PARALUMAN : THE FIRST TIME I SAW MSU

The first time ever I saw your face

I thought the sun rose in your eyes

And the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave

To the dark and the endless skies, my love.

This song would always take a trip down my memory lane. Strolling on the golf course one Saturday afternoon, we found a cozy spot beside a shrub too small to cast a shade, but large enough to put over some veneer of privacy. Sitting on the grass while holding each other's hands, I looked into her eyes for a moment, and she looked at me, as if asking "What?" – reflecting the kind of look that only lovers could read and fathom by gazing into each other's eyes. Drawing away from the intimacy of the moment, I pointed to her the beautiful scenery before us: the landscape of the fairway rolling on the terrain of the grass gently sloping down the next green with a waving white flag held in place by a stick in the hole.

Further down the hillside, bounded by the road to the city, a paddy field cropped up on an irrigated lowland that stretched out up to the lake shore. A distant view from the golf course, an orchard outlined a figure from a thicket of trees that appeared like a sitting cat, and has drawn out, among students, the name "Sitting Lion."

Then, appeared the spectacle of the famous Lake Lanao. On the west side was a rustic city margin on its shore, on the east side, the long length and vast expanse of the lake cut by objects blocking the view. Adding the finishing touch to the panorama, the backdrop of a mountain range outlined a figure that has carried off the name "Sleeping Lady."

Watching another couple passing by, and a bunch spreading a wide mat beside a patch of sunflowers that seemed to soak up the last rays of sunset, I thought I was reminiscing like a pair of hands of a mother caressing the face of her long-gone son.

Memories pressed between the pages of my mind

Memories sweetened through the ages just like wine

Quiet thoughts come floating down

And settle softly to the ground

Like golden autumn leaves around my feet

I touch them and they burst apart with sweet memories.

"Toto, wake up," Tony whispered, so as not to disturb the sleeping roommates.

"Five minutes," Angel said softly. "Give me five minutes more."

Tony, bass and guitarist, together with Angel, melody, and I, tenor/falsetto, formed our trio to "harana" birthday celebrants and crushes at Princess Lawanen Hall. That morning, we'd do "harana" for a special someone.

"Watch out for broken glasses," I said softly as we walked slowly and quietly just before the crack of dawn.

"Let's surprise them," Tony said.

I remember, when I feel lonely

The way you kissed me in the rain

And Darling I remember

Your golden laughter

Whenever spring breaks through again.

Sprinkled with serendipity, we crooned our opening song, "The Seventh Dawn," just before the burst of sunlight lying in wait behind the horizon, would rupture out of darkness. At the crack of dawn, the mellow blend of our voices evoked romantic emotions, eliciting chills that conjured up images, as time seemed to fly, from a faraway long-ago place.

Other sweet memories I hold dear in MSU, circa 1970: Darangan, Sarimanok, Kambayoka, Kalilintad, Pilandok, library, school bus, Social Hall, Summit Inn, Engineering Building, slide rule, Indarapatra Hall, Posadas Eatery, Ford Village, British professors, Cup & Saucer, Aga Khan Museum, Princess Lawanen Hall, Liberal Arts Building, Ayala Resort Hotel, Miss University, Miss LA and Lakambini; full scholarship allowance, Bread's "If," James Taylor's "You've Got A Friend," Carpenters' "Why Do Birds" (loved than title); Golden Award shirt & Levis jeans, Frank's OP movies & Johnny's SLH stage plays.

Inter-group sports and choral competitions: Integrals, Goodshines, Royal Griffins, Commuters, Falcons, Celtics; Ma'am Lily's Pilipino dramas, Prof Nena's American twang, Prof Pepeng's "Mi Ultimo Adios," Garces' peanuts, "toron," and coke; Pepe, Nonoy, and Tony's Lettermen trio; Ethnorock band and Roy's suave voice, cafeteria's banana Singapore and potato casserole, midnight snack of rice and "pakbet" or pan de coco or "Bapa" stick bread or "sigupan," foggy morning jog ending in Aggie Farm's fresh cow's milk, and what have you.

You look like Paraluman

When we're young...

You taught me...

To really love

Many years passed

We haven't met

I've heard news of...

All my dreams

Suddenly melted

Just in my dream

I could dance with you

The words above were excerpted from the song "The Last El Bimbo" by the Filipino rock band Eraserheads that narrates a first-person perspective of a young boy in love with a beautiful older woman. It encapsulates the MSU story.

The creeping change, not only on the face, but as well as in the character of the school campus could have been blighted by the "war" in 1972 followed by unmentionable incidents subsequently that marred the school's integrity and reputation.

After crying, Maria Elena narrated, "Can't let my siblings out of my sight as we went to Iligan in a convoy." Riding myself in the school bus, I recall I was having a high fever when I was lodged in Rhodora Apartment where Ma'am Loable took care of me.

The first time ever I saw her face, MSU looked like a Paraluman. After the war, her lofty image gradually faded.

This article, I hope, will uplift my fellow MSUans to let those sweet memories live, as the Pinoy song goes, even just in our dreams.