Night in Ekkamai

It seems like a fading memory now from a distant past, although it was not too long ago that Bangkok, particularly Min Buri, one of the districts outside the city, was home.  Min Buri is a quiet district, much like my home in the Philippines, so on some weekends when the weather was fine, I…

A New Home for Inday

    Packed things up and moved into a new home. In cyberspace, that is. I started blogging (http://indaylearnstowrite.blogspot.com/) in 2010, not for economic reasons, but to have an avenue for my so-called writings.  I had no specific theme for my blog.  Anything that caught my eye or my imagination was a good topic. I…

First Death Anniversary

It has been a year since our grandma left us.  She was God's gift to us, and was very much a part of our lives...from our idyllic childhood to the time we left home to try our hand at independence.  I will never forget her last gift to me: a promise that she kept.  She…

Filipino Pride: The Pacman

The man did it again: faced an opponent who seemingly had the advantage in terms of height and reach, but lacked the lightning speed that the Pacman is known for.  He emerged from the fight victorious, humbled from his 13th consecutive win which earned him his 8th championship belt.  More importantly, if there are doubters…

Diary of a Campaign

Last Saturday, we joined a "caravan" to support an uncle's bid for election as Baranggay Chairman of Ipil.  Together with his seven kagawads and their supporters, we braved the elements and took to the streets one last time before the campaign period officially came to an end.  This was the first time I accompanied a…

The Reader on Politics

5:30 P.M. The drizzle had caused the darkness to descend early on the central school where the canvassing of the local elections was going on.  The air was filled with the sound of the birds as they made their way home to the tree branches, droopy from the heat of the October sun.  On page…

In Pursuit of a Victoria Holt

  An old book was sitting on a shelf, gathering dusts and inviting termites to chew on its pages that have started to turn yellow.  Mama had stuffed it there a few years ago and had seemingly forgotten its existence.  The book was written by a certain Victoria Holt and its title seemed strange to…

The Dear, Dead Loves of Vanished Youth

In 1925, a woman authored a story that changed the landscape of Philippine Literature for ever.  That short story ushered in a new era of Philippine writing in English.  Its subject is a universal that has puzzled both the poets and the common man over the ages: Love.  The woman was Paz Marquez Benitez; the…

Inday Learns to Write

She sits under the canopy of an old Chico tree, eyes drawn to heaven in search of the words that have eluded her, drunk with the ecstasy of a passing inspiration.  Her fingers struggle to catch up with the words unraveling in her head, except for the ring finger of the right hand which seems…

The Lure of the Siren

First you will come to the Sirens  who enchant all who come near them. If any one unwarily draws in too close  and hears the singing of the Sirens, his wife and children  will never welcome him home again, for they sit in a green field  and warble him to death  with the sweetness of…