Saturday, September 11, 2010
It was a lovely Saturday afternoon last August 14th when I left the house for the Ayala Museum. I was there to attend their History Comes Alive talk about what Andres Bonifacio might have said when he was leading the revolution. It was slated at 3pm and when I arrived at 245pm and paid the entrance fee [P300], I found myself seated at the leftmost side chairs, as apparently the centre chairs have been reserved for those who had reservations. *shrug* It was a last minute thing, with me thinking that I would definitely go to this talk so as not to waste a Saturday and see the museum at the same time. [Entrance to the museum comes with the entrance fee].
I noticed that Mr. Ocampo was milling around with the audience, waiting for his lecture to begin, so I hastily bought his newest book, Dirty Dancing 2 for P95, a collection of his newspaper articles and got him to sign it [see photo on the side, taken by my trusty camera phone! wheee] Anyhoo, at around 3pm, the lecture started, with quite a long introduction on where the statues of Andres Bonifacio were, and how his students graphically differentiate Andres Bonifacio from Jose Rizal. Naturally, Rizal would often be drawn wearing the coat and tie and holding a pen [err.. a feather quill], whilst Bonifacio would be drawn wearing his cropped red pants, and wearing a v-necked white shirt with his signature bolo, of course. Rizal would also be portrayed as a scrawny, skinny guy, whilst Bonifacio would be drawn as a muscular dude.
What followed was a brief interactive talk on why people perceive both national icons in that way, and in reality, how Bonifacio could not have possibly fought the revolution using only a bolo whilst the Spanish were using guns. So duh, Bonifacio and his group could have used guns too. But with their resources, one would guess that they would only have one round of bullets to use on their enemies before they ran back to the cover of their hideout. Hmm.. At that rate, Bonifacio would have only killed around 6 enemies on a very good shot!
Discussed in the talk also - a photo of Bonifacio. There was only one photo of him, a teeny, tiny one, compared to Rizal's numerous portraits. I took photos of this from the event but it's in my big camera, which is with my mom right now so can't upload at the moment.
And the final question was: What could possibly have been the words Bonifacio used to motivate his people to move forward and continue fighting the revolution? Ambeth Ocampo thinks it is a rather naughty, bad word. Filipinos would understand even the initials: "PI!"
Overall, the talk has been very entertaining, and never a dull moment. It opened my eyes more to the history of the Philippines, and our heroes, and a plus side is that you could see some of these historical events on the 2nd floor of the museum, with the dioramas! Love Ambeth Ocampo, he is sooo hilarious, I can't stop laughing at some of his jokes and comments throughout the whole talk!
More about the exhibitions of the Ayala Museum on the Part Two post!
There's an upcoming talk about the Malolos Congress this September 18th, Saturday at 3pm. Still at the ground floor of the Ayala Museum, entrance fee is P300 [includes the talk + entrance to all parts of the museum]. Better reserve your slot if you intend to go! Visit the Ayala Museum at their website: http://www.ayalamuseum.org/ for more information.
Ambeth Ocampo is my Facebook friend but I havent meet him in person but I will visit him at Ateneo campus when I go back to Pinas in May.
Travelling is another thing that dominates my life aside from reading. It also provides additional source of income to buy books online. Check it out: My eTravel Diary
Maybe if you are interested, I will discuss this opportunity - earn while going places!