Just Reminiscing

Before condominiums, lofts and 2 bedroom row houses, before halogen street lamps or even the fluorescent ones, before the cities never slept, late afternoon was early evening, and twilight a preparation for bedtime.  The lights and shades cast by the sunset would lend a shadow theater of tall and sturdy coconut trees seen from my grand uncle's azotea in his house set on mid-hill, facing the long highway.  This was before electricity had reached his hinterland - a nowhere place between the port to an island destination and the city where I still live, somewhere around 1978 to 1984.  My granduncle and his sister, my grandma, would sit by the darkening azotea, drinking cheap wine and talking quietly, while I waited for my bedtime.  Inside the house, a hot lamp with a bright light would be our only source of illumination for the evening.  They called it "Petromax", a gas fueled lamp that would make a low, hollow, swooshing sound upon lighting it up.  It emitted a smell of gas and slow burning cloth.  It was a comfort to be had when the night threatened pitch-darkness.

I also remember this Petromax contraption in the island destination which was the ancestral home of my grandmother.  One of my earliest recollections is that of visiting the small island paradise, again, at a time when electricity hasn't reached their shores.  I remember being scared of the volcano's looming figure from another granduncle's huge capiz windows.  The floors creaked as we walked across the second floor living room of his bahay-na-bato house.  The hardwood material of the house lent a general odor to the whole house which denoted its wear, tear and age.  The Petromax was lit and we were all gathered in the kitchen for our meal.  I still smell the Quaker oats that my mother brought along, as a comfort food for her toddler (me).

Last week, our city had its charter day celebration, and look what I found?  A Petromax, I think lit by a electricity, as a detail for a landscaping, table-setting arrangement contest.  It brought back childhood memories that will never visit children who grew up in the era of neon lights and halogen street lamps.

[caption id="attachment_201" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="Petromax"][/caption]