Barely two months have passed since that incident of massive flooding that brought Metro Manila to a standstill. People have just begun the long process of settling back to some semblance of their life prior to the flood. Where once thoughts of gloom and despair abound, it was now time for healing.
One badly hit location is the city of Marikina. Situated in a valley and bordered by the a river, this once top producer of shoes have since become one of the Philippines’ premiere clean, green cities.
Touring this place, one realizes that he need not go far to see places of interest. For one, there’s the River Park, its banks lined with many fascinating edifices and concrete sculptures. Not too far off is the Shoe Museum, home to the infamous Imelda Marcos shoe collection. The city also boasts of a Doll Museum with dolls coming from different nations of the world. There’s also a Butterfly Farm which is a leisurely 20 minute drive from the city center.
A recent addition, situated in the vicinity of a major traffic intersection in the city, is a wall of bells, or chimes that are automated to play native Filipino tunes every hour, by the hour. This fronts a water fountain that has become a favorite hang-out spot for young and old people alike, who enjoy the cool mist emanating from the water spout while enjoying the hourly tunes. I, personally, enjoy walking by this place, on my way to work. I would catch a glance of people, like kids just playing around the spot, or elderly citizens lounging around the fountains edge.
Then came the day of the flood; it was not particularly choosy of its victims; young and old, men and women, wealthy and destitute, Christians and Muslims, homes and hospitals, schools and stores, practically everything in its path, city sights included. Proud boasting of residents here were left muted, leaving voiceless even the chimes.
The flood eventually subsided in a few days. What was left was a thick cake of earthy mud. The clean up took entire weeks, but the aura of despair still remained for some time after that.
It has been one month and 12 days since that fateful day. As I was passing by the chimes and waiting for the pedestrian light to turn green, a familiar lilt suddenly filled the air the chimes were back on-line. Crossing the street, with a laptop messenger bag slung around my body, I glanced back at the fountain. I could not help but smile when I saw a group of young girls playing with the water, and an aging man, sitting crossed-leg, probably musing about retiring, or even his options for a retiring income. My smile grew wider — ahhh, normalcy.
