NFS MAKATI

I couldn't believe that I could still be alive to write this post. No kidding. A few minutes ago before settling myself in front of the computer, I have seen the streets of Makati turn into a racing circuit. The rush could have been exhilarating had it not been for the commuters and regular vehicles that were nearly razed by the jeepney I rode today.

I was on my way home from work. I was asked to stop by from a nearby mall. It took me until closing time to get everything I needed to buy plus other items that I found (mostly food). I took the usual MRT to the jeepney terminal that goes straight to our street. It took a while to fill the jeepney. I dozed off for a while. When I woke up to move for some passengers, I kept on hearing the driver ranting about something. Apparently, he seemed to rant the rest of the trip about trifles like asking the passengers to move over.

When the driver revved up his engine, I noticed that he seemed to enjoy the brusque way it made a noise. I guess he was ignorant of the fact that this was manila and it was pointless to rev up your engines that loud.

As expected he turned up his sounds to the extreme before cruising away towards hell. His sounds, still as expected, were heavy metal sounds or rap mixes reminiscent of need for speed - not. I didn't know whether to laugh or to smirk at his unusual taste. They were somewhat weird - soundlike homemade novelty crossed between kundiman and dance hits. I really have no idea where to put his genre, but it sure was not for racing around a race track. It would have really been better if they were the novelty songs frequently repeated on the radio. Apparently, his music from his mp3 player were only hits whenever you got to drunk or to stoned to notice. It was a real bummer my MP4 player ran out of juice. I would have plugged in my headset to block out his weird music.

As the music started, the dreadful began. I'm sure this man was crazy.  He was oblivious to the double parked cars and what not that made the jeepney a perfect fit on the road. As he turned towards the main road, curse after curse followed every vehicle that passed the intersection. Every moment or so, the driver would rev up his engines as if gassing up for another lap.

I wanted to blurt out "Manong! Ayaw pa naming mamatay!!!" but I thought better of it. My voice would either be drowned out by his music or by his engine. Whenever a passenger would ask him to pull over, they would instantly find themselves a two blocks from where they intended to go. The driver was too busy cursing and swerving and overtaking slow moving vehicles to notice that he had passengers who were holding on for dear life. Maybe, he was even busy tapping or humming to the tune of his his homemade hits.

Another thought that occured to me would be to go down the moment another passenger asked him to pull over, but the stops were so abrupt that vehicles behind us nearly collided with the jeepney. I would still be a goner once I tried to get out.  Maybe this driver was thinking that the horns and honks behind him were from fans who were cheering him on his race to death.

A few minutes later (he probably reduced the 20-30 minute drive from the MRT to 15 minutes), I noticed that he was nearing the sidewalk. There, I immediately shouted for him to pull over. It only took one shout, but the stop was abrupt it nearly threw me into the lady sitting beside me (I should have thrown myself sooner though, she was hot!!  ). I guess I was lucky. The area was exactly my stop. The moment I got out, he zoomed away towards the intersection. I think he nearly slammed into a taxi, but I hope not.

MORAL: Never drive like an NFS driver when you're in Makati. Not that it's not safe, its just plain stupid!