“Kaladkarin”
By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo
I was going to meet Alma Cruz Miclat to watch a Special Concert in memory of Kerima Lorena Tariman, resistance fighter and poet, who perished in an encounter with the 79th Infantry Battalion on 20 August 2021. She was branded by the government as a “notorious terrorist”, but the left consider her a martyred revolutionary fighter.
Tariman’s anthology of poems, Pag-aaral sa Oras: Mga Lumang Tula Tungkol sa Bago (Reflections on Time: Old Poems About the New), was lauded by CNN Philippines as “one of the top books of 2017.” I have yet to read her last book, Sa Asking Henerasyon, Mga Tula at Saling Tula (To My Generation, Poems and Translated Poems). I am sure it is just as politically-charged as her other literary works. Tariman understood the power of poetry and art in bringing about social change.
Alma told me that a friend of hers mentioned that getting to the venue of the concert at Paseo de Magallanes was easiest by taking the Manila Metro Rail Transit System (MRTS), or the MRT, a rapid transit system that primarily serves Metro Manila. Considering the traffic and ongoing construction of major roads, we decided to meet at 5:00 p.m. to be able to have enough lead time to watch at 7:00 p.m. To our surprise, the place was unknown to the guards in the area who gave conflicting directions, so we followed all their suggestions and ended up walking up and down the stairs at Magallanes. I thought of Waze, which suggested that we should turn at an intersection and move back which will take us thirty minutes! But our instincts told us, we are near, so we crossed over to the southbound SLEX, and turned on Waze again, which gave a different result, we can reach our destination in 5 minutes!
We did arrive at the venue, sweat and all, at 6:30 p.m., with Kerima’s father at the entrance. He told us our seats were reserved, and since we were so tired and hungry, we decided to use the extra time for a hot soup, almondigas at Pancakes. Looking back at the ordeal in a positive way, it was truly a good exercise, but I agree with Alma’s remark, “Mga katulad lang nating kaladkarin ang magtitiyaga sa mga lakad na gaya nito!” (Only people like us, kaladkarins, have the patience to endure such walks!). There is no English for kaladkarin. In the context that Alma uses the word, it has a ring of sacrifice and dignity in it.
The concert was worth being kaladkarin. The violinist, Jeanne Marquez, is a scholar at the Juilliard School and won many awards including being the first prize winner of the 2022 New York Laureate International Music Competition. She was accompanied by Gabriel James Frias on the piano.
It was good to converse and hug people we have not seen in a very long time and find out what happened to them in the interim, no matter how brief the time. Among those who were there were Judy Taguiwalo, Butch Dalisay and wife, Barbara Mae Dacanay, Julie Lluch, Mila Aguilar, Ellen Tordesillas, some theatre personalities, and so many others in the art scene whose faces I remember, but whose names I have forgotten (not intentionally). Over time, memory tends to self-delete people, places and events that are no longer necessary for one’s self-preservation and present circumstances.
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
