my bacolod heart

bacolod will always be home, wherever i might be in the world. manila, in contrast, could not conjure a similar magical fascination. the longest i've stayed in manila was two weeks. these days, in my london hub, the only time i get to utter my dearest hiligaynon dialect is when i talk to my brothers on the phone. it's all tagalog with fellow pinoys at work, the language spoken by the tv people when i was a child.

as the capital of negros occidental province, bacolod city lies 24 kilometers to the south from bago city. to the north is talisay (city), only seven kilometers from baranggay bata. murcia is just nearby mansilingan, but i'm not exactly sure how far it is from the city. this might be like an abstract maze to a non-negrense, but it irks me when i'm in the lift and some pinoys think (through small talk) that bacolod is another name for the province of negros occidental. bacolod is the city capital. negros occidental is the province. if only it's as easy a conundrum as iloilo. but that's another matter.

my hometown may not be as cosmopolitan as cebu or manila but we get by. i envy cebu and bohol of their white sand beaches. but in every angle, the city of smiles is home. the masskara festival this october will once again ignite the city to a frenzy. chicken inasal (it's just called inasal to us natives) is our contribution to filipino cuisine. before there was only manukan, now there's chicken deli, chicken house and every dining establishment who serves chicken on a stick (as my husband refers to inasal). i don't think inasal is that unhealthy. it's not cordial to the arteries. but who says we shouldn't eat laswa? where would i find piaya in north london? a colleague once spewed, "naku mabibili lang iyan sa megamall." it's not the same, folks.

my generation didn't have the malls in our innocent years. it's more vibrant during these present times, as if the quality of existence is defined by boutiques, shops, eateries, cinemas, a department store and a supermarket in one building. lest we forget the parking lot. for me it's always the bookstore. a national bookstore branch may have sprung up too late for my bacolod heart, but it makes every homecoming extra sweeter knowing its there.

i still speak my tagalog with an ilonggo accent. there are ilonggos who speak ilonggo with a tagalog accent but they're ilonggos. i don't know why it's an issue that "parehos man lang kamu ilonggo nga-a ma-tinagalog pa kamu? te abi." contrary to the stereotype in filipino culture, we're not that backward in the south. our lives are just little less chaotic.

now for the video :

game plan was one of my favorite programs during the late 90's. but i wasn't able to tag the show during its studio 23 years. but now there's probe tv and thank goodness for this tiny bits of thrill.