Commute Series

Today, my life changed. Officially. For the first time in about four months, I took a public transport to work. And I wont be taking one only for this day. No. I will be taking countless jeep rides until my motorbike is strong enough to face the horrible traffic again.

I feel sorry for Bobby. I really do. I could feel his pain.

My dad said he needs at least a week to recuperate. He had quite a nasty fall.

As for me, everything is getting worse. I can’t seem to move my legs and my kneecaps feel like they’re going to fall off anytime soon. Which is why I’m preparing extra lengths of duct tape in my bag.

Because of the recent horrible incident that happened to me, I had to wake up a full hour earlier to get my motors running. And with that heavy human traffic waiting for a miniscule of a 12L jeep, I knew I had to be fast.

This morning, after waiting for like forever, me and a group of about 2000, caught glimpse of the first 12L jeep. And against strong arms, dizzying morning perfumes, wet hairs and bulging (and warm) knapsacks, I managed to squeeze in. What my lousy brain forgot to calculate was the distance between my aching knees and that of the other passengers’ on the other side. If you know the feeling of lemon on a fresh cut – that’s what I felt.

3,000,000 jeep rides more and it’ll all be over.

Written 2005