Narra Days

A day after the grand kick-off of UP's year-long Centennial celebrations, the oldest dormitory inside the Diliman campus, Narra, got burned. I stayed in this dorm for like, two years. It was my last choice. Being a men's-only dorm, it was the filthiest, rowdiest and was clearly a fire hazard. (Procastinating as I usually do, I failed to get a slot at the Molave dorm. And so I settled for Narra.)

Anyway, what I liked about the dorm is the sense of freedom not present in other dorms: there was no curfew at all (well, Manang the guard would close the front door at midnight, go around the dorm, only to open it once again). Which means residents can enter and leave as they please, any hour of the day without having to explain themselves to the manager.

Canteen food was horrible, so we settled for the food prepared by ambulant vendors outside, which were not only cheaper, but tastier as well.

The men's dorm had a notorious reputation. It was, after all, populated with frat men eager for rumbles, transvestites who believe they're actually women trapped inside men's bodies, fire-and-brimstone born-again converts force-feeding their brand of Christianity, radical leftists anticipating and plotting the "Revolution", quiet, Opus-dei types, promdis who have their pants custom-tailored in the province, geeks with coke-bottle glasses who like nothing than to open the huge Calculus bible for the Math series subjects, and those of us who like to stay a while at the TV room watching the news while snacking on Manong's overpriced sandwiches, trying to imitate Veronica Pedrosa's accent. One resident who I thought never studied his lessons because he was always at the TV room went on to become an investigative reporter for a major TV network.

Before I became a resident, I once attended an open house event where x-rated movies were shown on big screens while the voyeuristic residents were drinking I think, Sarsi . The next year, the soft drink company refused to support the event. Fund raising events always featured X-rated movies...at the lobby! which would trigger a seizure among born-again residents who'd immediately pick up the bible and start lecturing about the evils of fornication.

Some of us would stay up the whole night cramming for exams or proceed to Wendy's for a light snack. It was an impromptu session of debates and tutoring sessions.

One professor occupied a whole room to himself. He had an awesome kuatro or kuarto reputation, schooled in Cambridge but reportedly liked to blackmail pretty students. I never got to see the students, what he brought to his room were always the prosti kind. He kept the lights on when they "do" it, so residents would literally climb the windows to take a peek at the live show. I was a righteous snob back then, so I missed the fun. He finally got karma-ed, got himself in trouble and got locked up, and died.

Another brilliant law professor who'd literally drown himself with books and who'd hang out with us in the benches became a top NEDA and Energy official. I always see him on TV.

I didn't really mind that it was among the ugliest-looking buildings inside the campus. One friend derided its "sub-human" conditions. But it had character, lots of it. And that's the dormitory where I had the most fun.