by Telly Ocampo
Mahogany, the Movie
The first three (3) lines of the theme song of Mahogany, the Movie, strike the right chord for my feelings during this time of the pandemic.
Do you know where you’re going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you?
Where are you going to, do you know?
If you think of what the pandemic has brought us, you would feel dizzy. It’s up to us how to start our day and how to make that day right. Otherwise, the day will be very depressing. I have yet to see assistant health secretary Dr. Vergeire show a smile on tv. If i review all the conversations she did and has been doing on television, I would say I never saw any photo of her with a smile. This is very understandable and I don’t envy her position. She is always on the hot spot and it is inevitable that she has to answer questions, whether she likes the question or not. And such are the demands of her job. But all of these must come to an end. Di ba, ang ulan aduna ma’y pagtuwak ug ang unos adunay paglurang? I was always told by my mother before that, “At the end of the rainbow, you’ll find a pot of gold.”
So, how do I fin the pot of gold? The pagtuwak sa uwan ug paglurang sa unos? How do I brighten my day?
I’m very thankful to the Kapamilya channel. There’s mass at 5:30 in the morning with Fr. Tito Caluag presiding. I used to read his work at the Inquirer every Sunday. But with this the pandemic, I have not been reading a national daily for months now.
I’m always thankful to The Bohol Tribune. The editor has given me a page for cultural heritage and I think this has been running for quite some time. It’s a mental exercise for me, holding on to those beautiful memories of my growing up years. At this age at 70 and above, looking back is a pleasant walk to memory lane.
The pandemic is also a kind of respite for me and maybe for most of us. Planet Earth is surely benefiting from this situation as she is slowly regaining her own strength. Families are, too. There are values and traditions that we have set aside to near abandon that are now rekindled in the home.
Going on 75 this year, I have to accept the fact that I’m in the sunset years of my life. But it doesn’t mean that I have to stop dreaming. No lofty dreams for myself, though, but the dream of leaving behind one’s footprints – footprints that are lived in the present.
Definitely, we have to put sunshine in our days. Lingawon gyud gihapon nato ang atong kaugalingon. Wala na kadtong mga hunahuna kung unsay atong isinina; kung unsay atong bag-ong bag nga e-terno sa sapatos, ug wala na kadtong mga walay hinungdan nga lakaw-lakaw, nga walay tumong.
How do I drive boredom away?
Ang Kamapilya Network is doing this for me. Makatambal gyud sa kalaay ang maong tv station. Ang mga telenobela with the likes of “Walang Hanggang Paalam” and “Ang Sa Iyo Ay Akin”. Nothing can beat ABS-CBN with its line of great performers. Dili gyud malupigan. And there’s that threat again that the network will not be given its franchise. Agidaw!!!!!!!!! Makapurungot!!!!!!! And you know who? The network is like the Sampaguita Pictures and LVN Sudios of old. They have honed artists who never fade. Look at Susan Roces, Gloria Romero, Barbara Perez, Marita Zobel, Nida Blanca, Olivia Cenizal, Anita Linda, Rosa Rosal, Amalia Fuentes, Charito Solis and many more. And Marlene Dauden, too! Walang kakupas-kupas. They have maintained their dignity and status despite the passing of years.
Crochet, my craft, comes handy when it’s my tv time. Morning tv is my husbands tv time after we have our Agenda of Cito Beltran. That is how we start our day after we hear mass at 5.30 a.m. Then we go to Ted Failon and Dj Chacha’s show for the day’s news until at 8 to 9 with Cito Beltran. At 9 a.m., there’s the garden to think about and the so many household things to do. In the afternoon, it is a lazy time for me – siesta time, di ba?
What I’m working on now is the crocheted table cloth for my daughter’s round dining table. This I started at the start of Covid. I’m almost in the finishing line with a design I call Pinuga sa Hunahuna. I have tried to replicate the table cloth I wanted to buy decades ago. I did not have the money, then, to acquire it.
While looking at the greens in my garden, it’s a time to ask, “Do you know where you’re going to?” But, let us not lose hope.
There is always an answer to the question: “Why does the sun go on shining?”