Alaska Boy
A real-life story. You cannot make this up.
Sometimes something so… remarkable happens you just gotta laugh it off as an adventure.
For the record, this is an incident that happened over a decade ago.
I rode an airconditioned bus from point A to point B at one of the main arteries of the city. As it was weekday rush hour, the aisle between the bus’s two rows of seats was already filling up by the time I stepped onboard.
(There technically is a law that penalizes bus operators that fill their buses to overcapacity, although I highly doubt if this is strictly and consistently enforced. To be fair, I acknowledge that the local authorities tasked to enforce the said law are overworked and underpaid.)
It took only about 10 minutes for the aisle of the bus I rode that night to be filled cheek-by-jowl, and that’s when the fun really started.
First, the lights inside the bus started to flicker. Turns out there was something wrong with the circuitry, so the driver elected to turn off the lights. It was fine at this point because the lamps that lit the streets along our way was enough to bathe the interior of the bus with enough illumination. You can still pretty much see silhouettes and monitor everyone’s movements.
Hardly had half an hour passed, however, when the A/C also began conking out. The solution arrived at by the bus conductor was to open most of the windows halfway. We paid for an airconditioned ride, but whatever. I overheard the guy beside me say:
“‘Pag laki ko, gagawa rin ako ng bus company. Itatawag ko siyang Alaska Boy. [When I grow up, I’m going to found a bus company and name it Alaska Boy.] ”
Context: Think of a country known for warm weather that starts with an “A”. That’s part of the name of the company that operated this bus from hell.
So the open-windows solution worked fine for a while, but then it started to rain as we entered the expressway. Because the winds blew at an angle, us passengers all got the benefit of a facial mist.
But wait, there’s more. One last misfortune befell us right before the bus exited the expressway and the driver mercifully advised all on board to complete our trip in any other public transport we could find: the radio had to be turned off. Said another guy,
“Nawala nga yung aircon. Pati ba naman yung radyo. [We already don’t have any A/C, but did they have to take away the radio too?]”
That line elicited chuckles, for sure.
Think about it:
The lights were off, and so was the A/C. The radio had to be sacrificed, and with it, the only distraction we had from the trip. And did I mention it was rush hour, night time, and raining?
Buses don’t fall apart everyday, but ordinary citizens in developing countries do encounter incredible situations — such as the one I described - every now and then. Some of these citizens may well afford safer, more convenient options; imagine those who do not have any other choice.
Well, at least it was a story worth telling.
