Pic of the Week!

            Title: Calesa - Wheels of Life

Location: Ocampo St., cor. Harrison St., Manila, Philippines

Photo Taken: June 03, 2011

The Story: We set for an ocular visit to our proposed field destinations on a quite unassuming, rainy day of June. We visited the newly-built Mabuhay Temple of a Buddhist congregation located at P. Ocampo St. The Filipino staff were very gracious in accommodating our request, she let our group explore the exhibits and Buddhist images in the first floor, as well as welcomed us at the main hall of the temple at the third floor, where a gigantic Gautama Buddha stood as centerpiece. After which, luck was with us as, the temple's Venerable Master personally treated us with serenity tea and vegan snack. Each one of us were given a good luck charm at the end of our visit.

Next stop - Metropolitan Museum. On our way, we were caught in heavy traffic along Harrison St. Sitting by the window of our vehicle, instead of getting pissed off by the heavy traffic, i tried to delight my vision with the surrounding vehicles, in all shapes and sizes. The photo above caught my attention so much as it represents an irony of sorts, from economics, politics to philosophy, one can actually say a lot of things from this picture alone. Trapped in heavy traffic, under the pouring rain, surrounded by all kinds of motored vehicle, there in the middle stands the lowly calesa - home and shelter to this family with no other wealth in the world but a horse-drawn carriage, or not even that. So much for ironies, life really is complicated.