Chaos Is Normal

A curious mix of zest and indifference marks the people here. Public transport jeepneys (a transvestite creation between a mini bus and a jeep) with surreal images painted all over their body and blaring music from within, lend a touch of magic realism to the old Spanish colony. The jest of little kids selling tobacco at traffic junctions; holidaying crowds on the seafront restaurants and the huge glow signboards on rows and rows of dance bars complete the picture of a vibrant, fun-loving city with an infectious warmth. The warmth seemed to have touched the president too; he acknowledged it with poetic lines at the very first official function in a nursing college. He called smiling Filipino nurses "angels" and compared their profession to "soothing music". He also recounted the voices of blossoming flowers in his garden's pathway.