mao bitaw ning ang amahan kay maninda ug balot." (I've seen this child loitering around Carbon for a week. His mother did not even look for him. This is her eldest son. She's pregnant with the eighth child that's probably why she didn't bother to look for this one. His father is the one with the cataract in the eye and sells duck eggs for a living.) As if to break the metaphorical monotony and somewhat desperation in the old woman's tone, the driver quipped, "Ah. Mao diay daghan anak kay maninda ug balot!" And we all burst out laughing, all too reminiscent of the duck-egg aftertaste.

This and other musings about local food aphrodisiacs filled my mind as I trudged along the grime filled potholes of the road leading to our village. I have always loved eating balot and known it to be an aphrodosiac. Pampagahe sa tuhod, as they said, this developing duck embryo that is boiled alive, eaten in the shell and is commonly hawked and sold as street food in the Philippines, has been my father's well-meaning initiation to adulthood. I have prided at being referred to as an eccentric woman with a unique taste for food by friends. It's not only balot I'm fond of. I also liked eating bakasi, those 8-12 inch saltwater eels that are particularly abundant in the town of Cordova (and which I have also stopped eating because of the oil spill repercussions). My taste for these two "aphrodisiacs" have been borne out of my father's unique taste for food. It had not occurred on me that these two are ***-inducing. So yeah, so much for the gastronomic background.

This point brings me to the situation of population in the country. Does our being blessed with resources (in this case, food) parallel to that of our being prolific in terms of population? Can we even blame the population explosion on these two aphrodisiacs?

My generation takes pride in being the generation who has had experienced hardships brought about by far too may political issues and street ramblings (from EDSA Revolution of 1986). Although we were toddlers by then, we had a clear picture of how life is meant to be seen in the banner's point of view -- flighty yet needs to be held on for one's conviction to stand and take effect. Marriage was not a thing we take as something we need to have because "we have a deadline to meet." "Marriage is for the faint-hearted," I heard a good friend say. And so we grew up with a rather distinct view about marriage --- that it is something to prepare for, not a stage in life but a journey and that child-rearing is the biggest responsibility that accompanies marriage. You just can't sire children and graze them like goats or cows on grime-filled meadows as Carbon market or Colon Street. You have got to have more sense than that.

Rant. Rant. This I could only do. Unless we educate our people about family planning and parenting, balot and bakasi will remain to be culprits.

Poor duck and eel. Tsk.