Oct 25, 1999
on LocalVibe.com
2 FINGERS
BETWEEN LIFE AND OBLIVION I don’t
get it sometimes. Why people go to the mountains and climb them with bare
hands just to experience the ecstatic thrill of holding on to dear life
with bleeding fingers. I can do the same any old day by making sabit on
the back end of a jeep. “Sabit”,
for the uninitiated (especially all of you spoiled little rich kids with
chaffeurs and Pajeros) is the Filipino word for “hang,” and
refers to the much-maligned art of riding a jeepney (usually) upright,
using hands and elbows or knees to lock you into place and keep you from
falling into the road. It is done primarily by males although I once saw
a woman try it-she was promptly offered a seat by a gentleman who “made
sabit” in her place. And no, it wasn’t me either. THE SABIT
OPTIONS Or, in another
very real situation, you realize you have no coins and the only bill in
your wallet is a hundred bucks-which a jeepney driver is probably not
going to be able to change. Instead of looking around for a 7-11 which
can break your bill, you can opt to sabit and not pay. It’s one of
the last few free things in life that you can get away with. I’ve
seen jeepney drivers allow poor street kids to come inside and sit down
for free instead of making sabit and risking their necks. There are still
some humane drivers after all.
It is an option borne of desperation. You’re on the way home or to
work, the jeep is full. You’re in a rush, don’t want to wait
in line for a real seat. There is a space left for sabit. Why not?
Sabit is an intermediate option: your journey is long and someone is bound to disembark sometime, meaning in the near future you can finally sit properly. So you hang on patiently, waiting for your turn.
It is a commuting option fraught with very real excitement and very real danger. I read in the papers once about a guy who was thrown from the jeep in a collision. There was about a foot of metal lodged into his neck. Instant death, baby. The mere fact that jeepney drivers here drive like madmen scares the bejeezus out of the seated passengers, what more the guys hanging on for dear life on the outer ends? Sometimes all you have is two fingers to keep you on this side of oblivion.
But oh, the joys in sabit… the fresh (polluted) air in your (grimy) face, your (non-existent) muscles aching from the strain, your (sweaty) palms sliding on the stainless steel bars which a million other people have held before you. It is something to be proud of. While some of my high school batchmates show off their Mercedes Benz vans, I will unashamedly proclaim that I have survived making sabit.
SABIT’S UNWRITTEN RULES
After numerous sabit situations, I’ve come to notice an entire silent
protocol to the practice. It appears that these are the sabit rules:
+ Give room to other people who may want to sabit.
+ Respect the driver’s option of not wanting any sabit.
+ When a seated passenger disembarks, get the hell out of the way.
+ First
On, First In. The first person to make sabit has first priority in getting
a seat once a seated passenger disembarks. Of course he may choose to
forsake the priority and signal to another sabit to take the seat instead.
This “passing on” of the privilege is usually influenced by
physical proximity.
+ If your journey is long and you intend at one time to sit, you can pay
the fare even while making sabit.
+ If your journey is short, you don’t intend to sit, and you’re
not in any way shamed by literally getting a free ride, you can opt not
to pay.
+ If you are holding lots of stuff you can kindly ask the seated passenger
nearest you to hold some of it. Be sure to thank them profusely afterward.
+ If there are already 5 people making sabit, don’t even think of
getting on. You’ll make life miserable for ALL of you.