Grabe, ang hirap talaga mag-MRT. When I was in UP, the situation on the MRT wasn't that bad. You still had space to move around in the cab. Now, with the number of commuters taking the MRT everyday, it's become intolerable. There are times when the train gets so packed, even thieves won't be able to pick your pockets. Like, for example, when about to board the train, you don't have to walk through the door - you'll be pushed in by what seems like a whole angry mob of football players trying to get to the ball. It's that bad.
But first, an update on my car. I went to the machine shop yesterday morning, only to find my cylinder head still on the work table. The shop owner told me his worker was sick, so my cylinder head was still sitting there. And so I still have to wait for that worker to get well and get started finishing my cylinder head. Great. More commute. Once again, I have to cross the great divide between a long, but more or less comfy trip on a city bus, or a quick, but hellish ride on the MRT. I've no intention of being late for work again, so I've pretty much no choice.
Just this morning, when I was to board the train, I was just standing, waiting to be carried in by the mob. Then suddenly, it came. The impact was so great that one of my slippers slipped off my foot. At that instant, a thought flashed in my mind. And then, a lighting-fast decision - I wasn't going to get off this train at Shaw Boulevard Station with one foot without a slipper.
I took a deep breath and pushed back against the sick, desperate mob. Part of me kept saying that my slipper was as good as gone under that stampeding crowd and that I should move on. But my left foot searched frantically for my lost slipper, felt it and hooked it on. And then I let go. I let go and the mob was all over me like a tsunami crashing against the coast of Sri Lanka. I got lost inside the train under sweaty arms desperately trying to get hold of the handle bars. At each station all the way to Shaw, angry mobs kept trying to get into the already jam-packed train. Those of us inside got squeezed tighter and tighter until the doors closed. I didn't really care. All I cared about was getting to work on time.
