On the Train

 Life is just the illusion we create. There are no good times or bad--only Perception and Perspective.


This is how I like to see life--from "out-of-body" as I would like to call it. Although school has ended for me decades ago, I will forever be a student of this thing we call, "life".

I love taking the train to and from places. It only gets to be a bitch when I have all my gear with me and I'm off to cover an assignment.

Once, there was a passenger who complained at the inspection checkpoint:"Tanginanaman!" He exclaimed out of exasperation as the guard had to inspect 3-pieces of luggage: My Domke, a bag with the strobes and my tripod case. 

Since then, I would only take the train if I had just the Domke or the notebook with me as these bags are hefty by themselves. I would rather take a much slower mode of transport than
subject myself to such humiliation although it didn't really bother me as much as the guy behind me.

But I do love to commute. It doesn't really matter which one but I do love the train because of its seemingly "old world" appeal.

Trains were one of the oldest modes of public transport and back in the day, it would very much be in vogue to be at the station in the old Plaza Dilao or Tutuban to go anywhere in the greater Luzon area.

I am also meaning to go and trace the old "Bicol Express" route one of these days.

Back on the train...

I am forever fascinated with what goes on in people's minds while in the commute to work or on the way home. What stories do each one have to tell and what trials or triumphs had they gone through over the course of the day or what did they expect to achieve every morning on the way to work?

To me, life is a train we all have to be in. We may all disembark at different stops but it is only one train that we will be on. Some of us will go the distance while some will leave long before the next station.

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