Reminiscing Mandug and our Childhood

August 10, 2008:


'Twas a starry, starry night. There was no special event or whatsoever in our street, but surprisingly, childhood friends were gathered in our usual tambayan - outside our house. Me, Anna, Charlo, Dino, Joefer, Cha-cha, Belen, JR, JC Boy, RJ, Archie and Ninoy shared childhood memories over some bottles of Red Horse. From street games to hiking and drinking sessions, name it, and we have talked about it.

Back then, a lot of recreational activities were held in our street: we had a makeshift basketball court where any gutsy player can dunk the ball, a volleyball court that can be easily converted to badminton court, spots to go for the hide and seek games at night, syatong holes, cemented wall for the labo-labo, open space for the tumba-lata, takyan, tumba-manila, chinese garter, etc... So as expected, everyday our street had many visitors from other streets within the village. It was fun coz I was able to meet and make friends at the same time played on any games. And the weather condition was not an issue, if it rained, we huddled indoors to play table tennis, card game, jamming sessions, watch cable (at that time, our house is one of the few houses who had a cable connection via Home Channel), or just talk about anything. Drinking was still a no-no back then, at least not in the presence of our parents.

I learned how to play the guitar because of these gatherings. My crush was good in it so to be close to him, I pretended to be fascinated with guitar also. He taught me the basics and after a while, my attention diverted to the guitar. During jamiing sessions, I would play the rhythm, my brother the lead and Dino on the bass (sometimes on the makeshift drums) and we would sing our hearts out with Joefer as our lead singer. Favorites were Eraseserheads songs and other songs from pinoy bands who had sprouted thanks to Eheads fame. Maybe we were good jammers coz it also attracted other villagers, even by-passers. Some will drop by to join us in a song or two, while others stayed just to listen as we jammed the night away. But I must say, we sounded better if we had bottles of beer in front of us. Hehehehe

If we got tired playing, guess what's our next activity? Hide and seek! We had a blast playing this at night, sort of affirming our braveness by hiding in well-known spooky places in the street. The duranta plants were also a favorite hideout to the dismay of the mothers maintaining it. It was so addictive that even if I was in college already, we still played hide and seek!

There's a lot of stories to tell: our hiking adventure in "tabok" where we lost our way and ended up following a stream that eventually led us to Mandug river. The minor accidents (i collapsed after climbing an unended steep trail, Cha had a fracture after she slid and bumped into a tree, Lando wounded his legs while attempting to open the coconut using his swiss knife coz we had no drinking water left - he had 10 stitches because of that wound and passing by a real haunted house). And a lot more stories as I spent almost my entire life in the village.

Most of my childhood friends are still in DDF Village, while others left and ventured to other places. Although we all now lead a different life (as fathers, mothers, etc), once in a while, we gather around to talk about how we missed each other's companies, just what we did today. And boy, indeed I missed my childhood life and wished that I could go back again. If you are familiar with the songs of Eraserheads, "Minsan" aptly describes our childhood memories....