Online Journal 4 — Jerry Gracio’s Bagay Tayo
Love really can come in unexpected ways or even places. For Jerry Gracio, it was in a run-down theater. In the three short chapters of Gracio’s Bagay Tayo, Gracio tells us how love can start and grow from the multitude of stories we tell as we get to know the other person. In bits and pieces, much like a mosaic structure, Gracio unfolds the beginnings of his love story with a man they call “Pitbull”.
The three chapters, “Love at First Sight”, “Kuwento”, and “Pitbull” dives into the story much like a diary: using a very subjective first-person point-of-view. He laid out the love story and how he experienced it, how he felt with the stories Pitbull told him. To me, Gracio sounded very sentimental which really helped evoke feelings as I read through the passages.
“Hindi ako naniniwala dati sa love at first, kahit na sinasabi ni Shakespeare na “Whoever loves, loves at first sight.” Hanggang sa makilala ko si Pitbull sa isang run-down theater, habang pinanonood ang isa kong pelikulang bold na hindi ko pa napapanood dahil isinumpa ko dati na hindi na manonood ng pelikulang isinulat ko…”
“Ewan ko ba kung ano ang nangyari no’ng mga panahong ‘yon. Siguro, malungkot ako, dahil sa magkasunod na hiwalayan na naranasan ko…”
Add to that the details Gracio lays out and expounds upon, it digs deep into your feelings and wreaks havoc. For this line, it was hurt and sadness that I felt deeply.
“Pero nang una niyang ipakita sa akin ang malaking pilat niya sa batok, naramdaman ko ang kirot na nadama ng isang trese anyos na sinugatan ng sarili niyang magulang. Pilat na lang ang sugat niya sa batok, pero ramdam kong may malalim na sugat sa kaniyang pagkatao na hindi naghihilom.”
Reading this part, especially, made me feel like I wasn’t supposed to read it. It felt like something so raw, so personal. That, I believe, proves how good the writing was. It proves how effective the concrete and evocative details on making the feelings “real” for the readers.
The book title, Bagay Tayo, made me think I was in for a romcom-like love story. It sounded so light, so cute but I was very wrong. It instead showed how in reality, love rarely starts with a meet-cute. For Gracio, it was unexpected but not as cute as something from a rom-com. They met at a run-down theater while Gracio was taking a cigarette break. It wasn’t humorous because it was heavy and very real. They connected through Pitbull’s heavy life story. It isn’t always comforting. It could involve doubts, emotional baggage, and fights. However, despite the heavy stories Gracio retold, he balanced this out with lighter chapters in between the heavy ones. At least, this is what I observed skimming through the entirety of the book. In the three chapters, it was in “Pitbull” that we see the less heavy part of the narrative. It still talked about the realness of love and how it isn’t perfect but I think this is where he made his humor most evident.
“Raymond Bernabe Reña talaga ang pangalan ni Pitbull. Totoong tao siya, hindi imaginary friend o imaginary boyfriend. Hindi rin aso.”
“Hindi ko alam kung bakit gusto ko ng bad boy. Kakapanood siguro kay Robin Padilla”
“…hindi dahil sa likas akong malandi kundi dahil sa likas akong magiliw at palakaibigan — kung sasali ako sa Bb Pilipinas, tiyak na ako ang magiging Miss Friendship.”
In the three parts that I read for this online journal, my favorite was the chapter “Kwento” because I really relate to how the writer falls in love with people through their stories. I realized through this anecdote that I feel most connected to people (not just lovers but people in general) through the stories that they tell me, and in return, the stories I tell them. It made me look at the current relationships I have and how true it is that we get to know people through bits and pieces of stories that we tell each other over and over. It isn’t always happy stories but they are stories that make these people real. Like Jerry Gracio, I, too, fall in love with people’s stories and eventually with the storyteller themselves.
